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Beccles – Waveney House Hotel

I have visited this pub before, not least for the wedding of friends Rob and Jade a few years ago. It’s a grand building by the River Waveney and the venue’s early history is detailed, quite magnificently, at https://waveneyhousehotel.co.uk/history/. From when it was built in the mid sixteenth century, this was the grandest residential property on the street and it was turned into a hospitality venue in the nineteenth century. One of the owners of the property was John Leman (1544-1632) who became the Lord Mayor of London and the school in Beccles is still named after him.

Here’s how the building looked in the 1960s.

There’s a pleasant conservatory area next to the main dining area, but we were rather more taken with sitting outside in a rare departure from our normal very internal drinking policy. Outside is so often full of dangers such as wasps, bitey insects, snakes, seagulls, pigeons and local drunks that it’s not worth risking, but we didn’t encounter any of those potential issues here.

Not a bad view of the Waveney River. I can see why people have weddings here and there are also 12 rooms for those wanting accommodation.

I went for the Southwold Bitter from Adnams which was well kept and surprised keenly priced given that there was some decadence to the hotel. Although to be fair to them, the service was informal and friendly, I think they’re keen to attract drinkers and diners in so want to be reasonably priced.

The lunch and evening menu. Unfortunately we were too late for lunch and too early for the evening meal….. The dining environment looked clean and comfortable, with the on-line reviews being positive, so I’m sure it would be delightful.

The on-line reviews are generally positive, but I particularly liked the response to this one:

“Had Sunday lunch today with the family.The main coarse roast beef was very poor, the presentation of vegetables was a disgrace. The roast potatoes were very poor. The price was £16.00. Will not be going back. The previous owners food was much superior. If you want a good Sunday roast avoid this venue.”

With the reply being:

“Same owner for last 20 years plus first complaint about roast seriously in that time”.

And then loudchildgate kicked off one night….

“We was on the top floor, we was only in the hotel a maximum of an hour before we went out for dinner. While I was out I had a call (8:30pm) saying there had been a complaint made about me and my kids. “There was banging and a constant baby crying for two hours!” Firstly my “baby” is a 3 year old that if she did winge it was a maximum of 5 minutes. And also we wasn’t even there for two hours.. the “banging” that they was insisting of was my son waking around. (He has autism and adhd and won’t sit still for any period of time) however he does not make any noises or bags.. I explained all this and I was told “just to be respectful of others”. So right away it was ruined, I didn’t even want to go back after dinner. And I couldn’t go down for breakfast in the morning so went elsewhere. But if a child winges, or there is a little bang or two and THAT is warrant for a phone call on my private number while out having a meal, it’s ridiculous. And the way the dealt with it was awful”

But anyway, I digress from our core responsibility of meandering around pubs on our study tour. This venue exceeded my expectations, I had expected something a little more stuffy and expensive, but yet the atmosphere was laid-back and inviting. The view over the river is really most pleasant and we deserved a little decadence on our tour.

July 6, 2023
Beccles – Bear & Bells

Next on our list of pubs to visit in Beccles was the Bear & Bells. We were hopeful of getting food here and I’d been looking forwards to coming to the pub as I’ve spent plenty of time waiting at the bus stops opposite waiting to get the First high speed thunderbolt bus back to Norwich. The pub building dates back to the early seventeenth century and it was known as just the Bear for a long part of its history. There’s more about the history at https://suffolk.camra.org.uk/pub/35, with a suggestion that there might have been two pubs, one called the Bear and one called the Bell. That would make sense and often the most obvious explanation is the right one.

Here’s the exciting real ale selection. I wasn’t entirely surprised and delighted.

The next slightly less than surprising and delighting factor was that they were finishing food service early, so we weren’t eating there either. Here’s what we could have won….. It looked an interesting menu, I would have been very tempted by the fish and chips.

The drinks were the most expensive of the day, so again I can’t say I was thrilled at the whole arrangement. The Blue Moon tasted as expected and had the requisite slice of orange, so that was all good. The drinks range was weak though, it wasn’t what I had anticipated from a town centre pub. However, in fairness, the pub said that they had a delivery issue and so perhaps that was the cause of the problems.

I’m not sure that I’ve seen as many dead flies in a pub for some time and they were covering numerous surfaces. Perhaps the pub was collecting them though for some purpose that I wasn’t aware of. I like the effort being made with holding various events though, they’ve got a quiz and comedy night, with that curry night looking most delightful. Unfortunately, we were a day early for the curry.

There’s an historic feeling to the interior of the pub and the service at the bar was prompt, so that’s all to the good. I actually suspect if we had arrived on a different day when they were serving lunch for the full hours we might have had a very different experience, not least as the recent food reviews are all very positive. There were a few other customers in during our visit, with the atmosphere feeling safe and secure.

The outdoors area offers a view over the square and would be a marvellous place for anyone who fancied taking up bus spotting. As for the pub, this was the most disappointing of the day and not really what I had expected. My expectations were more of a cosy little traditional pub with a selection of real ales and a clean and comfortable environment. However, I don’t want to end on a down point, as it’s always great to see that pubs are still trading and serving their local community. As we still needed food, we would have to rely on visiting the large JD Wetherspoon pub in the town, and I wondered what delights we could expect there.

July 5, 2023
Beccles – Wine Vaults Bar and Restaurant

This venue has two entrances, the main bar accessed through a door to the left (next to the A-Board) and there’s a cellar bar accessible via a different entrance to the right (just out of the photo).

The entrance to the cellar bar is on the left through that fire door and the pub’s kitchen is ahead.

The pub’s menu, which isn’t served all day, but is available at lunchtimes and in the evenings.

There were three beers on which were the dreaded Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen and Fuller’s London Pride.

I went for the London Pride, a reliable beer and it was well kept and at the appropriate temperature.

The ground floor of the pub. There’s a strong food focus here, but it’s still welcoming to those who just want a drink. I know very little about wine, but there seems to be plenty of choice available on their wine list, which is appropriate given the pub’s name. As I understand, this naming is though more to do with the cellar bar formerly being used to store wine though rather than to highlight their wine selection.

And the upstairs. The venue is very well reviewed on-line and they have numerous events such as live music. I can’t say I’m overly keen on the “booking enquiries made via email will not be replied to” on their web-site and I can think of more than a couple of people I know who would move onto another venue which had an on-line booking reservation system or who replied to emails. The Sunday roasts look appealing in the photos, I can imagine that it’s worth making the effort to book a table to experience those.

The service was friendly and engaging, with the pub being clean and well maintained. It’s a quirky building with plenty of character and the food coming out looked rather tempting. They might not have been the most exciting variety of real ales, but in all fairness they had three different ones to choose from, with the environment of the venue feeling inviting. Anyway, as I may have mentioned before, all rather lovely.

July 5, 2023
Beccles – Ingate

First in our day out in Beccles was the Good Beer Guide listed Ingate pub, around a ten minute walk from the centre of the beating heart of the town. The Ingate has been serving the local community since 1906 and it was initially built to be a hotel as well, although there’s no longer accommodation offered here.

My first impression is that I was surprised and delighted to see that the two sections of the pub were still separated out into the lounge bar and the saloon bar. The divide now is more between a lounge bar and a sports bar, with some creative interior design to add to the atmosphere. We were welcomed promptly on arriving and it felt a genuinely inviting pub to visit, as well as being spotlessly clean.

This is the sort of DIY project that I’d started and then get bored with after about 25 coins. My friend Liam would probably be tasked with finishing the whole arrangement off.

These resin tables seem to be the on trend design element at the moment.

More decorative work and I have to note that I was impressed with the effort that the publicans have put in here.

There are no shortage of darts boards in the Ingate. There are also numerous screens showing a variety of different sports and for those customers who are excited by the prospect, there’s also karaoke.

If a pub can’t have a bar billiards table then a pool table isn’t far behind in excitement value 🙂 Unfortunately, Julian and I don’t have time for pool during our intensive study tours.

Julian managed to miss this when he walked by it.

There were two real ales available and I went for half a pint of the rather agreeable Little Green Man 1 from Green Jack Brewing, a beer I’ve had a few times in the King’s Head on Magdalen Street. The beer, which is named after the first pulsar signal which was discovered in November 1967, was well kept and was suitably refreshing. I had expected a slightly wider choice of beers, but I enjoyed this one and it’s far better than to have two impeccably kept options rather than four beers that don’t quite taste right.

An article in the Sun ‘newspaper’ mentioning the pub in a favourable manner. We were thanked as we were leaving the pub, something which I always think is a nice customer service touch.

The large external drinking area and I like those little cabin things. This was part of a project during lockdown and the land was previously used as the pub’s car park.

There’s a food truck serving burgers, pizzas, wraps and loaded chips at weekends. The on-line reviews for the pub are nearly entirely positive, so they’re clearly getting a lot right here.

The menu and note the Lacon’s Brewery falcon on the wall.

This is an excellent pub, with friendly service, a clean environment, decent beer and low pricing. Lots of thought has been put into the interior decoration and it feels like a community pub trying to serve a wide range of customers. Quite justifiably in the Good Beer Guide and a marvellous way to start the day’s study tour.

July 5, 2023
Norwich Castle Museum – Old Carrow Gardens by John Joseph Cotman

This is a watercolour of Old Carrow Gardens painted in 1876 by John Joseph Cotman (1814-1878) and it presents me with a little bit of a challenge of trying to understand where it fits into the current urban environment. The tower in the background is the Black Tower which is accessible up a big hill, one I ascend as infrequently as possible. Anyone who thinks Norwich is flat hasn’t had to traipse up to pubs such as the Rose from King Street.

I think the the artwork was probably painted from here, on the north side of the River Wensum. That bridge isn’t there any more, they’ve shoved it down the road a bit nearer to the football ground, with Paper Mill Yard now being on the south side of the river where the bridge once met it. Until relatively recently, all the buildings on the south of the river were part of Colman’s Carrow Works Factory, a site that they only finally left in 2020.

I may well be wrong on this (that does happen frequently), but I know that sometimes the word ‘gardens’ more means an empty space with some bits of foliage as opposed to something more organised, which might be happening here. As a river scene, it has though entirely changed over the last 150 years or so.

June 29, 2023
Bar Billiards – Serengeti Last Group Match

This was exciting (my normal caveat that I don’t get out much….), my first match against a first division side. It’s a cup game and both our sides, the Serengeti and the Golden Stars had won our first two matches, meaning that whoever won this game would proceed to the next round of the cup. As a bonus though, whoever lost would go through to the next round of the plate, so all was not lost. The scores haven’t been updated at the time of writing, but they will be at https://www.norwichbarbilliards.co.uk/Cup.

To my delight, I was drawn first. I was surprised and delighted to win that game, which meant that I could focus on the food and not be impacted by any distractions such as playing. Unfortunately, my seven game winning streak came to an end in the doubles, where David and I couldn’t quite match our opponents, despite our best efforts. So many excellent and close games, it’s been the most enjoyable set of games to watch and many of them were close. The Golden Stars were the eventual victors, winning 5-4. I have to comment positively about Emma, as she’d want me to, who won two games again.

As the most important positive, this was the first match that I’ve properly enjoyed and didn’t feel even slightly stressed about. These things always take a little while, or at least they do for me. It feels like the bar billiards pressure is off now, making it all much calmer and exciting to play. I’m fortunate to have a calm team captain in Roy, steady and relaxed with no recriminations.

And the food, I had to ignore David moaning once again that I was taking photos of it 🙂 And Emma didn’t comment on my rushing to the food this time, but I was allowed as I was the referee for the next game and so needed priority. Actually, I think I’ve set a precedent here, but that’s a different matter that no-one will be too interested in.

The food was excellent, delicious chicken and potatoes (with a vegetarian option). Oscar and his team once against didn’t let us down, not that they ever would.

The post-match drink, a rather refreshing Manx Missile from Fixed Wheel Brewery. All really very lovely and roll on the next game in the plate. We’re wondering how many chicken strips we can fit on the plate if we win it this year, we’re just two matches away from finding out. Our next match is against the Cottage next Wednesday, back to playing a league match, and I’m already looking forwards to it without any stress 🙂

June 29, 2023
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market – Week 13 and Indian Feast

Next on the list of my plan to visit every Norwich market stall with friends was Indian Feast which specialises in vegetarian food from India, although I accept that I likely didn’t need to specify that. It’s very well reviewed and appears to have been trading for several years. The stall refer to themselves as vegetarian and vegan, but every menu items appears to be vegan from what I can understand from the menu.

The food menu and it’s apparent from reviews that one of their most popular dishes is the Samosa Chat. James and I both went for this on the grounds we won’t bother ordering different things for the purposes of this blog post series, we’ll just start again when we’ve gone round and then order something new. I take these research projects very seriously and one visit is never enough anyway.

There are some curry dishes as well, but much of this is just a repeat from the other menu. The service was friendly and immediate, so it felt it was a welcoming environment. The server was engaging and she explained what options were available, with the ordering process being efficient. They accept cards and they also have a seating area of their own, something which always makes things easier. I find limited enjoyment in dodging seagulls and pigeons and they swarm around the area.

The meal consists of two vegetable samosas, chickpea curry, red onion, fresh coriander, a homemade fresh coriander and mint chutney along with a tamarind sauce. Just as an observation, the fork was slightly sub-optimal as it wasn’t strong enough to break into the samosas and it really needed a spoon for the sauce anyway. That minor issue aside, the food was well presented and looked appetising. There was a depth of flavour to the chickpea curry, although it only had the onion to add a little texture. There wasn’t much heat to this dish in terms of spice, but I enjoyed the flavours. The samosas had the suitably crispy exterior which complemented the interior well which was soft and lacking in texture. For my own perfect dish, I’d have quite liked just a little green chilli or something in the samosas to give it some extra flavour, but it was all very pleasant.

Anyway, this is yet another market stall that I’d recommend as it has a friendly welcome and reasonable prices. The kitchen element looked organised, with the seating area being clean and the surfaces were dry. I enjoyed the food and although would have preferred a little more depth of flavour and spice, it was a light and nutritious lunchtime meal. All rather lovely and probably one of the better options for those looking for a vegan or vegetarian lunch.

June 28, 2023
Food from Every Stalls on Norwich Market – Meat & Co (Permanently Closed)

Unfortunately, I fear that this market stall has permanently closed relatively shortly after opening. As part of my plan to eat at every Norwich market food stall, we’ve made multiple visits over different days and it has not only been closed but there’s no signage and there’s no social media.

June 28, 2023
Norwich Castle Museum – The Travelling Zoo

Meandering around the collections of the Norwich Castle Museum, this display of dead stuffed animals is hard to miss and they’re from the Bostock and Wombwell Menagerie. This travelling circus was in operation between 1810 and 1931 and when their animals died on tour, they were often given to local museums. No doubt the menagerie was most exciting at the time, especially for children, as I can’t imagine many people had previously seen big cats, kangaroos, monkeys and even a rhino to name just a few.

The above animal doesn’t have a name, or at least not one that has been recorded, but it’s an ocelot which did in January 1893 before it was stuffed and brought to the museum. I hadn’t realised, but ocelots can be kept as pets, although I’m hoping that not too many people decide to do that in Norwich as it would feel sub-optimal for too many of these to be wandering around.

As evidence that these displays were educational, this is a binturong and I’ve never heard of them before so that’s something new to me. It’s an Asian bear cat and it looks very odd to me, they’re apparently noted for their strong tail which helps them climb trees. According to Plumpton Park Zoo they are “normally shy in the wild, but very aggressive when harassed and they may urinate or defecate on a threat”. They sound like just the thing you’d want to traipse around in your menagerie.

The museum notes that in 1812, George Wombwell bred the first lion in captivity in the UK, apparently now stuffed and on display at Saffron Walden museum. This lion cub was born on tour in 1887, dying at three months old when it reached Lowestoft. If he had lived longer, he is unlikely to have had a pleasant life, as Wombwell had used the lions to fight dogs, usually a battle which the lion would win but at some cost to its health and well-being. They were controversial even back in the early nineteenth century and Parliament banned them, which is one of the earlier pieces of animal rights legislation.

This male was caught in Australia and used by the menagerie as a boxing red kangaroo. I’m not sure that zoos or the like would get away with that little arrangement any more, he died in Somerset in March 1896. The museum doesn’t note whether he died in a fight or of natural causes. For anyone who wants to read more about this way of exhibiting animals before the establishment of zoos, there’s a Wikipedia page about them.

June 26, 2023
Norwich Castle Museum – Pull’s Ferry Water Gate by Joseph Stannard

In the collections of Norwich Castle Museum, this is a pencil and watercolour by Joseph Stannard (1797-1830) from 1808. My first thought is that this shows just what a heap of dreadful buildings that had been shoved up in front of the historic Pull’s Ferry water gate. But, back to Stannard, who had his first painting exhibited at the Norwich Society of Artists when he was just 14. He suffered from poor health throughout most of his life, dying of tuberculosis at the age of 33, but despite that short life he became an important member of the Norwich School of Painters.

Here’s what it looks like today, with the River Wensum just visible in the left hand corner. I wonder whether the marks on the right-hand tower, looking like where a window or door once was, once led into the structure that Stannard drew. I rather like looking at how buildings have changed over the centuries during their repairs and reconstructions and this structure has gone through some periods when it was quite unloved.

By the late nineteenth century, the building had fallen into some state of disrepair and the roof had fallen in which was really all quite sub-optimal. On the bright side at least, the ramshackle arrangement of rickety buildings in front of the gate have been removed, although perhaps it was those that was holding them up.

In terms of when things improved for the building, George Plunkett, as ever, helps with this as he has a photo from 1949 showing a modernisation taking place and this was overseen by Cecil Upcher. Pull’s Ferry was for centuries used as a ferry house (the ferry operated until 1943), and the gate itself was built in the fourteenth century over the canal that had been used to take stone the short distance down to the cathedral during its construction. The canal was filled in during the late eighteenth century and for a while the building was used as a pub, which strikes me as a useful enterprise.

June 26, 2023