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  • Wizz Air (London Luton to Wrocław)

    Wizz Air (London Luton to Wrocław)

    Safely at Luton Airport nice and early, as usual. The security process was smooth and efficient, taking less than five minutes from when I scanned my boarding card.

    I popped into Big Smoke with my Priority Pass card and had the usual delicious chicken tenders and a slightly less delicious alcohol free Stella. The service is always friendly and efficient here, with plenty of power points to ensure I didn’t have to stress about that.

    And then into Nolito for a healthy snack with pineapple juice. It’s quite pricey and I’m not sure that the quality here quite justified the price, but as it was free, I decided that I’d cope.

    By then, it was getting nearer the time when boarding started, with my flight being the penultimate out of the airport that day. I rather like days such as this with an evening flight, I get a chance to get on top of everything work wise and nothing feels rushed.

    The boarding process was smooth, well managed and everything was clear. The staff here were friendly and personable, it was all efficient and organised.

    And then the boarding, I was towards the back of the aircraft and boarded via the rear doors.

    The aircraft was HA-LGM, which is yet another one that I haven’t been on before. It was newly delivered to the airline in July 2024 and inside everything was clean and in a decent state of repair.

    I have little to report about the flight, as once again, it was operated by Wizz Air with professionalism and efficiency. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat with no-one next to me, the announcements were clear, the crew were friendly and it was all peaceful and organised. We landed on time and the pilots kept us informed of what was going on.

    The one negative, which wasn’t the fault of the airline, is that they had expected steps to be brought to the back of the aircraft in Wrocław, but they instead used a jet bridge. That meant it took a bit longer for me to disembark with a wait of nearly fifteen minutes on board. This isn’t a problem, but there’s one bus an hour that departs the airport at night and I didn’t really want to miss it as it was already late enough.

    I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the advantages of flying on Wizz Air as a passenger with a British passport is that there aren’t generally many of us (and that is obviously a generalisation). Indeed, despite disembarking almost last, there were only two people ahead of me in the queue at border control. This meant that I was able to get through the border quicker than most holders of EU passports, a rare treat, although I’d still quite like an EU passport once again…

    Anyway, the efficiency here meant that I was outside the airport with fifteen minutes to spare before the night bus turned up. Another rather lovely flight and a bargain for just £8.99. And it’s lovely to be back in Poland.

  • From Pubs to Luton Airport

    From Pubs to Luton Airport

    After visiting ten pubs with Roy and Jen, it was time to plan the week’s adventure which was to work out how to get to Warsaw Beer Festival. This will be my third time going and my first challenge was to find a £8.99 with Wizz Air’s Multipass. Fortunately, there was a flight to Wrocław on Monday evening and Liam kindly agreed to take me to Luton after I had a quick hour rest in Norwich which gave me time to think about packing.

    And the journey was suitably luxurious with Liam’s decadent car ensuring that my seat was chilled, whereas his was heated for reasons unknown. Safely in Luton after faultless driving, although I could perhaps have done without the ten minutes standing at the reception desk waiting for a team member to come and check me in. I also had a strong suspicion, for reasons I won’t go into here, that the team member had been asleep, but, I can’t imagine being the night porter at a Travelodge in Luton is always the more inspirational place to be.

    Anyway, there were no issues with the hotel, it was a cheap Sunday night room and I woke up ready for the three mile walk into the heart of Luton.

    This was pretty much the highlight of the three mile walk, it’s not really the most scenic. Listening to podcasts makes it just fly by though.

    Then, after a quick free meal and also a heap of coffee at the White House, which is the JD Wetherspoon pub in the town, it was time for the forty minute walk to the airport. Arriving five hours early for the flight felt just right in terms of timing….. Another adventure begins.

  • Sunday Day Out at Norfolk Pubs

    Sunday Day Out at Norfolk Pubs

    And here’s a quick summary of my blog posts from the day out that Jen, Roy and I had on Sunday. They were both, as ever, marvellous company and they were also lucky that they had me there to amuse them. Or something like that in terms of them being lucky.

    We visited ten venues and I have to confess that I can’t match Roy’s ability to drink. He had a pint in each venue, I went for a half in each, so I ended up having a total of five pints over eight hours, whereas Roy cleared ten pints. Very rufty tufty.

    Thank Jen for her driving, which was much appreciated as that meant she couldn’t drink ten pints, but instead stayed on soft drinks.

    The venues were selected as part of Roy’s complex old Woodforde’s Ale Trail books system (that I won’t even try to explain), but what that gave us was a selection of pubs that was nearly entirely new to me, I had been in two of them before. The pubs were all very much at the heart of their communities and all doing a good job at serving them.

    We had a selection of country pubs, town pubs, one chain pub, estate pubs, one social club and two hotels. It was a really rather lovely day and we also deliberately visited a couple of two pubs that are now closed, but were in Roy’s books, that I will write about from a historical perspective at a future date.

    So, the pubs, in order, were:

    Strumpshaw – The Huntsman Pub

    Freethorpe – Rampant Horse

    Gorleston – Cliff Hotel

    Gorleston – Mariners Compass Pub

    Gorleston – Short Blue

    Gorleston – William Adams

    Great Yarmouth – Rumbold Arms

    Great Yarmouth – Lichfield Arms

    Caister-on-Sea – Branford’s Restaurant and Bar

    Acle – Acle Social Club

  • Acle – Acle Social Club

    Acle – Acle Social Club

    The tenth, and final, venue on our Sunday day out was the Acle Social Club, located at the Acle War Memorial Recreation Centre which is an interestingly named building. Again, I won’t give a history to this as it’s not a traditional pub arrangement.

    I approached the bar to check if we could come in with our CAMRA card as this is a members’ only club. I’d add I didn’t expect they’d take the card, it’s listed on CAMRA’s website that we could do that, which the friendly team member said was fine.

    There were two real ales available from Oakham Ales and I was impressed that both options were beers that I hadn’t had. I opted for the Hare and the Hedgehog, but both looked tempting.

    And I was able to get chocolate here, and not just Maltesers, but the treat bag size. The pricing was firmly towards the lower end of the scale which surprised and delighted me. The beer was well kept, light and fruity, certainly one of the better tasting ones of the day.

    I really liked this venue, it was comfortable, modern and I liked the variety of seating heights. It wasn’t very busy, other than for one quite vibrant group, but it was atmospheric and welcoming. There was a large board showing what food is served during the day and the prices for this were also very reasonable.

    By the time we left, I was starting to think that I’d join the club if it was just a little bit nearer to me. Annual memberships are just £10 and it aims to offer a comfortable bar and dining area for those who are using the hall which is located in. Perhaps they could get a bar billiards table, then I could visit it every year on the away game….. Anyway, this was one of the highlights of the day and well done to clubs like this that sell both chocolate and crisps.

  • Caister-on-Sea – Branford’s Restaurant and Bar

    Caister-on-Sea – Branford’s Restaurant and Bar

    The ninth pub of the day was Branford’s Restaurant and Bar, with Jen requesting that I mention that they could do with more lighting in the car park. The venue is located within the Old Hall Hotel, but they are separately managed.

    The entrance is around the back via the hotel. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect here, and I have no idea what was in the marquee, but the signage was at least clear. I can’t write much about the history of this venue, it’s not clear to me how old the building is and I can’t find out much online.

    It was a wider real ale selection than I had expected with four local beers available. The service was friendly and welcoming, with the atmosphere being less of a restaurant type venue than I had expected.

    The interior is spacious and there’s another dining area to add to this whole arrangement.

    I couldn’t work out whether there were any heritage elements from an older building or this was all relatively new. It didn’t help that we visited the venue when it was dark outside.

    I quite fancied chocolate by this point, but instead I made do with Mini Cheddars with my Adnams Broadside. This was well kept, malty and at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

    For anyone interested, there’s quite a large menu available. The restaurant and bar are all well reviewed on-line and it felt quite busy for a Sunday evening.

    I’m still not sure that I entirely understand this venue, it appears to be primarily an independently run restaurant which also has a bar, with the hotel element being run by a sister company. Either way, the beer selection was decent, the real ale was well kept and there was a friendly welcome. All really rather lovely.

  • Great Yarmouth – Lichfield Arms

    Great Yarmouth – Lichfield Arms

    The eighth pub on our list was the Lichfield Arms in Great Yarmouth, which isn’t a venue that I’ve ever heard of before. CAMRA notes that the landlord has been here for thirty years, which is an impressive stint and he’s delivered a really rather lovely community driven pub.

    The pub was built here in the 1880s, originally defined as being in Gorleston, although I think it’s fair to say that this area is now considered to be part of Great Yarmouth. It was originally a Steward & Patteson pub before it became part of the Watney Mann estate, but it’s now a free house.

    Initially this was just a beer house (these venues could sell beer and were often just a front room, but they couldn’t sell spirits or wines), but in 1903, the Yarmouth Independent reported:

    “The next and last application was by Mr. C. J Wiltshire on behalf of Messrs. Steward and Patteson for the removal of the full license of the Little White Lion, King-street, to the Lichfield Arms beer-house, Lichfield road. This was, he said, the third time of asking, and Messrs. Steward and Patteson were prepared to surrender an off beer-house in High-street. Over 80 houses had been put up in the district since the last application, and it was greatly extending. There was a dearth of public-houses in the area, as was shown by the drink map. With respect to what had been said at previous Licensing Sessions, Mr. Bottle would be glad to know that two doctors had now gone to live in the district. (Laughter.)

    William Pembroke, of the Lichfield Arms, the nominal applicant, said he had a great demand for spirits, especially since there had been so much sickness, and he had been twice called up at night lately.

    Mr. S. Rivett, architect, said there were 441 houses on the Lichfield estate, and 85 had been built since 1901. The nearest full licensed house was 490 yards away.

    Mr. Bottle—This application comes before us with a better grace than any other we have heard. There should be a full licensed house in a district with a population of 2,000 people. At present it hasn’t one full license.

    Mr Wiltshire—The need for a full license there has been fully demonstrated.

    Evidence of the service of the statutory notices in respect of this and all the applications was given by the Warrant Officer (Sergt. W. Moore).”

    The request was granted by the licensing committee, as long as the High Street licence was surrendered. It was though the third time that the venue had requested this.

    There was one real ale available, the Edith Cavell from Wolf Brewery and that’s not a bad one to select.

    The beer was well kept, tasted as expected and was, once again, expertly food paired. For anyone interested, and I’m not sure who will be, but those crisps pack quite a mustardy punch.

    There is one long bar and the decoration is traditional and comfortable. There’s a screen showing sports and although the customers were quite lively during our visit, we felt entirely welcome. The venue is all quite under-stated in a very positive way and it’s primarily wet led, although they occasionally do serve food for special events.

    Those signs above the toilet doors look like they’ve been there for about forty years, but I’m all for heritage and keeping things in pubs rather than constant renovation and modernisation.

    I liked this pub, it felt a welcoming venue, it’s clearly another place that’s at the heart of its community and if it was the landlord of 30 years’ standing that served us, he’s doing remarkably well to keep the pub going.

  • Great Yarmouth – Rumbold Arms

    Great Yarmouth – Rumbold Arms

    Our seventh pub of the day, where Jen parked the car in a bush, was the Rumbold Arms in Great Yarmouth.

    The pub first opened in the 1830s and it went through a succession of brewery owners, Steward & Patteson, Watney Mann, the Unique Pub Company and then Enterprise Inns got hold of it, although it’s fortunately now a free house.

    It did once have a bowling green, although it’s not clear where from the 1880s image, but there is a large space behind the pub and I assume that it was once there.

    It might not have the prettiest view at the front over the road, but just down there is the very competently built bridge that my friend Liam helped put together….

    This was the first pub that we visited during the day which didn’t have any real ale. The service was friendly and there was a laid back atmosphere in the venue. It’s very much a wet led venue and there are numerous events such as live music, bingo and karaoke.

    But they did have Caffreys, which is a little unusual to see. It’s a quirky little stout, creamy and with a taste of coffee.

    This is another of those pubs that is important to the community and it was clean and well managed. I’ve also only just realised after looking at the photos that the pub had Roast Beef Monster Munch behind the bar and I missed an opportunity there…. It’s a shame that there’s no real ale available, but variety is the spice of life and all that…

  • Gorleston – William Adams

    Gorleston – William Adams

    I had thought I’d wittered on about this pub before, which is the JD Wetherspoon outlet in Gorleston, the William Adams. However, it appears that I haven’t and so I’ve had to cobble together some older photos for this post, this external photo is from 2023. This was the sixth pub of the day that Roy, Jen and I visited.

    A 2018 photo of the interior, but it’s still pretty similar. My bag is a little more decrepit now though. Unfortunately, I don’t have carpet photos which is a bit of an omission, but I suspect that we’ll all cope.

    The pub, which opened in March 2018, takes its name from the celebrated local lifesaver William Adams, born in Gorleston in 1864 and long remembered as the “Hero of Gorleston” for saving around 140 people from drowning, mainly while working as a bathing hut attendant and swimming instructor.

    The site itself has a rather older religious and commercial history: it was previously occupied by Methodist chapels, the first dating from about 1807 and a rebuilt chapel of 1844, the latter later suffering war damage before the site was eventually cleared and used by GT Motors. There was some complexity about when JD Wetherspoon came to build the pub as two skeletons from the Victorian period were discovered in a crypt from the former church, which were reburied nearby.

    Back to the visit that Roy, Jen and I made at the weekend, there were six real ales available and the prices were all towards the lower end of the scale.

    Chicken done in three ways, classy as ever of me. The beer is the Noble Pair from Harviestoun Brewery and it’s not what I expected from what was named as a brown ale. However, there were some toffee and caramel flavours, all quite heavy, but still agreeable.

    As it’s a JD Wetherspoon venue, I felt the need to take a look at some of the reviews. Things must be going well here, their average on Google reviews is very much towards the highest of the JD Wetherspoon outlets.

    “I saw one man try and open a door for some fresh air and then a staff member came and rather aggressively shut it”.

    I like a bit of passive aggressive behaviour when customers do things like prop doors open.

    “Unfortunately I didn’t get to try the food. Me and my family along with our family dog sat outside, just about to order food when the shift leader came out and told us to leave because of our dog. We questioned the manager who was very rude and he wouldn’t give his name saying I can report him to whoever I like. I’ve been to many weatherspoons up and down the country and never been told to leave. My dog is not dangerous she is very old and wanted to rest”.

    There’s always one dog review, as if the team members are going to break the pub’s national policy as the dog was old…..

    “Came here today with my son and a friend all ate something different a few hours later we all had a bad stomach and vomited”.

    I think the “all ate something different” might be a hint that it’s not from the food….

    “Don’t sell alcohol for breakfast. Very disappointed, spoilt my holiday”.

    Quite…

    Anyway, this was the cheapest pub of the day, it had the best real ale selection of the day and was a handy stop for food.

  • Gorleston – Short Blue

    Gorleston – Short Blue

    The fifth pub in our expedition, and the first one that I’ve visited before, was the Short Blue in Gorleston. Nathan and I visited most of the pubs in Gorleston a few years ago and this one was a disappointment, but I’m pleased to say that matters were much better this time.

    This is a quirky venue in terms of its history, its external feel looks a little like one of the Victorian pubs that have closed, but this is really positive that it’s still going. It first opened in the 1860s and it traded until 1975 when it was sold by Watney Mann and it lost its licence in 1978. That would have normally been the end and it would have become a nice house, but, fortunately it was reopened in 1987 and has traded happily since then.

    The pub’s website has a longer history of the reason for the name of the pub, but in short:

    “In 1795 a young Scrymgeour Hewett left his native Fifeshire to look after some property in Dagenham for an aunt, where he met, courted and married Sarah Whennel—the daughter of a Barking fishing boat owner. This was to be his introduction to fishing, eventually taking over his father-in-law’s two boats—the small beginning of the Short Blue Fleet.”

    From August 1900, there is an early story of tragedy with a tram car in Gorleston that involved the former landlord John Robert Bass. The local newspaper, the Norwich Argus, reported at the time:

    “DEATH IN A TRAM-CAR AT GORLESTON

    An inquest was held at Gorleston on Tuesday on the body of John Robert Bass, aged about 60, of 50, Springfield-road, who died in a tram-car.

    The widow stated that about 6 on Monday morning deceased ate a good breakfast, and left to catch a tram. He appeared in his usual health, and had no occasion to hurry. Generally he had good health, but during the winter suffered from a cough, and he had not had any medical treatment since the spring for this cough.

    John Ward, a tram conductor, said that on Monday, just after he got a car out of the terminus, he saw deceased coming along slowly, and he took a seat in the car. Witness told deceased he had got into the wrong car, and he replied, “All right, old chap.” When he moved the car again he saw deceased sitting in it as if asleep. He shook him, but he did not speak. Another tram employee came and looked at deceased, and said he was dead. He was in quite a natural position in the corner of the car with a box of matches in his hand, and his pipe lay on the floor beneath his feet.

    Dr Tipple said he was called to deceased, and found him reclining on the seat in the tramcar, and just dead. He had ascertained that he had been under the care of Dr Read for cardiac asthma. Dr Read had found that deceased had a fatty heart, and witness had no doubt death was due to heart failure.

    A verdict of “Natural causes” was returned.

    Bass was employed by Mr Richards, boat-builder, of Lowestoft. He was formerly a smack-owner, and afterwards became landlord of the Short Blue Tavern at Gorleston, eventually relinquishing this to work at his trade as a shipwright.”

    There was just one real ale, Old Speckled Hen, which was slightly disappointing, but there seems to be some Greene King tie going on here. The service was though really friendly, there was a welcoming atmosphere here and a laid-back environment.

    The crisps helped the excitement of the beer. The venue serves food from 12:00 until 15:30 on Sundays and we had arrived just towards the end of service, although we weren’t looking to eat here. Well, other than crisps. I liked that the team member mentioned when we entered that they had finished serving, that saved an awkward conversation if we had wanted to eat.

    The menus for anyone who might be interested, although they’re mostly only open during lunchtimes. Sometimes less is more though.

    Not wishing to moan, and it’s nothing to do with me really, but I’m not keen on these witty toilet door names, for those who don’t speak English they’re a challenge, it would be nice if they could put the symbol on as well.

    Anyway, I’m glad that we came to this pub as I felt very welcome, it was clean and the staff were all personable and keen to help. It’s only a small bar, but there was at least a real ale available and they have an excellent reputation for food.

  • Gorleston – Mariners Compass Pub

    Gorleston – Mariners Compass Pub

    Our fourth pub of the day was the Mariners Compass public house in Gorleston. The pub was opened in 1934 as the Middleton Arms and it was operated over the years by Steward & Patteson, then Watney Mann, Brent Walker and then Phoenix Inns. In 2007, it was renamed as the Mariners Compass. I don’t know the reason for the name change, there was a pub called the Mariners Compass in Great Yarmouth long ago, but it does seem an odd thing to change.

    That section of the building to the left is now a dog grooming parlour but it was formerly part of the pub. I suspect that it was originally a fish store as this was mentioned in a 1938 newspaper article.

    I also quite liked this newspaper article from February 1935 and this also references that the brewery sacrificed the Earl Grey pub to get a licence for the Middleton Arms.

    “That only eleven people were charged with drunkenness in Yarmouth last year” was revealed at the annual licensing meeting on Friday. The Chief Constable, Mr. S. W. Smith, in his annual report, stated that the Monastery alehouse in Middlegate Street, referred to March as redundant, was closed at the end of last year. The licence of the Earl Grey, High Street, Gorleston, was transferred to a new house, the Middleton Arms, Middleton Road, on December 18th, and the licence of the Lucknow Tavern, St. Peter’s Road, was surrendered on the same date. The Duke of York beerhouse, George Street, was closed last February, making three houses dispensed with in 1934. The Anchor of Hope, St. Peter’s Road, and Victoria Tavern, Victoria Road, were redundant, and from a structural standpoint should be referred. Brewers and owners of licensed property were anxious to meet the suggestions of the licensing justices in acquiring property for remodelling premises not redundant, to give better living accommodation.”

    The real ale selection is visible in this photo, but it was evident they were laying some things out for a raffle so they politely asked us to order from the bar in the other room. And, it’s fair to say that I hadn’t expected the pub to be so busy when we arrived, it was full and that’s rather positive to see. We didn’t realise that this was the time for the weekly meat raffle and there was music and other entertainment, so our timing wasn’t ideal.

    Ordering at the bar took a little while, but the bar staff were friendly and were working as fast as they could. I wasn’t entirely sure why they were selling such large bags of crisps and big bars of chocolate, but I do approve.

    I ordered half of the Woodforde’s Wherry and expected a real ale, but it was served as a keg version. I didn’t even know that they did this, but Roy confirmed that they did, and I decided that I preferred this keg to the cask version. It was very reasonably priced at £1.90 for a half, which I think was the cheapest of the day other than for JD Wetherspoon.

    It was quieter outside, although it wasn’t the most salubrious of drinking locations.

    It was really rather lovely to see a pub that was so busy and so evidently serving its local community so well. They were fund raising and it was bringing the community together, this was very much the sort of place that it would be possible to find new friends if moving to the area. It’s not quite what I expected, but the welcome felt authentic, the atmosphere was welcoming and I was surprised and delighted.