Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Essex

Harwich – Harwich Masonic Hall

The star at the front represents the Masons as I understand and it feels like an austere frontage for a building that is still in use. It was constructed in the late nineteenth century, but the building was badly damaged in the Great Flood of 1953 which caused substantial damage to the coastline of East Anglia.

The frontage did have windows at the time of the Great Flood, so I suspect that they were removed during the repair of the building in the late 1950s. Despite a large number of buildings in the area being listed, this one hasn’t been which also means that I haven’t been able to discover much more about its history. I found it interesting though with its frontage and was pleased to see it’s still used for community events. They’ve got a web-site at https://harwichmasonichall.co.uk/.

April 4, 2023
Harwich – Greater Anglia Train from Norwich to Harwich

Today’s little pub, history and walking expedition is to Harwich since I thought that I needed a day out. I noticed on-line that the London train before mine was cancelled so thought I’d rush down in anticipation of the actual service I was booked on being full. Fortunately, I got a table just in time so was able to merrily type away for an hour or so. The service inevitably got busier and I got chatting to a confused passenger (they weren’t confused by me, or at least I don’t think so) who wondered why the train was so busy. We then shared our thoughts about Greater Anglia, which is a healthy scepticism I would say mixed with a supportive attitude.

My train arrived into Manningtree on time, but since it was a tight connection I didn’t get time to have a look around the railway station.

Looking to the left, the train was empty. Something of a contrast to the standing room only of the train that I had just disembarked.

Looking to the right, the train was empty. Now, I know I complain, but I hate it when they shove five seats in across. They’re so narrow that it effectively takes out the middle seat of the three so I disagree that there’s any benefit in terms of passenger numbers. Indeed, they’ve just made it more uncomfortable for everyone as it’s hard to navigate down the aisle and there’s a reason why trains traditionally have four seats across.

A couple of other people got on and then got off again at the gateway to the globe railway station that is Harwich International.

I do love a bit of history and they’ve made an effort with the boards at Harwich Town. The sign notes that between December 1938 and May 1940 that 10,000 unaccompanied children came to Britain from Europe. Although many people were involved, it is impossible for me not to mention the work done by Sir Nicholas Winton, someone that I consider to be one of the greatest people of the twentieth century. The relevance is that the children arrived here at Harwich and many stayed locally.

Another board about the Kindertransport.

I’ve been watching a lot of Hi-de-Hi recently and I didn’t realise that the programme was filmed at Warners which wasn’t far from the railway station, but unfortunately it was all demolished in 1992. That was a suitable treat to feel so near to where all this comedy action took place.

It’s a pretty railway station and it’s at the end of the Mayflower Line, with the building being rebuilt between 1865 and 1866.

And an information board at the front of the station, it all felt more remote than I had expected with all this greenery. But I had arrived into Harwich on time and ready to explore the town for my first time in recent years.

April 4, 2023
Saturday and Sunday : LDWA Boat Trip Along the Orwell

There was little of consequence on Saturday because I was far too focused on the excitement of the LDWA boat trip that was taking place on the Sunday. There’s the usual heap of photos at https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720300345889 for anyone who wants to trawl through them all.

My friend Liam, who is pub obsessed, demanded that we go to Briarbank, even if it meant missing the pre boat trip walk, so I decided that we’d better do that to keep him happy. I went here a few months ago, it’s a laid-back and friendly venue which would be easy to miss. And here’s a quiz question, there’s a subtle hint in the photo as to what this building used to be.

Here’s the answer and well done to anyone who noticed what was above the door in the previous photo.

The frontage of the building today. They’ve got a pleasant outside area I noticed later on and I enjoyed my visit, the Briar Cobnut brown ale was well-kept and quite malty.

Here was the vessel for the day, the Orwell Lady. This boat trip was paid for by Norfolk & Suffolk LDWA as part of the national organisation’s 50th birthday and I think 40 or so members came along for the journey. I had thought that the boat was a bit bigger than it was, but it’s a vessel with an interesting history, it was once a Thames River cruiser which was put together in 1979. It operated from Westminster Pier for a decade, then moved to Brownsea Island near Poole and has been meandering around Ipswich since 2001.

There’s the new N&S chair in the centre, Hilary, taking control after Hayley (on the left) yelled at everyone to be quiet. She’s good at getting quiet is that Hayley!

And we’re off! The captain, or whatever he’s called, gave a running commentary during the day of things to look out for.

We had to go into a lock to get onto the Orwell from the Marina and there was a bit of a queue for that, so we did a little tour of the harbour first. I remember Ipswich marina as an industrial and quite derelict area nearly two decades ago, it has very much changed to be really quite decadent now.

This is the grand building of the Old Customs House, originally built in 1845, replacing the previous building was which thought to have been there for over 400 years.

Into the lock. As Alan Partridge would say, it’s all happening now. Susanna was on the vessel and I was surprised that she hadn’t been to Ipswich before, as she’s been just about everywhere. I was impressed that she wanted to see the Wolsey Gateway, it’s one of the treasures of Ipswich that I’ve thought doesn’t get the recognition that it deserves. Ipswich could have been very different today if Wolsey’s plans for his Ipswich college had come to fruition, it could have perhaps been more like Cambridge and Oxford. The Gateway is a remarkable survivor and was intended to be the entrance from the river into the college, which itself was never built.

All of these containers are courtesy of Matt Hancock, hundreds of them, all with PPE waiting to be destroyed.

I’ve walked along the riverbank before, and gone over the Orwell Bridge in a car, but I’ve never been in a boat thing that goes underneath the bridge.

A little island with some fishermen.

And a hawk’s box, or some sort of bird like that. I’m pleased at the zoom on my camera, this is the first time that I’ve properly tried it out on something I wanted to see. What I wanted to see wasn’t there, but I guess that’s not quite the point.

I don’t think that I’d want a yacht, it looks a right hassle to maintain and manoeuvre about. I imagine it’s a very expensive hobby as well, so I think I’ll stick to craft beer where I’ve got no fears of capsizing. Well, I hope not anyway.

Look at the size of this container ship operated by Maersk. I remember being close to container ships in Seattle harbour when I went on a little boat trip there, but I don’t recall ships any of this size. Apparently this can hold several thousand containers and it still amazes me that the thing can still float with all that weight.

The cranes for taking containers on and off ships.

We didn’t unfortunately get up the powerboat speeds of when a little group of us went on the Thames Rocket a few months back.

Harwich and its lifeboat station, which is one that Liam didn’t build.

It’s a long time I’ve been to Harwich, I fancy another visit at some point. The geography of the situation, namely the big river in the way, makes it harder for me to get to than Felixstowe, despite them being so close on the map.

There was some kind of emergency, so this little boat thing was allowed to travel at speed ahead of us.

There’s Simon, Jane and Liam. Richard managed to break one arm off of his sunglasses as a party trick to amuse people which was kind of him.

Back under the Orwell Bridge, with the whole trip having taken around three hours.

The Cliff Brewery building originally constructed in 1896 and not in very good shape at the moment. There are plans to get on and fix this building up, but they need to hurry up before it just falls down. There’s more about this building on the Ipswich Maritime Trust web-site.

Sitting in the lock waiting to re-enter Ipswich Marina harbour, it’s surprising (to me anyway) how quickly the water level rises but without being able to feel it.

Anyway, all in all a very lovely day, thanks to Simon and Hilary for organising this trip, a lovely way of commemorating the LDWA’s 50th birthday. I’m pleased to say that no-one fell overboard, no-one was seasick and everyone was actually quite brave. It was also lovely to catch up on gossip, which I think was the main function of the day really.

Liam had never been to Tim Hortons, so we had a little visit on the way back to their new Ipswich outlet.

I quite like the chain, although they’re expanding quickly and I wonder just how different their offering is. Anyway, this is a bit of an aside to the rest of my post about the boat trip, but I enjoyed my chicken strips anyway.

July 7, 2022
Braintree – The Picture Palace

On the way down to London last week, we popped into this JD Wetherspoon pub in Braintree (a town we were near as Liam want to charge his electric car there, as he’s very environmental) as I hadn’t visited it before, and I felt that this was a sufficient reason to go there.

The entrance to the former cinema, which was purpose-built in 1935 as the Embassy (the name of which is still visible on the exterior of the building, as can be seen in the top photo). Before it, the Picture Palace had stood here, which was built in 1912 on the site of a former sand-pit and this name has been brought back by JD Wetherspoon. Braintree was growing by the 1930s (and has grown almost exponentially since) and the demand for a larger venue was required, hence the construction of the Embassy.

The pub is located to what was the bottom left corner of Fair Field in this map from the early twentieth century and Victoria Street now cuts across this site from west to east.

My friend Richard will be delighted at this, he adores Bells and would swap his entire whisky collection for a few shots of this.

The interior of the pub and it appeared to be a sensitive conversion into a pub which hasn’t damaged the historic integrity of the building (or at least as little as shoving a pub into an old building can damage it). It’s not brilliantly reviewed on-line, although there’s nothing too serious.

I couldn’t find any amusing reviews, but I liked this:

“Came in at 8 to order food. Didn’t order any alcohol. Got harassed at quarter to 8, trying to rush us to eat our food. Wasn’t even 9 yet. No sign showing that was there policy on the door. Rude staff. Extremely rude staff. Do not go here if you want a nice night or evening.”

I guess that there was a child in the group and the pub were honouring their licence restrictions,something which seems to infuriate no end of customers as they feel their children should be exempt. But, I noted that they arrived at 20:00, but complain that they were being hurried at 19:45. Anyway, I digress in a pointless manner.

I had a quick half of the Ridley’s Rite beer from Bishop Nick brewery who are from Braintree itself, which is at least some effort to stock local drinks. That tasted very acceptable, although the others on the table just opted for coffees, although I didn’t say anything of course….. As a pub, it wasn’t entirely clean (as Ross discovered when put his sleeve into a pool of tomato sauce, although we all saw the funny side in that – other than Ross), but it’s keenly priced and a decent transformation of what is a relatively grand building.

November 10, 2021
Colchester – The Magnet Micropub (Interview)

I’ve worked my way around many pubs in Colchester, but I was delighted to hear (on an LDWA walk where one of the walkers is friends with the owners….) that there’s a new one opening and especially so as it’s a micropub. I drone on about those a lot and I suspect many more will open in the years to come, which is something rather positive for the hospitality industry.

Anyway, although I haven’t had chance to visit yet, the owners kindly agreed to do a little interview. This also means that I am now planning a little road trip with friends to visit Colchester pubs again (any excuse I admit….), including the Magnet.

The pub opened in late May 2021, so this is all new and exciting. I like the “an idea was formed whilst somewhat worse for wear in a micropub”, as I’ve had great (or what I considered to be great) ideas with friends in similar circumstances. I also think that this idea must have been formed in the very lovely Hop Beer Shop, which I visited last year.

The micropub is located in part of the former Norfolk pub on North Station Road, a short walk from Colchester railway station. Which makes it an ideal location to pop to before getting a train (or having just got off one for that matter). The pub takes its name from William Gilbert, a local scientist who did work on magnetism, so relevance to local heritage which I rather like.

The owners are Robert and Ian, who have been spending the last few months getting everything ready for their new venture.

What made you open a micropub and who is involved in the project?

An idea was formed whilst somewhat worse for wear in a micropub in Chelmsford at the tail end of 2019 which was then amazingly followed through. The micropub is co-owned by Rob and I. Prior to this we had both worked in finance.

Have there been any obstacles in your opening, other than the huge challenge of Covid-19?

The biggest challenge has been finding suitable properties and then educating landlords / freeholders etc., on the benefits of a micropub, particularly when changes to planning permission were required. As regards The Magnet itself (aside from Covid-19 related restrictions) the biggest obstacle was getting the utilities isolated and connected.

Projects like this sound fun, has that been how it has worked out so far?

We have been very lucky with the trades persons and suppliers that we partnered up with. Their level of expertise and enthusiasm has been unbelievable. Also the friends and family members who have lent their time and skills to the project,

Your pub has been formed from part of the former Norfolk pub, how many people will it seat?

It will seat approximately 50, including the courtyard area.

What sort of atmosphere are you hoping to achieve?

Relaxed but convivial, with conversation promoted.

Do you have a favourite other micropub in East Anglia? Have they inspired you with this project?

Following on from the last question, Farmers Yard in Maldon, and Mawson’s in Southend, in terms of atmosphere.

Will there be decadent bar snacks available? I have a passion for locally sourced Scotch Eggs! Although I’m also content with scampi fries…..

At the moment we have locally produced crisps and cakes, but are thinking of expanding our savoury bar snack offerings. So if you have any suppliers that you recommend, we would be grateful to hear them.

Will the vibe be more craft beer or real ale? Or a crossover between the two?

We built a small dedicated cold room and are able to serve both cask and keg at a perfect temperature. We have three handles for cask, and five keg lines which currently host two IPAs, a pilsner, a fruity wheat beer and a cider. We also offer cider from the box, locally distilled spirits and a range of bottled drinks

Which breweries are you looking to source from?

As both Rob and I are new to this game we are currently only sourcing from local breweries (predominantly Colchester Brewery) but as we get more experienced we may start to expand the net wider.

Do you have any longer-term plans for the micropub with regards to things that you want to achieve in the future?

It’s still very early days for The Magnet (we only opened on May 21st). So making it a success is priority number one.

The pub has a website at https://www.themagnetpub.co.uk/.

June 1, 2021
Chelmsford – Woolpack

I visited this pub in October 2020, this isn’t some lockdown breach…… Although it’s Greene King, it’s also in the Good Beer Guide and has been the local branch’s pub of the year.

The pub didn’t have any dark beers and no craft beer, and the poor member of bar staff was left with a dire choice of beers to recommend to me, namely Hardys & Hansons Olde Trip. This beer is, frankly, not particularly good at the best of times, so I wasn’t entirely thrilled. However, I forced myself to have a half, as it seems a little pointless to try and visit every Good Beer Guide pub and then not have a drink.

The interior was decorated for Halloween, or at least I assumed it was….. I tried to ignore the ‘Create Your Own Dance Video’ machine, which seemed ill-fitting in numerous different senses. The presence of this machine confused me a little, is this trying to be a local community pub or Yates? There were also numerous ‘4 shots for £12’ which isn’t really much of an offer when it includes Cactus Jacks, where an entire bottle costs far less than £12. Anyway, all this seemed muddled, and I got the impression that beer drinkers are being shunted out. If you want a young and vibrant theme then get better craft beer, not machines to create your own dance video. Anyway, I digress.

On the point of beer choice, I was slightly annoyed to see there was a picture frame full of Titanic Brewery pump clips as well, as that’s one of my favourite breweries and I would have very much liked to have enjoyed one of their beers. Instead, I was stuck with Greene King’s finest.

The pub serves food including Sunday Roasts and there are burgers and the like.

The service was fine, although the pub being empty didn’t add much to the atmosphere. The staff member asked me for help spelling words on a document he was writing, which made me feel useful at least. I suspect there’s quite a community feel to this pub in normal times, it had that sort of atmosphere to it. It’s quite a ‘lived-in’ pub and I hope they don’t try and modernise this VIctorian pub pointlessly, it’s got charm as it is.

As for the beer, it was bloody awful and on the turn. Usually I’d get it replaced, but it’s such a bland and boring beer anyway that it didn’t much change my enjoyment of it. I think Greene King work hard on their obsession to deliver mediocrity and this beer delivers on that. It comes to something though when I’ve started to wonder whether Greene King beers actually tasted better when they’ve gone off, at least there’s some sort of flavour.

It seems that in normal times there is actually a relatively wide beer choice available, so I was maybe unfortunate to visit when the pub was struggling to offer much of a range. The Railway Tavern in Chelmsford had told me the day before that they didn’t have the trade to justify putting darker beers on, which didn’t seem an unreasonable thing to say. But, judging solely on what was available when I visited, this was sadly just the bland Greene King offering and it also wasn’t kept well.

Whatpub note that the pub underwent a change of management at around the time that I visited, so perhaps this was the dying days of the previous owners, which would explain why things were a bit ropey. So, nothing particularly impressive from when I visited, although it was clean and the pub seemed to be taking the Covid-19 rules seriously. But, the whole set-up seemed to be focused more on moving away from beer towards gimmicks, and I’d rather they went the other way and pushed towards craft beer as that’s where being on-trend lies. This is all very confusing though, the pub is clearly popular with CAMRA and real ale drinkers, but it felt like it was trying to be something else. Maybe this just all makes more sense during normal times, being a publican is hardly easy during these strange times.

February 19, 2021
Colchester – Abbey Arms

Just for clarity, this visit is from a couple of months ago, this isn’t a pub serving illegally during the lockdown. This was our penultimate pub of the evening and it was busy inside, as well as outside by the time we left. The pub was modernised a few years ago and I do like what they’re done with the exterior, it’s much improved from what was here before.

For some reason I’ve failed to note what I ordered in this pub, although knowing Nathan, he can probably still remember. So, it’s not ideal I can’t comment on that, although I do know that the choice wasn’t overly exciting in terms of there being no darker options, but the beer quality was fine (I’d have remembered if it wasn’t) and the primary selection is from the Colchester Brewery.

I wasn’t overly impressed at the acoustics of the pub, it’s a large single bar affair with no room divisions and a more modern design which just seemed soulless to me. The pub staff were friendly, although were perhaps unfortunately distracted by some of the pub’s more vibrant customers. There was a community feel to the whole arrangement though, I suspect someone new to the area would find the environment welcoming in terms of meeting new people and feeling welcome.

I wasn’t quite sure who the pub’s target clientele were, there was what I felt to be a slightly uneasy mix between the bright beer fonts and the real ales perched next to them. I’m more used to sports bars putting craft beer in alongside lagers to try and keep on trend (or just sell lagers and sod all else), and that’s something that is potentially quite exciting to me (well, not the sports bar or lagers bit obviously). But, I can’t complain that they’ve made an effort to sell real ale and it’s rather lovely that it’s working for them. The pub had also made an effort to stock a wide variety of spirits, so it wasn’t all generic and bland.

There was nothing wrong with the pub, but I’ll mark this one as not being for me (in fairness to them, very few sports bars are, so I was never their target market), I think I’d have rather it was the old fashioned local it was a few years ago, or something more modern in terms of craft beer or innovative and exciting real ales. But, the pub was busy, so I hope it’s doing well and that’s all that matters in these challenging times….

November 29, 2020
Colchester – Queen Street Brew House

This visit was a few weeks ago, this isn’t a pub staying open during the lockdown…..

The pub is very well-reviewed in numerous places on-line and there are comments about its quirkiness running throughout those reviews. When we arrived, it also had the most onerous health related rules that I’ve seen in a pub in terms of what they had on posters by the door. They required a face mask when moving around (not required at the time, so they were ahead of the curve here), they required temperature checks, address details and had a complex toilet procedure involving spades. The pub then proceeded to not really enforce these rules, although I’d add that everything still felt safe and they were following what they needed to do.

I think quirky is an appropriate word for this set-up, which looks like I’ve done it (hence, I approve). It also didn’t serve any obvious point, as customers walked in both directions on both sides, so it more corralled people together if anything. But, then again, it did remind people to be careful and that was useful.

It’s cheaper than plastic screens and just as effective, so why not? I didn’t buy the round here, so I’m not sure exactly how friendly the service was, but apparently it was all polite and welcoming from what I was told.

I had an Old Man and The Sea from Mighty Oak Brewing, which I thought was served at a temperature which seemed to me to be nearer to frozen than chilled. It knocked the entire taste out of the beer, there were no flavours evident at all, and I think that’s the first time I’ve experienced that with a beer of this type. There are meant to be flavours of espresso coffee, dark chocolate and dark fruit, but they were indiscernible and the nearest I’ve tasted to this is Guinness Extra Cold (which in itself has rather died away). Rather awkwardly, the pub toasted my rating on Untappd…

I do know that Mighty Oak Brewing are a decent brewery, they’re local to this pub being from Maldon, and I’ve had their beers at the Hop Beer Shop, United Brethren and the Duke of York, all in Chelmsford.

Anyway, back to this pub, which was beautifully quirky in very many ways and it clearly had a loyal clientele. It had a community feel to it, with an impressive range of Belgian bottled beers and a number of ciders. Even though some of their arrangements might have felt quirky, it still seemed safe to me, it’s all rather different to what the chains were doing at the time. So, I think I quite liked this pub and the reviews on Untappd don’t suggest any issues with the beer, so I’ll pop back again at some time as their choice of beer and ciders looked innovative and intriguing.

November 16, 2020
Basildon – Campanile Hotel

This stay was a few weeks ago, before everything was shut back down.

One thing I’ve noted is that motels don’t tend to do very well in the UK, there’s something that the British don’t seem to like about having open and external corridors. There was a little bit of a building frenzy of them in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, but that ebbed away. They work well in the United States and they seem more common across mainland Europe, with Campanile being a French chain (and they seem to have lots of locations in Poland amongst others). Anyway, I stayed here as it was the cheapest option, I can eschew luxury.

The room was actually clean and comfortable, although dated. The welcome at reception was one of the best I’ve had in a hotel, a very enthusiastic staff member explaining everything he could. So, there was nothing really wrong with the room’s cleanliness or the staffing.

The plug sockets are hidden away, I can’t recall a sign in a hotel room helping customers to find them. This could, and probably should, be remedied even with the use of extension leads. They can be nailed in (not through the wire, even my limited electrical knowledge knows that) if customers keep pinching them.

Hmmm, this lamp should have just been thrown away. This is doing nothing for the room.

I was moderately puzzled at this. It is in keeping with what is being offered, a room with en-suite bathroom. But, I’m not entirely sure that it’s the best image to offer as the first thing a customer sees.

The hotel has sunk to the bottom of the reviews and has collapsed its prices as well, which is usually a freefall for a location that it can’t recover from. The difficulty is that groups on a night out often book the cheapest option as they’re just looking for somewhere to stay. And, unfortunately, sometimes these groups cause issues for the hotel and their guests.

And…. The hotel dealt with this little crisis well, it was a birthday party coming back which got out of hand very quickly in terms of noise. The police were called immediately (I assume by the hotel, although a guest might have reported them I suppose) and came in about six vans. The group were not the politest to the police, but the law won out here quite quickly. Anyway, this is just what the hotel didn’t need at 01:00 (although I quite like drama like this, as I was awake anyway), and this sort of problem is riven through its reviews. Along with the rooms which need refurbishment.

But, the staff here seem determined to turn things around, with the recent reviews for their food being positive and customer service was way above average. Other than policegate, the location was quiet and everything was clean, so I’d stay again if I went back to Basildon. Although, I’m not sure why I’d need to go back to Basildon, but the town’s main attraction is just around the corner from this hotel.

November 13, 2020
Colchester – Three Wise Monkeys

This visit was from a few weeks ago, when we went to this craft beer bar and BBQ restaurant, which is certainly not a bad little combination. It’s well reviewed, indeed one of the best rated locations in Colchester, both for the food and beer. This venue, which also incorporates a gin bar, opened in 2014 and they’ve also now opened a sister outlet in the centre of Ipswich.

Some of the beer options, with a suitably interesting range of different beer styles. The staff here were engaging and efficient, although we were wise to book a table as they seemed to be quite full. There was a minor error with one drink in the evening, but the staff cleared that problem up promptly, so all was well. Everything was clean and organised and they were taking the appropriate health precautions.

The ‘We Oat to Know Better’ from Wild Weather Ales of Reading in Berkshire in conjunction with Brew York, this was rather lovely, a fruity flavour and suitably sweet. It’s marketed as an imperial strawberry milkshake, something which sounds tempting to me at the best of times. It was perhaps too sweet to drink a lot of this, so I switched to something a little darker.

This is the ‘Black Sow’ from the White Hag brewery, perfectly acceptable as a milk stout, although I thought it lacked some richness and strength of flavours.

My phone camera’s wide angle has rather squished this image so that the portion size looks small, but there’s more here than the photo might suggest. It’s the smoked meat combo of beef brisket, sausage and pulled pork, which was all rather lovely, although the brisket was just a little too fatty for me. The sausage was though excellent with a richness of flavour and the pulled pork was tender. The chips were crunchy on the exterior and fluffy inside, the gherkins added texture and flavour and everything was well cooked and flavoured.

I like the whole concept of this restaurant, and also liked that it was clearly working given how many people were dining and drinking there. They do take deposits before reserving tables, which is probably a sensible idea, although might put some customers off. They don’t reply to TripAdvisor reviews, which is a shame as I would have liked to have known what happened to cause this recent review:

“We paid a deposit to have a table at 9:15 and we got here 15 minutes early. All we done was walk in and ask if we could sit down early and the minute we walked in the general manager was so disgusting to us he spoke to us disgusting. When my partner asked if there’s somewhere we can sit whilst we are waiting for our table the general manager Charles Gregory all of a sudden got so rude to my partner started telling him under no circumstances can he accommodate us even though he let two other girls sit down inside the bar. What a bunch of contemptuous rude disgusting people running an establishment you should be ashamed of. I will be taking this further to the owners of how DISGUSTING AND OBNOXIOUS the general manager is he should be ashamed of how he treated us. Why he felt the need to look down at us like he was so smug and better than us. Disgusting hope he gets fired”

I’m sure there are two sides to the story there, or disgustinggate….

Anyway, I like the venue and thought that the craft beer selection was varied and interesting, especially given the limitations of trade at the moment. The staff were also knowledgeable about the beer options and keen to engage, always a positive sign in a venue such as this. Perhaps they’ll get to opening a venue in Norwich one day….

November 9, 2020