Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Norwich

  • Norwich – Norwich Cathedral (Dippy Visit)

    Norwich – Norwich Cathedral (Dippy Visit)

    As I’m back in Norwich, I thought I’d take the opportunity to go and see Dippy at Norwich Cathedral before he (or she) departs on the end of its tour of the provinces. The cathedral has clearly put a huge amount of effort into this whole arrangement and there are what seemed like endless amounts of volunteers, who all seemed happy, engaged and content. Rather like Rochester Cathedral and its golf course, I think it’s a clever way of getting families in to see the building as well as Dippy.

    The usual entrance to the cathedral has been closed for the moment, from its rather decadent entry near the front of the building to a slightly hard to find (well, for someone who isn’t local) entrance around the side. There is signage, but I was slightly puzzled why they had moved away from their recently professionally constructed entrance to guide people through the cloisters.

    After navigating around a bit, here we are in the aisle of the cathedral. The whole thing is just a copy of the original which is located at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, which was annoyingly shut when I went to the city. I’ll go back one day as I liked Pittsburgh.

    Underneath…..

    To the side…..

    The number of volunteers on site helped give a friendly atmosphere to the arrangement, there were a number of families with excited children (well, and some less excited, but let’s dwell on the positives) and other interested spectators. I read some reviews and most people are positive, although there are a few sneering about the presence of a dinosaur and its presence in the nave. Personally, I thought some of the complaints were a little ridiculous, it’s not as though the cathedral has got its head sticking out of the roof or something. Engagement with new audiences is perhaps far more important.

    It’s apparent just how big the cathedral nave is here as Dippy looked quite small when standing back a little. I’m impressed at how well the cathedral authorities have handled this, also providing another visitor route for those who really just wanted to see the building and not the dinosaur. Everything co-exists in harmony, which is just what I’m sure the cathedral hoped would happen.

  • Norwich – An Attempt at Playing Squash

    Norwich – An Attempt at Playing Squash

    Some of the ideas that my friend Nathan and I have in the pub transpire to be perhaps a little braver in the cold light of day than we had initially anticipated. The latest visionary idea this week is us playing squash, although he’s quite competent at that, and it’s fair to say that I’m not. The idea was that we would have a little go today, which sounded a marvellous idea at the time.

    On reflection the day after I realised that there was the little problem that I wasn’t really kitted out for all of this. My trainers were rather muddier than I had remembered them being, primarily as I keep walking everywhere traipsing through fields. The upshot of all that is that I required a morning trip to Sports Direct, the only shop that I could find that sold suitable shoes at a bargain price.

    I meandered into Sports Direct and was already slightly pre-annoyed as it’s a controversial company that isn’t perhaps always known for doing the right thing. Anyway, I decided not to get too involved in the politics of commerce and I was moderately annoyed to find that for the first time in years when I needed assistance from the staff that they weren’t very forthcoming. After I had decided this was all too much stress I found a staff member and asked where the squash shoe things were. It transpired that I was standing next to them, which wasn’t ideal as it made me look like an idiot, but I was able to answer the key question asked of me quite decisively. Namely answering the “how much are you looking to spend?” with the answer of “these ones look the cheapest, I’ll have these”. Bargain found in the shoe size that was convenient, I then went to Pret to have a rest. I can see now why people need to go to a cafe after shopping, it’s frankly exhausting.

    I’ve digressed here. I nervously walked to the squash courts to see Nathan looking like Jonah Barrington, which didn’t add to my confidence levels. Fortunately, he proved to be a very tolerant and good teacher (Nathan, not Jonah, although I’m sure that he was too) and he was able to turn the heating off in the courts which was my first concern. Why the hell is there heating in a squash court? I was reassured that there was no-one in the viewing gallery area above, as that would have very definitely annoyed me.

    There seems to be a lot of running about and the ball bounces in a slightly different way to what I had expected, with rather more walls to bounce the ball off than I had anticipated. The serving bit was a bit of a faff for me for a while, but I’m nearly professional quality at that now. I will accept that I’m not of an Olympic standard yet (although having checked, squash isn’t in the Olympics which seems an omission to me) but maybe in a few weeks.

    I read on Wikipedia that there are four main types of player which are power players, shotmakers, retrievers and attritional players. I felt like a retriever for the first part of the session collecting the ball from where I had missed hitting it when it went flying by me, although I suspect in a different meaning of the word. I also looked up what the technical word for the ball was in squash, and I’ve discovered that it’s “ball”. I had expected something a little more decadent.

    All told, I rather enjoyed the whole experience, although writing this a few hours on, my ankles aren’t perhaps as sympathetic to the whole arrangement as I am. They seem to be a bit sore, but I’m not sure I’ve given my ankles such exercise before. I shall be going back next week, partly because I’ve now spent £20 on shoes but also because it was quite an interesting little adventure. It’s exhausting, but it has the advantage over long distance walking that it’s only very tiring for a relatively short period of time….

  • Norwich – Rumsey Wells

    Norwich – Rumsey Wells

    Since I’m back in Norwich for what feels like months (it’ll be nearly two weeks) I thought that I’d pop into a few pubs in the city to see how they’re getting on. This is the Adnams owned Rumsey Wells pub on St. Andrew’s Street in the city that I haven’t been to for a couple of years.

    The beer selection was very orientated towards Adnams and I liked the engagement from the staff member who was pro-actively offering samples. Adnams have clearly decided they can’t be bothered with listing their new beers on Untappd, which to me is usually a sign they’re worried about their poor quality. They might disagree with me on that (or more likely be entirely uninterested in what I think), but it’s a slight red flag to me. I went for the Raspberry Scotch Ale which was mediocre but tolerable, so I can see their point. It was well-kept though and I liked the enthusiasm from the pub.

    I visited on a Tuesday afternoon so it’s not surprising that it was quiet, although there were a few customers dotted about in another part of the pub. The pub is designed, at least in part, to appeal to students and they cater for that market well, although they could perhaps do with a few more on-trend beer options as well and maybe more guest beers as the choice is currently very Adnams dominated.

    There we go, the photo I couldn’t upload to Untappd as the beer wasn’t listed….. It’s the Raspberry Scotch Ale from Adnams, which wasn’t exactly packed with flavour.

    Anyway, as a pub, this is a perfectly clean and comfortable environment. They serve Pieminister pies, which are a handy way for a pub to offer some food without making a major commitment to expensive chefs and kitchens. The reviews for the pub are broadly reasonable positive and I can see why given how friendly the staff are. I’m not sure that I’d recommend that anyone makes a special trip here, but I like the friendliness of the welcome, which to me is an important consideration. Someone on TripAdvisor recently wrote that this was a “solid” pub, and that seems a fair assessment.

  • Norwich – Norwich Playhouse (Tom Rosenthal – Manhood)

    Norwich – Norwich Playhouse (Tom Rosenthal – Manhood)

    Liam had booked these tickets for us to go and see Tom Rosenthal’s comedy tour when it was in Norwich. This was originally on 26 March 2020, which got delayed to earlier in 2021, but he persisted with yet another date and this one worked out.

    It’s several years since I’ve been to the Playhouse (not including visits to the venue’s bar, which I’ve visited more regularly), the last time was to see Chris Addison.

    The performance started with an introduction from Rosenthal, he’s much faster paced than I expected and also not as tall. He dealt with that matter though, it’s a common misapprehension caused by him apparently often starring alongside short actors, such as in Plebs and Friday Night Dinner. It’s rare for someone to say just how nervous they are, but that seemed a genuine concern of his, all very personal and also personable.

    This was the section of the performance at the beginning where photos were allowed, and this might have been a really acceptable photo if someone hadn’t decided to stand up at the time. Certainly not ideal. Rosenthal joked that there were a fair few seats empty, but I genuinely suspect he was very slightly annoyed at those who didn’t turn up. I would be, so I’d be pleased if he did too.

    There was then a support act, whose name I’ve forgotten and meant to look up but now can’t find (I had better not verge into theatre reviews), as it’s not the support act comedian who was on other parts of the tour. Anyway, that was also decent, with more political commentary, interspersed with an unusual offer of a gig which he had received earlier that day.

    As for the main event, this was primarily a one hour comedy show about circumcision. That’s a brave and punchy subject to talk about, but Rosenthal isn’t happy with the decisions that his parents, who aren’t particularly religious, made for him when he was a baby. His parents are of course not entirely anonymous here, his mother was a producer for Newsnight and his father is Jim Rosenthal, the sports commentator. It must make for quite an interesting debate around the dinner table when he’s home, as it’s a subject that he admits he’s raised on more than a few occasions.

    I won’t go into the exact routine as that would be something of a spoiler, but it was cleverly put together, delivered at a frenetic pace and was as far as I was concerned, actually pretty impressively done. Rosenthal also admitted that he knew people would go and see him because they liked the comedies that he’d been in, then allowing him to talk about this whole manhood subject. He managed to get some science into the whole routine and he gently questioned the logic that some religions follow on circumcision.

    I was already quite a fan of Rosenthal, he’s a quick-witted comedian with a fair few mental health issues that he openly talks about, primarily relating to OCD. What I thought was quite inspirational was just open, honest and human Rosenthal was. Some comedians often appear to have it all going for them, when actually the truth is no doubt nearly always more complex. Rosenthal seemed quite content with talking about the real him, which I thought he did with competence, integrity and lots of humour.

    For anyone who wants to follow him on social media, he’s on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rosentweets.

  • Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    This was the end of my little trek around the country that has taken place over recent weeks, the Greater Anglia operated train from London Liverpool Street to Norwich. As can be seen with the poor quality of the photos that I took last Friday, I think I had rather given up with trying to document anything more than the basics here. I was surprised to get a cheap fare for this journey, as it was a commuter service, but that at least avoided me needing to wait for the 21:30 evening service which I often get, as time can really drag waiting for that when wanting to get home.

    I got myself a table seat and everything worked as expected, such as the train itself and the power points, which were the only two things that I really needed to work. The train was at seating capacity and there were some customers who were sitting on the floor near to the doors, so it’s unclear why the rail company was issuing cheap fares for this service. I am pleased that they were, but I suspect they’ll be removing that option soon enough now they can see how popular the rail service is at this time. The whole health thing over the last eighteen months has perhaps put commuters off coming into London, but that seems to be coming to an end now.

    There was not much of interest during the journey for me to comment on, everything ran to schedule and the train seemed clean and organised. I didn’t see a guard during the journey, but there are ticket barriers at every stop along the route, so in theory it would be hard to fare evade. For the price of £12.50, I thought that this was a perfectly comfortable service and that meant I arrived in Norwich at a reasonable time ready for what I consider to be an extended stay in the city over the next couple of weeks.

  • Norwich – The Malt and Mardle Micropub

    Norwich – The Malt and Mardle Micropub

    The lovely people who established the Malt & Mardle micropub in Norwich did a little interview with me a few weeks ago, shortly before they opened their new venue. This was the first time that I’ve had a chance to actually visit their pub, which is located on Magdalen Street in what was until recently a motorbike shop. As I mentioned many times before, I very much like the whole micropub concept and have been intrigued to see how this was working out.

    This is a nicely done board, clear and informative. There’s a nod towards local breweries with the cask and keg options, but there’s a more national approach with the bottles menu, including some from the rather excellent Brew By Numbers brewery. I note, with great approval, that the half pint options cost exactly half of what a pint costs.

    The interior, with hops hanging from the ceiling. I’m not sure what I think about the beers being poured from the cupboard, it’s something a little unique. I liked that the owners were pro-actively visiting tables to talk to customers, just the sort of vibe that a micro-pub needs. There were some more challenging customers shouting and yelling about, who I did think might find the local Wetherspoons as more appropriate, but I decided not to tell them that. It was good to see that the pub was nearly full when we arrived, although there’s the inevitable limitation that a micropub has limited seating, so customers might struggle to find a table at whatever time they visit.

    The Wild Stallion from Wildcraft Brewery, a beer I must admit to not really engaging with as it lacked any real depth of taste to it and I was hoping for something richer. I hear generally positive things about Wildcraft, although I’ve yet to have a beer from them which I could say was above average, but I’ll persist with my efforts to find one. Nathan muttered about his Malt Coast IPA tasting of blue cheese, I’m not sure what has gone wrong there.

    Anyway, if it was up to me, I think I’d have a little look at the draft beer selection to find something slightly more decadent and sexy. Having said that, I very much like this pub, the concept, the people and the set-up. I hope that it does really well and it’s in a part of Norwich which is now very on-trend for decent beer given the nearby Artichoke, Plasterers, Kings Head and Leopard. I’m very content with this pub exists and look forwards to seeing how they evolve. It’s a difficult time to have opened a pub and the owners deserve lots of praise for their bravery.

  • Norwich – Brewery Tap (Brew York Tap Takeover)

    Norwich – Brewery Tap (Brew York Tap Takeover)

    I was very excited a couple of weeks ago to discover that the Brewery Tap in Norwich (who I’ve written about before, so won’t repeat myself as it probably wasn’t that interesting in the first place….) had a tap takeover by Brew York. Sadly, I don’t have any friends who were equally excited about that (sniff, need to get more beer friiiieeennnddss I guess, if people will excuse the Inbetweeners reference), so I just had to assemble a random group of friends who would be vaguely interested.

    Above are the cask and keg menus from the evening, with some really quite exciting options available. Anyway, the five friends I dragged along were really for the gossip rather than for me to share beer notes with, but that just had to suffice. And I suppose they were good company, although they need training up a bit in the beer front.

    There were other beer options available for those who didn’t want to sample products from Brew York. That transpired to be most of our group, it was just Steve drinking these with me.

    We can ignore the other four here, as only Steve and I decided to go with the Brew York options, ordering thirds to allow for the sampling of as many beers as realistically possible. Above are the four cask options of Haze of Thunder (a modern pale ale), Big Eagle (an American West Coast IPA), Honey I Shrunk the Impys (a honey and oatmeal stout) and Tonkoko (a tonka bean, coconut, vanilla and cacao milk stout). Thanks to the careful nature of the bar staff, they’re in that order in the photo as well.

    My favourites here were the dark beers, which is perhaps not surprising. The Honey I Shrunk the Impys had a decent flavour, but there wasn’t quite the honey flavour that I’d anticipated, but still all rather pleasant. I forgot that I’d had the Tonkoko before (at Chilli Devils in Hull) and this was the star of the casks show. Rich with the taste of coconut and vanilla noticeable, although it didn’t quite have as much taste of Bounty Bar (which the brewer mentioned) as the Arcade City from Overworks that I’d had a couple of weeks ago at Brewdog Ealing. But no bad beers out of the four, but it was time to move onto the kegs, which is a bit more of my thing.

    The bar staff had carefully chalked on the names of the beers, which made things much easier for me. In the top row of the photo are Ripple Twister (a raspberry and vanilla ice cream IPA), the Mangolorian (a juicy mango and lime milkshake IPA) and Kirsch Russell (a cherry pie pastry sour). In the bottom row are A New Beginning (a coffee, blueberry, cacao, walnut and vanilla imperial stout), a decadent pack of Mini Cheddars (cheese and nectar of the Gods) and the Dream Child (an ice cream pastry imperial stout).

    Frankly, these were all excellent and a delight to be behold (I need to get out more being this easily pleased….). But, with a focus on just one, the Dream Child, which was one of my favourite beers of the year so far. There were some really powerful tastes in this, rich and it didn’t feel like its 14% ABV. It really was like the Rocky Road dessert that it set out to replicate, with marshmallow and chocolate flavours running through it. An absolute delight, worth going just to have that as far as I was concerned.

    I’m certainly very excited to be going to York in a few weeks to experience some more beers from Brew York, with none of the nine that I had on Friday evening disappointing me. I’m not sure that Steve was quite as impressed, but I wasn’t bothered about that, I was enjoying my beer tasting.

    Bev, who was on fine form as ever during the evening, left the table for a few minutes and left Gordon (above) alone with her bag. I’m not one for gossip, so I won’t say what Gordon was doing here. But Bev has suggested that there needs to be more gossip content again on this blog, so perhaps that’s something that I can manage to deliver on    🙂

    Anyway, a very lovely evening, and a delight to have five people to bore with my explanation of why some of these beers were exceptional. And Gordon was full of gossip, he rarely fails to surprise and delight in that regard.

  • Norwich – The Malt and Mardle Micropub (Interview)

    Norwich – The Malt and Mardle Micropub (Interview)

    Above are Emily, Johnny and Elliot who on 22 July 2021 are opening the Malt and Mardle micropub in Norwich.

    Along with other random ramblings about a myriad subjects that I think I know about (but usually don’t) I really like visiting and writing about micropubs. There’s something particularly authentic about micropubs where there’s conversation, decent beer, a quiet environment and community values. It’s also a hark back almost to when licensed premises were sometimes parlour pubs or little more than a front room. We have a few in this area, the Nip and Growler in King’s Lynn, the Hop Beer Shop in Chelmsford, the Drayman’s Son in Ely and the newly opened Magnet in Colchester.

    That all meant I was very excited to hear about the planned opening of the Malt and Mardle micropub in Norwich, located near to the Artichoke, Leopard, King’s Head and Plasterers, which are all fantastically good pubs. I’d claim there’s always room for another brilliantly run pub, and there is definitely a space in the market for a micropub in this part of Norwich. It’s a group of friends who are opening the venue, which just sounds fun, exciting and an adventure, so I’m moderately jealous of this journey. I like adventure  🙂

    Emily kindly agreed to answer some questions that I had, so with many thanks to her, as well as Johnny and Elliot, there’s a little interview below. And I’m very pleased to hear about the no music, beer fridges and no large screens. The answer of “perhaps strike up a chat if they feel like it” is perfect for me to hear. Being British, I veer between not wanting any social engagement and also finding that if a publican operates their pub well then the community spirit shines through. Regular readers (I think there are a couple) will know that I have yet to find a pub better able to achieve this than the brilliant Hop & Vine pub. I am very excited to go there with a couple of friends in a few weeks, because when people are made welcome, it adds richness to their lives. I won’t go on about mental health, but pubs can absolutely help people connect and during times such as these, that’s a huge benefit to the community.

    Anyway, I digress (again). Absolutely definitely very excited about my visit to this micropub in a few weeks and I wish them all the very best.

    What made you want to open a micropub and why in Norwich?

    It was my partner, Elliot, who first came up with the idea of opening a micropub. He’s always been a huge fan of real ale pubs but opening one himself was more of a dream than a likely reality. However, in the summer of 2020, he, myself, and our friend Johnny decided to take the plunge and open a micropub. The appeal was that we could realise our dream of creating a space where real ale could be enjoyed while still keeping our jobs part-time and having some financial security while we got up and running.

    We decided to open our micropub, The Malt and Mardle, in Norwich as it is where all three of us live. We absolutely love Norwich – it has such a rich history, especially when it comes to pubs, and a brilliant, thriving community of independent businesses too.

    Have you been inspired by any other micropubs?

    Yes, we have definitely been inspired by other micropubs. A big local source of inspiration is Nigel who runs the Hop Inn in North Walsham, North Norfolk. Further afield, we’ve been inspired by Lucy from The Dodo in Hanwell, London. A lot of how we wanted our pub to look and feel is inspired by the pubs we visited in Yorkshire when we were students. Whitelock’s in Leeds and Haworth Old Hall, for example, have been big influences on us.

    You’re opening in an area near to great pubs like the Artichoke, the Leopard, the Plasters and the King’s Head. Was that part of the reason you went for your location?

    Partly! I guess you could argue ‘yes’ as we chose a location that we were familiar with and, as a result, that happened to be near to where we live. But part of the reason why we live here is that we’re surrounded by such great pubs like the ones you listed!

    What is your opening date? Will you be open every evening?

    Our opening date is the 22nd of July. We’ll be open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and hope to extend this in the future.

    How easy or hard was the licensing part of your pub, getting permission to convert a shop unit into a micropub?

    It certainly wasn’t easy but nor was it quite as difficult as people were warning us it could be. It did take a long, long time though which really tested our patience – we were so relieved when it all went through ok!

    Nothing goes entirely to plan, have you had any difficulties so far with the conversion?

    At times, it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride but what else could we expect?! It’s almost inevitable when starting a new business! Thankfully, there’s not been a problem too large that we couldn’t find a solution for.

    One of the biggest challenges has been having the time and energy to get everything ready for our opening. While Elliot and Johnny have been spending as much time as they can on the micropub in addition to juggling part-time and full-time jobs, I’ve been struggling with my chronic health conditions. Our friends and family have been a huge support, though, and we’re definitely so grateful to them for helping us almost reach the finish line!

    Micropubs have the benefit of allowing conversation to flow between not just regulars, but those coming in for the first time. Is that a core part of your thinking?

    Yes, in the true spirit of micropubs, we’ve actively decided not to have loud music playing and distracting screens etc. We’ve also got a couple of larger tables that, when safe from Covid to do so, smaller groups can share and perhaps strike up a chat if they feel like it.

    What will your seating capacity be?

    Our seating capacity will be 25, plus we’ve got space for standing room too.

    Will you have an involvement with the local CAMRA group?

    Definitely! We’ve already signed up for a Pub Festival this July with the Norwich CAMRA branch.

    What breweries will you be hoping to stock beers from? Will there be some that might be otherwise hard to get elsewhere in Norwich?

    Our offering will mainly be from breweries in Norfolk and Suffolk as supporting local businesses is really important to us, but no doubt we’ll also have some beer from breweries up north in stock at times too!

    Will you have beer fridges to increase the options available? And, for selfish reasons, will there usually be a decadent stout on tap?

    Yes, we’ve got a big fridge that we’ll stock with lots of beer, as well as some gin, wine and soft drinks for non-beer drinkers. Our aim is to have at least one stout, vegan, gluten free and low alcohol beer on either tap or canned/bottled the majority of the time.

    What one thing worries you for the future?

    I guess another lockdown is a worry that all businesses in the hospitality sector face right now. Otherwise, we’re not naïve in thinking that other challenges and hurdles won’t present themselves but know that all we can do is take one thing at a time and enjoy the ride the best we can. Not everyone gets the opportunity to do something they love and have a real passion for so hopefully that will continue to give us some perspective far into the future even when worries and stresses do occur!

    All very lovely, where can people find out more?

    https://maltandmardle.co.uk/.

  • National Express : Norwich to London Victoria Coach Station

    National Express : Norwich to London Victoria Coach Station

    Tonight I’m offering some variety to my usual Greater Anglia stories about my trips from Norwich to London and back. Indeed, I haven’t bothered even writing those up recently unless something has annoyed me. I’m not really a coach person, not least because people like Liam will make an Inbetweeners reference. Anyway, the cheapest rail ticket to get from Norwich to London were £15 today and I’m not made of money, so I looked for alternatives. I discovered that National Express have got rid of booking fees for those with an account (I like this, as booking fees annoy me), and they were offering this journey for just £4.60. I think that’s a bargain, so I bought it.

    Gone are the days when customers needed to print out National Express tickets, it’s possible now just to show the driver your phone with the ticket on it (or print it out if you want). And I have some words about the driver today. He was simply brilliant and was just one of those personable and warm people that could lift the journey of a customer. Someone wanted to board without a ticket and they didn’t have time to buy it. He suggested they buy a ticket online from Thetford to London when onboard the coach so that they didn’t have to wait a few hours for the next service. He didn’t have to do that, but he made someone’s day much easier and National Express got some money for the trip that they might have lost. The driver engaged with enthusiasm and, as might be evident, I thought he was a shining role model of customer service. I did post on Twitter about the friendly driver and National Express have at least liked what I put, so I’m pleased they’re aware of the whole situation (specifically their friendly driver rather than me being happy, which I imagine isn’t at the top of their corporate list of worries).

    Then I had to choose a seat after boarding. This is tricky, the two with the most legroom are at the back. But, they’re near the toilets. That’s a convenience for me in some ways (no pun intended), but also a danger if the toilets don’t smell too fresh. Fortunately, the gamble paid off today, all was pleasant and lovely. The bus set off on time and the air conditioning worked. The power sockets didn’t, but I was content as the coach wasn’t too hot and everything was clean. The service runs from Great Yarmouth to London (NX491) and it was relatively empty throughout, maybe 15 people on board at its busiest.

    I liked the emergency exit seats where I was located, they reminded me that I might be on an aircraft in a couple of months. Now, that’s a nice thought for me.

    This is the best photo I could get after arriving into Victoria Coach station. We arrived pretty much on time and I could hear the driver was still being friendly. I remember a Megabus a few years ago where the driver spent most of his time in London shouting at other road users and I’m surprised he didn’t give himself a heart attack or similar with the level of anger he had. The driver today seemed calm, even when confronted by idiotic other drivers, including one in Thetford who seemed perplexed on how to deal with an oncoming bus on a narrow road.

    It would be hard to fault a service that only cost £4.60 and achieved its aim of getting the customer to their destination. But, National Express did this with style, with a clean coach, easy to book service and a driver who was simply a decent guy doing a job he gave the impression that he loved. This was an impeccably run coach service, and I’m very impressed at National Express. How very lovely.

  • Norwich – The Leopard

    Norwich – The Leopard

    I’m not sure how I haven’t written about the Leopard before, so it’s time to resolve that omission now as this is in the Good Beer Guide. Although I wasn’t intending to write about the pub when I was there (as I thought I had), so excuse the limited amount of photos.

    The Leopard was a pub which was a little, well, unexciting several years ago and because of that it was one that I rarely visited. It found itself new landlords six or so years ago, although they’ve now moved on, but not before leaving a modernised and vibrant pub behind them. The Leopard also won the CAMRA branch pub of the year in 2019, a considerable achievement given the competition. The new landlords are welcoming and personable, so I’m sure that the pub will continue going from strength to strength.

    This is informative and useful, there’s an ales/keg beer list, alongside the bottles and cans list. Nicely done, I like it. There isn’t the depth of choice that is offered at the nearby Artichoke, but there’s still plenty available and it’s far beyond what most pubs offer. The staff admitted themselves there was a slight lack of dark beers on the ales list at the moment, although this seems to be an availability issue. I’m sure they’ll be back later on in the year, but there was still a dark option to choose from, the Ampersand Forenoon (although I thought that had a thin mouthfeel, but the taste was pleasant). Having so many bottles and cans adds some variety and depth though, so it caters for pretty much any taste.

    The staff members were knowledgeable as well, I like the welcome offered here and the service is attentive and warm. This is also one of my preferred pubs for working in during the day, I came here with my laptop several times last year and it’s a peaceful and calm environment with a sizeable beer garden. Not that I sit in the beer garden much, I think wasps are naturally attracted to me and that annoys me. The pub itself was clean and I liked that they’ve made it easy to understand the Covid-19 arrangements, with clear signage throughout.

    I managed to try several drinks during the evening, although for anyone interested they can be seen at https://untappd.com/user/julwhite. I’m not sure there was anything I noted as exceptional, but I did enjoy the Peach Melba Sour from Pilot. I’m getting into sours now, although I still think that they’re something of an acquired taste for many drinkers (myself included in the past).

    This is a photo from last year when Bev was trying to talk to the pub’s dog as if she was Doctor Dolittle. This is appropriate as she was here on this visit as well, we had arrived at the Leopard earlier on to have a long gossip about Gordon (it’s OK, he won’t read this) and the camping weekend of last week, before Steve and Rob came to join us later on. It was useful to hear Rob’s perspectives on future 100s, he’s another of those LDWA walkers that I think will just take part every year. I’m not sure that I entirely understand it, but I’m very impressed by it. I’m not entirely sure that Steve and Bev are that tempted into walking 100 miles, but they’re certainly becoming better at these longer distances   🙂

    Anyway, I’ve started writing about the 100 again, which wasn’t my intention here. The Leopard is a decent pub which is one of my favourites in Norwich and I’d say that the service from the staff is perhaps one of the best of any pub in the city. So, all really rather lovely and I look forwards to many more visits (and its closeness to the Artichoke makes it easy to pop to both).