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Category: Norwich

  • Norwich Beer Festival 2019

    Norwich Beer Festival 2019

    And that was a lovely two days of volunteering at Norwich beer festival, my sixth year in a row. Always a friendly environment and I was sad to report that I didn’t even get one grumpy customer this year, although I did get the obligatory one who thought that there was unlimited beer for £3.

    And, primarily for my own record since I can’t imagine anyone is in the slightest bit bothered, these were my favourite festival beers.

    Orange Blood by 3D

    Dark Drake by Dancing Duck

    Robin Goodfellow by Papworth

    Mild by Shipstones

    Stain Glass Porter by Star Wing

    Lemon and Basil by Blackjack

    Cinder Toffee Mild by Half Moon

    Hygge Figgy by Brass Castle

    Dark Matter Custard by Turning Point

    Stagecoach by Tombstone

    Blackberry Porter by S&P

  • Norwich – Brasov Romanian Restaurant

    Norwich – Brasov Romanian Restaurant

    The Hike Norfolk monthly meal was this month at Brasov Restaurant on Dereham Road in Norwich, a relatively new dining option for the city which is well reviewed. The welcome was friendly and seemed genuinely personable, despite the meal’s organiser being concerned about the whereabouts of some of the group (I might have arrived fifteen minutes early…..). Anyway, the table for eight of us was ready and the dining environment was clean and comfortable, with quite a modern design to it.

    The whitebait starter, with the fish being at the appropriate temperature and they were reasonably well coated with the batter. They had a pleasant taste and the portion size was perfectly acceptable. The homemade garlic sauce wasn’t though really to my taste, it was very watery and had no complexity to it other than a very strong garlic flavour which was too overpowering for the whitebait. I think I’d rather have had a tartare sauce with garlic flavouring, but nonetheless, the whitebait themselves were fine.

    I can’t claim any attempt at Romanian cuisine with this little effort of mine here…. The Greek salad was though entirely satisfactory, with a decent quality feta cheese crumbled on the top and cucumber, olives, onions, tomatoes and lettuce underneath. The portion size was reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine, with the chips being suitably firm on the exterior and fluffy on the interior. The homemade sauce was very moreish (so moreish I ate most of it, forcing Gordon to get more for the table) and flavoursome.

    Some of the others had Romanian dishes of various types and I think there was a view that they were well presented and interesting, although perhaps lacking a little in seasoning. But Gordon, who as usual ordered the most expensive on the menu, was content with his steak. Although he had the same problem with the garlic sauce as I’d had with my starter.

    The staff were also very tolerant of our group, which as usual went off the rails somewhat when Gordon changed the subject to talk about his money. Or, something like that, I can’t quite recall…..

    We weren’t going to have desserts, other than Gordon who messed the friendly and ever tolerant waitress about, but I doubt he’ll read this for some weeks so I can put that. However, the restaurant brought out this dessert for free, a Papanași, which was a doughnut type pastry with blueberries. This was a very kind gesture and the blueberries and the sauce were delicious and the pastry was light.

    These weren’t my beers, I temporarily stole Dave and Gordon’s beers to take photos of a couple of the Romanian options. My ever more specialist beer tastes inevitably weren’t met at the restaurant, although that’s more to do with me than them. Although I do remember from my last trip to Romania, there were some dark beers available, including a dark version of Ursus. I couldn’t taste the difference between the above beers, I have no ability to really differentiate lagers as they all taste broadly the same to me.

    All told, the service at this restaurant was well above average and it felt a welcoming environment, with the staff member being engaging and personable. I get the feeling that this place is a popular cafe during the day, with some intriguing cakes and coffees available for customers. For food, I was content with my choices, the prices were reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine. Ideally though, I’d have liked some better quality bread on the table and that garlic sauce was quite punchy. But, it’s another interesting addition to the city’s dining options and I hope it does well.

    And, I have a week in Romania in February, which will be rather lovely.

  • Norwich – Brewdog

    Norwich – Brewdog

    I’ve been slowly working my way around numerous Brewdog outlets across the UK and mainland Europe, having been won over by their beer and food. Although, it’s the service element that Brewdog seem equally strong at, all combining to make this a popular and on-trend location.

    I had reserved a table for James and myself to try their unlimited chicken wings. This allows diners to have as many chicken wings as they’d like for £10, with the staff bringing out more on request and there is also a vegan alternative involving cauliflower. We didn’t really investigate this option, but I’m sure it’s, well, lovely. We managed to arrive early and the staff member at the bar was helpful and suggested that we order drinks and then we could take a seat in the bar whilst waiting to be shown through to the restaurant area. This all happened efficiently and our table was reserved with a clear sign, it was just like being back in Liverpool for my Deskdog experience….

    This is the first plate that is brought out, with something like twelve chicken wings on it. This is a perfectly generous portion in itself, with a blue cheese sauce and the wings looked appetising and well presented. They also tasted of an excellent quality, with the outside being crispy despite there being quite a thick sauce on them. The sauce was also flavourful, with a slightly hot taste to them, mixed in with some honey. The chicken was also tender and they were very moreish. Which is handy. Also, they were served hot and they seem to have been freshly cooked.

    One thing which is quite unlike Brewdog is that they seem to have fixed some rules to this promotion, although I’m not sure what they are. The first rule is the clearest and is that this promotion must be booked in advance, whether on-line or in the bar in advance (although perhaps it’s possible to negotiate with the bar staff and take part if it’s otherwise quiet). With regards to the other policies, I’ve only discovered these rules from reading reviews of Brewdogs across the country, where some people think they have one hour to order, others two hours and others mention no limit. We weren’t told of any limit and nor we were stopped at any stage, so I imagine that the process is a little informal and flexible. James kept going much longer than me, as I’m far too concerned about maintaining my recent weight loss.

    Another policy is that the blue cheese sauce provided with the first set of wings is expected to last the entirety of the promotion. When diners finish their first twelve wings, they can request another portion and then five wings are brought over. This seems sensible and avoids waste, although the staff member varied in pro-activeness in offering more wings. When James wanted more blue cheese, they didn’t mention this was possible only with an extra payment, which seemed unusually unclear for such a precise chain. It didn’t seem worth querying this 50p when the bill arrived, although if they’re going to charge like that, they should perhaps mention at the beginning that only one portion of blue cheese sauce is included.

    Overall, I was entirely satisfied with the whole promotion and the staff were warm and friendly. Service was sufficiently prompt, although it could have been more pro-active for anyone who wanted to plough through a lot more wings, and I’m sure that there are some. But, Brewdog didn’t fail in terms of providing a clean environment, as well as a comfortable and fun atmosphere. All rather lovely. But they should have mentioned the blue cheese sauce.

    And, I don’t want to make this some Man vs Food blog post, but James went through ten more wings than I did (I think I stopped at 22 wings) which was very impressive.

  • Norwich – Spice Valley

    Norwich – Spice Valley

    Thanks to the observant Brian, we managed to get seats at the one year anniversary of the opening of Spice Valley, on Magdalen Street in Norwich. I was aware of this Indian restaurant, but it was one of those places that I hadn’t quite got round to visiting. Free food and drink is though always a way to encourage me to visit….

    The decor was modern and bright, with a staff member welcoming customers on entry. Since the restaurant wasn’t charging for food and drink, it was busy, but there was an orderly feel to proceedings and our party of five was promptly seated.

    The restaurant’s generosity included not just free food, but also free drink. There was a wait on the drinks order being taken, but I can hardly fault that situation given they weren’t charging for them, and I’d add that later on they were pro-actively offering more drinks to customers. I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t usually drink Kingfisher, but it was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature and all that. I understand that the restaurant does sell local beers as well, but their on-line menu doesn’t mention that. If, however,  I discovered that they were selling craft beers, that would be an extra reason for visiting…..

    All very clean and tidy, the dining environment was comfortable and organised.

    It was a little hard to get a photo of the food given how busy it was, but there were some poppadoms, starters and mains. The poppadoms were decent, with some flavour to them, and the onion bhajis and meat samosas were excellent, with the onion bhaji being crispy, but not too hard. I was slightly unsure what the curry was, I think it was chicken korma, with the meat being tender and it had taken on the flavour of the sauce, although it was quite a lightly spiced dish.

    There was nothing at all wrong with the food, although it inevitably wasn’t possible to see how the food would usually be presented because of this one-off service style. And I very much like this whole gesture of inviting customers to have a free meal and drink, it shows that the restaurant is proud of their cuisine and keen to show it off. Since I’m also easily bought, I will likely come back in the near future, so their generosity won’t be entirely wasted on me. One thing that I felt was evident is that if a customer did have a problem, I’m pretty confident that the management would fix it promptly.

    All very lovely.

  • National Express – Norwich to Liverpool

    After I had obtained some low priced accommodation in Liverpool, I just had to work out how to get there from Norwich. The trains weren’t priced at a particularly attractive level, which was especially irritating as there’s a direct service from Norwich to Liverpool (although I think that’s going as part of the franchise changes).

    So, I decided to abandon my favourite form of ground transportation and instead of using the rail network, I looked at the bus options. National Express had a return fare from Norwich to Liverpool for £28, which was much cheaper than any other option.

    The only little problem with this plan is that the journey was eight hours each way. Just what I wanted…..

    Anyway, I boarded in Norwich and the driver mentioned that I was going on a long journey. Much as I appreciated his enthusiasm, I did privately think that I was already well aware of this situation. On this point, the boarding process was all very efficient and I was able to get an emergency exit row seat (they’re not really called that on buses, but it cheered me up to compare it to an aircraft).

    I boarded the bus twenty minutes before departure, and like some child on a school trip, I managed to eat my Tesco meal deal lunch before we had even started. Marvellous.

    At Birmingham, we were allowed off the bus. I’m not sure if disembarking was compulsory, but I got off to explore the facilities. And the city’s coach station is pretty bland, full of expensive outlets, chargeable toilets and nothing much of interest. So, I waited in line to get back on the bus. Fortunately, the driver called us existing customers back on first, so we didn’t have to show tickets and the like again. Other than for one customer who the driver had clearly forgotten and he had to show his ticket again.

    Driving through Birmingham….. The bus was pretty much always on time, although it missed out several stops such as Dereham and Wisbech if no passengers wanted to get off there.

    As for comfort, the bus wasn’t too bad at all, particularly with the extra space of the emergency exit seat towards the back. One woman, who shall we say wasn’t exactly a millennial, decided she wanted to watch some television soap on a tablet with the sound on, which irritated me. So I stared at her angrily, to which she was oblivious, and I thought it might be best for me just to put earphones on instead.

    The driving, which was completed by three drivers, was all professional and it felt a safe environment. The power on board worked well, although the Internet was a bit hopeless and I gave up with that very early on during the journey. The bus wasn’t spotless, but it was sufficiently clean to not cause me any concerns.

    The highlights, other than arriving, were seeing my accommodation at Keele University (B Block, Lindsay Hall) from the M6 and also watching Jonathan travelling in the other direction on a Megabus service from Liverpool. I can’t say that I exactly enjoyed the whole journey, but it was easy, comfortable and fairly priced.

  • Streets of Norwich – King Street (191-197 King Street)

    Part of my Streets of Norwich project, although I’ve had to break King Street up since it’s so long….

    The site of what was once 193 to 197 King Street, sadly demolished in the mid-twentieth century. The building which stands is the former Ferry Boat Inn, at 191 King Street.

    There was once a yard at 193 King Street, known as Wickham’s Yard, which went down to the river, but this went when the properties at 193 to 197 were demolished. Five properties along this yard, which was pretty much all of it, came up for sale en masse in 1908 with the purchase including the yard itself and river access.

    There was an archaeological dig here a few years ago when a building project was planned, but there hasn’t been much progress recently. But the armchair remains….

    The Ferry Boat Inn, which closed in 2006 and unfortunately is unlikely to ever reopen now. This is particularly sad as it’s one of the few pubs which was left along the King Street from the many which once stood along here. The building has been used as a pub since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was likely a private residence before then dating back to the seventeenth century.

    The pub was formerly known as the Steam Barge and the Steam Packet, taking its current name as this was the location for the boatmen who carried people and goods across the River Wensum. The pub is Grade II listed, so it should remain standing as a residential property even when the rest of the site is converted into housing. For a short while in 1987 the pub’s landlord was Steve Wright, later convicted as a serial killer who killed five women in Ipswich.

  • Streets of Norwich – Blackfriars Street

    Part of my Streets of Norwich project….

    Blackfriars Street, which connects Fishergate with St. Saviour’s Lane.

    This is a new street, which follows the same route as the southern half of Peacock Street, but it got split up when the Inner Ring Road was constructed. George Plunkett’s web-site has some photos of the amazing properties which were once located down this street. Some of his photos of this street from the 1930s make it look quite magical and I’m sure that it would have been seen today as very on-trend and probably had locations selling craft beer down it.

    Council housing on the left, a new building complex of flats and houses behind them at the rear on the left, with Smurfit Kappa (formerly NCB) on the right. Very many years ago I thought that that this was the National Coal Board, but it was Norwich Corrugated Board. Shame it isn’t Norwich Craft Beer, but that’s a different matter.

    Before this street was known as Peacock Street, it had the rather more exciting name of Rotten Row, likely because it was once a water course or ditch which had got a bit, er, damp and mouldy.

    And, onto the name of this street, Blackfriars Street. This would be a wonderful name for a street where perhaps the Blackfriars once had a monastery, or perhaps a barn or some other connection. But, no, the Blackfriars had their religious house elsewhere in the city, which is today used for the Norwich Beer Festival amongst other things.

    So, it seems that someone named the street Blackfriars Street since it is near to, well, Whitefriars. Which it has nothing to do with. The northern half of Peacock Street is still untouched and retains its name, but perhaps the council could have a little look at renaming this street as Rotten Row, because I like that name, it’s atmospheric and historic.

  • Streets of Norwich – Clarence Road

    Part of my little Streets of Norwich project…

    This street was likely once much more peaceful in terms of passing traffic, but it has become the main route into the city centre from Yarmouth and is now the A1242.

    These properties would have been mostly occupied by the middle classes, and there have been several adverts from different houses over the years for domestic staff. In 1902, the owner of 10 Clarence Road was advertising for a housekeeper, noting that they must be middle aged and female. In 1889, the owner of 6 Clarence Road was also busy advertising, they wanted a “good general servant”, as opposed, I assume, to a bad general servant. Pretty much the whole street was advertising at this period though and in 1901 the owners at 7 Clarence Road wanted “a young girl” as their domestic help.

    By the time of the 1939 register, there was quite a variety of different occupations represented along the street, including a railway motor driver, a drapery buyer, a master butcher, an armature winding foreman, a barmaid, an electrical fitter, a gun maker, a typist, a radiographer, a law clerk and a retired leather agent amongst many others.

  • Streets of Norwich – Paradise Place

    This road cuts through from Rouen Road to Thorn Lane, but there’s not much evidence of history left here, because it was all rebuilt following the Second World War.

    The name of Paradise Place isn’t though modern and it dates back much further, with it likely being a garden area, as ‘paradise’ is an old English word for park. When the site was being redeveloped it was decided to reuse the old name for the new road within the housing development.

    I took the above photo standing in what was once Scoles Green (long ago Scholars’ Green), and I would have been able to see the Globe and Anchor pubs from there. Unfortunately, as the road layout has changed, there’s absolutely nothing left here from that period, not even the street line. There is today a development called Scoles Green located opposite on the other side of Rouen Road, which is at least some legacy from the name.

    There was a case in November 1890 which was an early claim of negligence, when Robert Clarke of 13 Paradise Place took legal action against the Prison Commissioners for England following an injury on scaffolding at Norwich prison at Mousehold Heath. The court dismissed Clarke’s pleas, saying that the Employers’ Liability Act didn’t cover the situation and the judge added:

    “These cases must be looked at very narrowly and very carefully, otherwise a burden would be put upon employers which would make the carrying on of a great work intolerable”.

    The Prison Commissioners were though gracious and they suggested that if Clarke didn’t pursue his claim further then they wouldn’t seek an order of costs. Mr. Clarke was unfortunate, as the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1897 would have likely have been a sufficient change in the law to mean that he would have won his case.

  • Streets of Norwich – Broadsman Close

    Part of my Streets of Norwich project…..

    There’s not much to Broadsman Close, although since I’ve decided to visit every road in the city, this had to be included. Unfortunately, there’s not a great deal that can be written about this short stretch of road.

    This is pretty much the limit of the road, an access to the railway sidings and also to a couple of retail outlets. There isn’t much history to this area either as this was once just railway land between one end of the coal yard and the the shunting area for freight trains. Before it was owned by the railways, it was just fields.

    And another view to the entrance of the close. The road was created during the whole Riverside development complex, so somewhere around 2001.

    The Broadsman was a passenger train operated by British Rail which ran from London Liverpool Street to Sheringham between 1950 and 1962. On this point, I’d quite like for services to be named in this manner again, in a similar way to the way that American train services are. The Sheringham Zephyr has a certain ring to it….