I walk by this pub most days of the week, but I can’t recall the last time that I actually went into it. It’s a Craft Union pub, meaning that it’s sports led and has cheap drinks prices. There’s one particular Craft Union pub in Norwich, which is the Garden House, where the customer service is impeccable and the real ale selection one of the widest in the city. The excellent management at that pub has certainly improved my general image of the Craft Union brand.
In terms of its history, this is one of the few city centre pubs and it’s had an array of names over recent years, including Imagine, Chandlers, Wig & Pistle, Three Tuns, Mustard and Westlegate. As more people start to move into the new residential developments in the city centre I can imagine that trade will look up for venues such as this, it’s got a prime position. The pub was built in around 1937 and there’s an excellent photo of it on George Plunkett’s web-site which was taken in 1938. Then there’s a photo taken in 1936, which is of the previous building.
The only real ale available was Doom Bar, which doesn’t excite and delight me, so I went for John Smith’s instead. The service was polite and efficient, with the pricing being so low that I felt the need to get some crisps to go with it. The pub had something of a vibrant feel, but there was international football on the televisions and it all felt sufficiently safe and well managed (the pub, I have no idea about the football). I’m pleased to note that the drink and food pairing of John Smith’s and prawn cocktail crisps met my expectations.
Some of the pub’s decor and it does have a warm atmosphere, with everything feeling clean and well presented. There was only staff member, but she pro-actively and seem to spend her entire time serving, collecting glasses or cleaning.
The chain promotes their venues to be community pubs and I think that’s evident here. Some on-line reviews say that it’s an intimidating venue and there’s an inevitability that low drinks prices can engender that at times, but I thought matters seemed entirely in hand. I’d come here again, it might not offer the most exciting choice of real ales or craft beers, but it feels genuine and authentic.
Given that this building was formerly an architect’s office, it was decided to rename the Birdcage as the Drawing Rooms in 2022. It’s not the first time the pub has been renamed, it’s been the Pottergate Tavern, Brown Derby and Morning Star.
There was one real ale available and just generic keg beers. I don’t think the pub is too much engaged with drawing in (excuse the pun) beer drinkers, although it’s Greene King and so that’s hardly a surprise. They are pushing cocktails and I think that’s their main emphasis.
Being entirely honest I thought that there was a general absence of welcome with regards to the service, which is all a little unfortunate, but there we go. The pub was shortlisted for the Greene King Night of Excellence Awards 2023 a few months ago, so perhaps things are normally different.
They don’t appear to do food as that section of their web-site has every food menu item described as “I’m a dish description. Click Edit Menu to open the Restaurant Menu editor and change my text.”, which seems an odd thing for the management to have published. Currently all their food is listed at £9.99 including the onion rings, so I assume that’s a work in progress.
The pub was clean and tidy, although it all feels rather formulaic and as if it’s been rolled out by a restaurant chain. One recent reviewer has said that “it now looks like a strip club” and I do feel that it’s lost the charm and atmosphere that it had when it was the Birdcage. They have made an effort to put power points in for customers to use, which is very positive. The music was also too loud for my liking, given that we the only customers in this part of the pub, it hardly added much to the atmosphere. However, I get that I’m not the target audience here and I’ve run a pub where I wasn’t the target audience on some nights, so that’s fair enough, it’s about ensuring the core customers feel welcome.
The sole real ale choice was Pave the Way from Greene King and Big Hug Brewing. It was well kept, but it was bland and lacking in any depth of taste or flavour. This was a disappointing element, I would have expected two real ales to be available and preferably at least one not linked to Greene King.
In terms of the reviews, they’re mixed, a variety of people finding the music too loud and the service either being rude or indifferent. However, some customers love the cocktails and they do seem to have found their niche there and the owners are experienced given that they’re currently also operating the Wild Man and the Ten Bells.
As is likely evident, this pub isn’t really for me, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be. They seem to be after the 18-25 year old market and I can imagine that might be reasonably profitable for them, although it might take another refurbishment in a couple of years to keep it current and up-to-date. In positive terms though, the pub was clean and they’ve got power points.
As of my two loyal readers might notice, the lack of posting in this series was slightly sub-optimal, but James and I are now making decent progress through the plan of mine to eat at every food stall at Norwich market. Cocina Mia is the twelfth stall I’ve visited in this series, it opened in 2017 and they specialise in Chilean food.
The menu board. As an aside, they also open on Thursday to Saturday evenings, where there’s a different and more expensive menu to choose from. More on their web-site at https://www.cocinamia.net/.
The menu board in more detail.
As it’s too hot at the moment in Norwich, I was pleased to see this free water that was available to customers. This was rather handy and a kind gesture that maybe a few more stalls could replicate.
The service was friendly and welcoming with one team member taking the orders and the other preparing the food. Customers are given a numbered ticket when they order and that is called out when the food is ready, with mine being prepared in around four minutes. I went for the chicken & chorizo empanada with a side salad. James misheard me and ordered the same, having expected me to have ordered it with chips.
The food was well presented, looked appetising and colourful, with the salad having vibrancy rather than just being a heap of lettuce leaves. The empanada was generously filled with a tasty sauce and plenty of pieces of chorizo and chicken, all very tender and moreish. The salad had a depth of taste to it as well and although I can’t say what that sauce is, I think it’s some sort of pebre and it was delicious and slightly spicy. The shredded cabbage added texture and there were plenty of flavours with the whole arrangement.
James, who realised quite late on that he didn’t have chips, also enjoyed the quality of the food and we’re in agreement that we’ll visit here again. It shows just how cultured we’ve become, we can do more than just battered sausages, chips and scraps….
As another bonus, there’s a seating area which is just for customers of this stall and also Toby’s Beers. This makes eating lunch much more comfortable as opposed to trying to balance things in a quiet area whilst avoiding the feral pigeons that keep encroaching on market territory.
The food cost £9 and they accepted cards which was handy. I thought this was very decent, a richness of flavours and I’m tempted to try the spicy beef empanada next time. This idea that we had to try every stall at Norwich market is continuing to surprise and delight me, there’s so much choice here and the quality is often excellent. All rather lovely and definitely recommended.
James, my cultural guru friend, seems to have visited every location in Norwich and he’s familiar with the Maddermarket Theatre which is all a bit decadent for me. My last theatre visit was to see the comedian Tom Rosenthal at Norwich Playhouse and I can’t recall ever going to the Maddermarket Theatre before. The theatre itself is just over 100 years old, founded in 1921 by Walter Nugent Monck. As an aside, it’s a shame that people feel the need to tag graffiti on historic buildings, it’s a tragic waste of resources to have to remove them.
We were the only customers in the bar area who weren’t seeing a performance, making it all quiet and peaceful. The performance had started just before I took this photo, it had been busier before then.
Some sort of design elements on the wall.
The bar has a range of books visible underneath the Plexiglass, or whatever it’s called.
I didn’t realise until after ordering that they had some Adnams keg beers on, I’m not sure how I missed those but it is an oddly designed Adnams beer font so that’s the excuse I’ll have to use. I went for the generic and average Camden Hells Lager, which at least wasn’t hugely over-priced which was a positive. I don’t like these fiddly little glasses which make spillages more likely, but that’s a comment on Camden Town Brewery rather than the Maddermarket.
All told, I’m not sure that the bar is worth going out of the way for, but at least they’ve made an effort with some keg beers. The surroundings are laid-back and comfortable, with no evident sign of the huge fallout there has been recently at the theatre with staff and trustees leaving. I’m not sure what evident sign I had might have expected, perhaps a little bit of theatrical fighting at the entrance or something. Anyway, it was an inviting place to sit for an hour or so, and perhaps I might go and actually see something at the Maddermarket at some point.
I’ve been to Fupburger when they were located at the Dog House, but they’ve since moved to the Ten Bells and it’s the first time I’ve tried their food there. Monday night is certainly the best evening to pick as they have buy one get one free on the burgers, which is most agreeable. The chunky menu is available on large clipboards although customers need to order food separately from drink at the bar as the bar and kitchen operations are separate.
There’s arguably a slight element here of trying too hard with the decor, I’m personally not in the need of being bathed in neon lights but it was all clean and comfortable so no complaints. The set-up seems to be a good partnership as the Ten Bells isn’t usually that busy outside of weekend evenings, meaning they might as well use the empty space.
Unlike Brewdog’s generous burger deal, the arrangement here is that the buy one get one free only applies to the burger itself and so the add-ons have to be paid for on each burger. That’s fair enough, but to be thrifty we just went for the burger on this occasion.
To get the deal it’s necessary to order the same burger, even though they’re all the same price. After a very quick debate between us, the option of the Thug Lyfe with blue cheese, black pudding, streaky pancetta bacon and double American cheese seemed to be the one to go for. The burger is served in a demi brioche bun, which I think is a brioche with a glossy and firmer edge to it, but I liked its taste and texture. I couldn’t taste the blue cheese element as the black pudding element seemed to overpower it, but that was no bad thing. The firmness of the pieces of black pudding added texture and gave it a rich depth of taste, complementing the burger itself well. This was a very agreeable burger and the bacon added a final bit of extra flavour, meaning it was all meaty and tasty.
For completeness, I ordered half a pint of the Jester Brew 4, a well-kept pale ale made in Winchcombe from New Zealand hops.
At £5.50 each for the burger I was suitably impressed. The dining environment was clean and comfortable, without being too harsh and it was possible to escape from the neon. It wasn’t that busy, but we were there early evening and there was a steady flow of customers looking for their burger fix. The venue is struggling a little with their on-line reviews at the moment, but they seem to have been a bit unlikely and some of the reviewers have been seemingly just angry. An example is the:
“Run by jumped up entitled millennials that can’t ever admit to being in the wrong, even when that extends to loyal customers. Avoid.”
And the response from Fupburger is on point as far as I’m concerned:
“Thank you Karen”.
All told, I enjoyed this and it’s one of the best burgers that I’ve had in terms of the richness and depth of taste. It’s not cheap, but the prices are also not unreasonable and given the quality of the food it’s hard to be too disappointed. I suspect that I’ll be visiting again soon and I might treat myself to a side to go with the burger. Incidentally, James was the star of the show when he spent like what seemed about thirty minutes positioning his food and drink for his photo on Untappd…..
James and I were spending Monday evening visiting locations that we hadn’t been to, or it mostly transpired that I hadn’t been to since James seems to have been to every single restaurant and bar in Norwich. Definitely a latter day Alan Whicker, but his knowledge of venues was quite useful if I’m being honest as I had never heard of The Wallow despite it being here for some years.
In fairness for this post, The Wallow is primarily a wine bar and since I’m not much interested in that, I’d better caveat this post by noting that I’m aware I didn’t much test its main strengths.
The helpful staff member was about to excitedly explain how the wine system worked as it’s self-service by pre-loading a card with money. It’s an interesting concept and she only looked slightly disappointed when we ordered two halves of Meantime Anytime IPA. It’s a clean and comfortable location, the meat and cheese boards going out to other tables all looked suitably delicious. It’s certainly not the cheapest of venues, but I’m not sure that it was ever trying to be.
The beer tasted as expected, it was at the appropriate temperature and it was served in a clean branded glass, so everything was technically perfect there. There were a choice of two other beers so there were options at least for those who didn’t want wine.
The on-line reviews are mostly very positive, although one angry customer posted last year:
“robbery as ask and paid 15£ for a glass o bollinger rosé and was served a false champagne with liquor impossible to drink and got headache just look at color it was orange without bubble! i guess they did not want to open new bottle, no shame people thinking we will not notice. my white wine glass was dirty.”
It seems that the customer didn’t tell the staff at the time, which I would have thought was useful, and I note the venue’s rather annoyed response:
“If you had only mentioned something to a staff member during your brief visit we may have been able to remedy your concerns. I can assure you that you were served Bollinger Rosé, it is a slanderous statement that you have made.”
I like a bit of drama.
Obviously, as I’ve hinted at, this isn’t my kind of venue and it’s not targeted at me as a mostly non wine drinker, but I liked the efforts they had made with beer. The staff engaged in a personable manner and it felt a clean and welcoming environment. For those who enjoy their wines and like trying a few, this seems a perfectly agreeable venue to visit.
Continuing on our tour of Titanic pubs, we visited the Royal Exchange which is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. Their pubs all seem to be sharp looking, with clear branding and in a decent state of repair.
Formerly known as the Stone Inn there have been some efforts made with the external floral arrangements.
A beautiful line-up of beers. The staff member was helpful and friendly, it’s the inviting atmosphere that I had expected from Titanic.
The prices for the beer options.
The pub has just opened when we entered which is why it’s rather quiet, it’s clearly a popular pub judging from the positive on-line reviews. Although one customer posted:
“Called in today. Lovely pub, but when you say 1 for yourself when you get served I didn’t expect the barmaid to take £3.50 thought that was a bit naughty.”
I’m not sure that is entirely naughty, I think that might more be getting yourself a double whisky or something, but there we go.
How very true. I do like motivational signs in pubs that help customers develop and improve themselves.
I decided it would be a good idea if we sat in the front room as it seemed to have some character to it. This is one of those pubs that must feel quite cosy in the winter as they have real fires going, something which seems to be ever rarer today.
I went for half a pint of the First Class, an agreeable session hoppy bitter, which is the first time that I’ve tried this beer.
We were going from here to the Titanic Brewery tour, so this was a handy prequel to the whole arrangement. It’s a traditional and welcoming pub, handy for locals and visitors to the town. To top it off, as soon as I get to visit Stone for the first time, the veteran MP Bill Cash announced that he was standing down from the House of Commons at the next General Election, but I don’t think that the two events are linked. Anyway, I’m digressing again, I’d say in summary that this is an excellent pub and quite rightly in the Good Beer Guide.
The prices are some of the cheapest on the market and the menu is clear with its foot long sausages. For those who don’t want a pork sausage, there’s the option of a chicken and beef saveloy, but there are no options for vegetarians. The stall wasn’t accepting credit cards on this visit, but this appears to be a temporary problem as they usually do take them. The stall holder was helpful and polite, warning us immediately that it was cash only, with the service being pro-active and friendly.
There are also soft drink cans available, but otherwise it’s a basic and concise menu.
I went for the basic hot dog with onions and took the opportunity to add free hot sauce and also tomato ketchup.
There we go, it looked most appetising. It’s quite a substantial sausage and it was meaty and rich in taste, with the caramelised onions adding extra flavour. The roll was also of a decent quality and was of a sufficient strength not to fall apart during the eating process. The on-line reviews are positive, with the exception of this recent one:
“W bułce powinna być parówka Frankfurterka a nie jakaś paskudna kiełbaska!!!”
This is a complain from a Pole that they wanted a Frankfurter sausage and not a pork one. Personally, I think they’re wrong, this isn’t some cheap New York street cart operation, there’s more decadence here at Norwich market.
James went for the chilli dog which also comes with cheese, lettuce, mayo and homemade chilli sauce. They blowtorch the top of the hot dog which hardens the cheese, also making it less messy to eat. I was wondering whether James would have a spillage incident on his shirt, but there were no disasters. James was suitably impressed at the whole arrangement, there wasn’t too much chilli sauce that it ran everywhere, but there was enough to taste.
I have eaten here before, but it’s a reminder of the excellent value offered. I’d come back here again, it’s easy and affordable. It’s feel good food, but I’m big on that as there’s nothing wrong with comfort eating on a weekday lunchtime. Reassuringly reliable.
This was another one of my great plans for the weekend away in Stoke-on-Trent, to go on a brewery tour for my favourite UK brewery that is Titanic. It was a slightly odd brewery tour set-up as they claimed that it lasted three hours, offered three free pints and also food, all for £15. That seemed competitive priced to me and I could just see how excited Ross and Liam were when I suggested it. Above is the shop section of the site and I popped into this after the tour, as they opened it specially, to buy bottles of the two Titanic beers that I hadn’t tried before (the Chocolate & Vanilla Stout and the Captain Smiths).
The brewery set-up is at the rear of the site and was a little smaller than I had anticipated, although there are plans for expansion.
There was a upbeat welcome from Lyn, the tour guide, at the beginning when we were told that we could claim our three pints at any time. Realistically though, it was one whilst listening to the introduction, one whilst walking through the brewery and another along with the food at the end. It seemed sufficiently sensible to me, I like an organised plan and especially an organised plan where there’s beer.
There were drawings that were framed on the wall of Titanic’s various pubs and this is the Greyhound that we had visited the previous evening.
The tour was led by Lyn and she comes from a CAMRA background rather than as a brewer, but she led an entertaining tour around the relatively small brewery set-up. She started with an explanation of why the brewery is called Titanic and I have to confess I had only looked that up the previous day as I didn’t know. It’s because in 1985 the Titanic was rediscovered at the bottom of the ocean and the brewers were looking for a name, but the most relevant point is that the captain of the doomed liner was Edward Smith who was born in Hanley, just a short distance away. The founding brothers of the brewery are Keith Bott and Dave Bott, both of whom still work at Titanic today.
Some of the stacks of barley.
And some of the stacks of malt.
Liam, busy learning about how to brew beer. We were told that although millions of pints of beer (currently 4 million, but that’s going up soon) are brewed on-site here every year, there are just five full-time brewers responsible the whole operation.
I was interested to discover that Titanic brew a relatively small number of different beers and over half of their production is Plum Porter. I have to confess that I prefer Cherry Porter, but I’m keen on both in that laid-back and accepting manner of mine…. There are more photos of the brewing operation at https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720309137387/.
The food provided was lobby served with bread rolls. I hadn’t heard of this before (the lobby, I know what bread rolls are), but fortunately Liam asked what it was during the tour and it’s effectively a stew and it takes its name from lobscouse. The denizens of Liverpool instead called it scouse and that seems to have defined an entire area. Not wanting to delve too much into a food review, but this was very moreish and when it was announced that there were enough for seconds, I rushed over. The meat was tender and although some locals said their mothers made better lobby when they were children, it was just what I needed.
Most lovely. And the other benefit of all of this is that as Liam was driving he couldn’t have his full intake of alcohol, so I helpfully offered to assist with that situation.
That’s a lot of plum porter. As well as their small estate of pubs, Titanic have also launched bods which are a cafe bar chain and this seems a marvellous idea to reach a new and different audience. More food based and open for breakfast and lunch, they’re making quite an investment into these and hopefully that will pay off. The name comes from their first outlet of this type which was on Bodmin Avenue in Stafford, with the seemingly clever name just being the first half of Bodmin.
The tour guide Lyn (who is also the Deputy Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent) who was great entertainment during the tour and it transpired she knew some people in Norwich CAMRA.
This was a very enjoyable few hours and the whole arrangement was well managed and decent value for money. We could see all of the areas where the brewing took place and there’s a private bar that’s been set up at the brewery replacing the previous need to walk to what was known as Titanic’s brew pub around ten minutes away (which Liam, Ross and I walked to anyway). It was quite a large tour as I think there were 24 of us, but there was always enough beer and food, with plenty of space to see the tour itself. All in all, definitely recommended, and I remain surprised and delighted at Titanic.
As I don’t get out much I like a little bit of drama in my day, although not too much of course. The poor driver of this HE Payne lorry found themselves just a bit stuck in the middle of the street. Some slightly annoyed cyclists informed the driver that he was in the way, but I suspect that the driver was already aware of that before their helpful contributions.
It looks like a fun challenge to remove this again, but hopefully it’ll be on its way soon enough…… Anyway, that’s enough posting in my riveting ‘stuck lorries in Cambridge’ series.
