Category: UK

This was the third pub on the latest perambulation around Norwich that Julian and I undertook last week as a service for the people of Norfolk and Suffolk (and indeed beyond) as we continue our attempts to straddle the Waveney. I confess we haven’t done much straddling lately, but never write us off as we are brave enough to return to Suffolk for brief periods at a time.

I have digressed though. The history of the pub is complex, although it has transpired that Julian once again remembered its recent past correctly (he hasn’t entirely lost it just yet), and effectively the pub was originally the building on the right. It then lost that bit on the corner which is now a shop, but which was the main bar, but then gained the relatively large building in the middle which was a hat outfitters. George Plunkett has a rather lovely photo of the front door from 1938. There’s also a photo in his archive from 1989 which shows what is now a separate shop, but the old name remained it appears for the new shop.

The historic pub bit of the building had opened as a wine and spirits shop, operated by Ward & Fisher (later Ward & Seaman), in the early 1820s and in 1829 the owners offered the lease for sale and noted the substantial cellars and premises that the wine merchants were operating from. The building became a pub in the later Victorian period which was known as the Shrub House and it was taken over by Lacons in 1896. In the 1970s, the corner section was lost to become a shop and the pub closed in 1979 for a few years. In 1984 it opened in its expanded form and was renamed the Blueberries and then became known as the Rumsey Wells between 1985 and 1989. It was then renamed again (I wish they’d stop doing this to pubs as it always sounds like they’ve having some identity crisis) to St. Andrew’s Tavern, but reverted once again to the Rumsey Wells in 2008. Hopefully they’ll just leave it like this now.

The new bit of the pub. This is the former shop area which was historically run by Herbert Rumsey Wells (1877-1937) and he was rewarded by having the pub name after him. He was by all accounts something of an eccentric hatter and his family business dated back to the early nineteenth century. Visible in the above photo, this was the Wells & Son hat shop that became part of the pub in 1984. Between 1984 and 1989, the pub was run by Colin Keatley, who went on to do great things at the Fat Cat. Back to Rumsey Wells, I mentioned that he was eccentric as I got that impression from the obituary put in the local newspaper in December 1937:

“Norwich has lost a picturesque personality by the death at his home in St. Andrew’s Street, on Wednesday, of Mr. Herbert Rumsey Wells. He was 60 years of age. With his “doggy” cap, large Inverness cape, snuffbox, and sometimes a monocle, he must have been known to many thousands of his fellow-citizens, and he was almost as well known in most of the big cities and towns of the British Isles. It was his boast that he was the most expensive cap maker in the world. He travelled the country on behalf of his firm from Land’s End to John o’Groat’s and it certainly could be said that he was his own walking advertisement.”

You’ve got to have some confidence to say that you’re the most expensive in the world…..

The pub today is operated by Adnams, which might be obvious when looking at the beer options. The service from the team member was efficient and polite, although it’s a little difficult here as they have a split bar and I know from past experience that it’s hard for them to see who is waiting next. Everything seemed well managed, although there were some uncovered sausage rolls that were looking a bit lost and vulnerable at the end of the bar, like pastry orphans awaiting adoption. For the truly forensic photo inspectors, they can spot them in the earlier photo, assuming they have the time and, frankly, the inclination for such detailed sausage roll scrutiny.

The old bit of the pub is visible behind the glass. The beer inside the glass is the Double Ghost IPA from Adnams, not a beer that I’ve heard of before, but it was rather lovely with a malty, slight toffee flavour which was balanced and smooth. The beer was well-kept and served in an appropriate branded glass, not something that’s essential but I do try and mention it positively.

The food offer here is Pieminister (which I keep calling Pieminster in error) and they had a selection of pies available at prices that weren’t unreasonable. It’s an interesting food franchise, it keeps an option open for customers, without having the huge kitchen and salary costs of a larger operation.

The venue is a rather agreeable one, although it’s not one that I visit at all regularly. The pricing was somewhere around average and the pub was clean and organised, with a slightly studenty vibe going on. I didn’t visit them on this occasion, but they have a little courtyard area available and I think there’s a basement bar which is in operation when it gets busier. Anyway, the pub had some interesting beer choices and a quirky building history, so all rather lovely.

Julian suggested for the second evening visit of the night that we should visit the Cinema City bar. Now, this was a decent idea, but it’s such a complex building that there’s quite a lot of history to uncover. Julian has had some significant involvement here over the years, but I’ll let him tell those stories over a pint…. It’s an historic building which opened as a cinema in April 1978 and it was remodelled between 2004 and 2007 to add more screens. George Plunkett took a photo from around this location in 1936 and it looks relatively unchanged from the exterior. Here’s one of the frontage of the building from the same time period, showing what is now the entrance to Cinema City.

The courtyard of the building. So, as I understand, Cinema City is formed of two buildings:

(i) Suckling House – This is the core medieval part of the building which faces onto St Andrews Street. It’s a Grade I listed merchant’s house with origins dating back to the early 14th century (around the 1320s). It’s named after the Suckling family (Robert Suckling was Mayor of Norwich) who owned it in the 16th century and it stopped being used as a residence around 1915, today being the restaurant and bar area of the cinema.

(ii) Stuart Hall – This hall was added to the east side of Suckling House. It was part of a restoration project funded by Ethel Mary and Helen Caroline Colman (of the Colman’s Mustard family) in 1923. They gifted the restored Suckling House and the newly added Stuart Hall (designed by local architect Edward Boardman) to the City of Norwich in 1925 for public and educational use. Stuart Hall was equipped with cinema projection facilities from early on and this is the area of the building where the cinema screens are located.

Two medieval doorways survive in Suckling House and it was originally constructed as a hall house. Julian correctly remembered the building was descheduled in 1997, but it remains protected and is known as one of the city’s most historic buildings. It has obviously required some clever and innovative thinking to ensure that the building could be modified to become a cinema and remain in usage, but to also ensure that it remained suitably protected.

The dining room area. I didn’t go in here as I didn’t want to disturb the sole table of diners. The building was partly demolished by the construction of a tramway, although not as much as the building opposite, but the listed building record mentions that some of it was restored back again. I am going to copy the building survey here as I think it’s a definitive record and offers a more detailed background than I can offer:

“The Great Hall of Suckling House is generally agreed to be 14th century, although opinions about the precise date vary. The original entrance to the hall would have been through one of the two doors which face one another at the western end of the hall. This would have led into a screens passage which, on the western side led to service rooms in vaulted bays, and to the east into the open hall. The screen was probably timber, and no trace remains. The area where the cinema foyer is today was originally part of the Little Parlour, and fragments of the wall survive in the north and south walls. In the south wall at first floor level a medieval door still exists, and may represent the original entrance to the Solar from an external stair.

The ground floor of the western range would have served as the service wing. Three vaulted bays survive, with evidence for another in the panelled room. This latter bay has fragmentary remains of vault webbing and is thought to have been the buttery, with the larder to the south, and further south were kitchens. There is much speculation about whether the service wing is earlier or later than the hall. The awkward junction between the original southern door and the vaults suggest that the two buildings cannot be contemporary. The layout of the hall follows the typical Norwich format of having the principal living rooms separated from the street by service rooms.

Early in the 16th century a long covered passageway was added to the north of the hall, leading out from the screens passage towards the counting house. This had open sides with oak posts and decorated spandrels, one with the Grocers’ Arms and another with the arms of St Andrew. The inventory of Robert Suckling (1589) has allowed a conjectural plan of the building to be drawn up. In the 17th century the building begins to be broken up. In 1608 the buildings were divided into northern and southern sections and sold separately. The wine merchant Philip Rose who bought Suckling House from 1819 is believed to be responsible for the insertion of a cellar in the Great Hall by raising the floor. Wine merchants continued to use the building until 1914. In the 17th century the western range was refaced . The Great Gate that once stood just south of the Counting House was blocked off and incorporated into a house of six bays which appears Georgian, but is in fact just refaced.”

A rather lovely window which has some seating located within it. There’s some stained glass at the top of the window, although it’s hard to make out from this photo.

For reference, this is the pizza menu. The pricing is a little punchy, but it’s in quite a decadent building which is generally frequented by, let’s be realistic, a relatively middle-class audience.

The main menu.

That’s some ceiling arrangement.

Spot the smoke alarm in the rafters which it feels must be entirely sub-optimal to have to change.

The bar area and it’s perhaps a little cluttered, but they are trying to sell snacks to cinema goers, so I understand that. The service was friendly, personable and efficient, so the vibe was welcoming.

And finally the beer, which was pretty much the only option and there’s no cask available at all. The beer is the Mosaic Pale Ale from Adnams, but this is the keg version which was light and hoppy, but a little too cold and I think it’s simply better in cask form.

This venue is one that is probably over-looked by many drinkers in the city and I have to confess that it has never occurred to me to come here. But that’s what you get for being friends with Julian, an encyclopaedia knowledge of every watering hole in Norwich. It’s a little pricey and the beer selection is limited, but the surroundings are historic and on that basis alone, it’s worth a visit.

Located on St. George’s Street, this is the exterior of St. Andrew’s Brewhouse which opened as the Festival House in 1899 when it was a Bullards pub (George Plunkett has a photo which he took in 1936 of the exterior). It was briefly known as the Grocer’s Ghost in 1992, then briefly as Franco’s the following year, before reverting to its original name. In 2001, it was reopened as the Irish bar Delaney’s after a substantial renovation, before being renovated once again and opening under its current name in 2015.

John Hostler, a local labourer of no fixed residence, was intoxicated inside the pub and had his drink removed from him in 1908, so he threatened to put in the windows. He managed to do this, causing nearly £5 damage to the large plate glass window at the pub. In his defence to the court, he said that he fell and “my knee accidentally went through the glass”, but unsurprisingly this wasn’t believed and he was sentenced to six weeks hard labour. Perhaps as an attempt to get some of their money back, the next year they were flogging tickets to see the King go by, offering “splendid uninterrupted view of the procession, with tickets from 2s 6d”.

It was reported in the local press on 22 May 1909 that the new landlord of just two weeks, Joseph Samuel Paston, had been found dead in the pub. I’ll repost the entire article as it’s quite intriguing:

“The Norwich City Coroner (Mr. R. W. Ladell) conducted an inquiry on Monday morning into the sad circumstances attending the death of Joseph Samuel Paston, aged 55, landlord of the Festival House public-house, St. Andrew’s, who was found dead in bed at 10.30 last Saturday morning, having evidently died from gas poisoning. Mr. P. L’Estrange was present, representing Messrs. Bullard, Ltd.—The widow, Alice Mary Paston, who is living at 43, Gertrude Road., said her husband was a retired Sergt. Major of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and until quite recently was landlord of the Golden Star public-house, Duke-st. During the past two years his health had not been very satisfactory, and on several occasions he had received medical treatment. They had only lived at Gertrude-rd. a fortnight, during which time he applied for an appointment as caretaker, but he was unsuccessful, and in consequence he had taken over the licence of the Festival House.

As her husband had been in the Festival House only a fortnight, their furniture had not yet been removed from Gertrude Road. The deceased had slept at the house, and witness and her little boy had slept at Gertrude Road., witness sending her husband’s meals down to him. On Friday afternoon last the deceased became somewhat queer, and he went to bed unusually early. On Saturday morning witness carried on the business of the house, and about half-past ten, thinking her husband had had a long rest, she went to his room to tell him to get up. On going into the room she found it full of gas fumes. She immediately opened a window, and on going to the bed found her husband quite dead. He had apparently passed away in his sleep. Witness was of opinion that in turning off the gas, which was immediately above the bed, he accidentally turned it on again. Her husband had been extremely happy since he had been in that house.— A son, Wm. Thomas Paston aged 12, said he last saw his father alive on Friday afternoon, when he was very queer. He corroborated the other facts of his mother’s evidence.—Detective-Sergt. Goldsmith spoke to examining the premises on Saturday evening. He thought the gas was turned on in an accidental way as the deceased was taking his arm from the burner.—A verdict of “Accidental Death” by suffocation was returned, the jury expressing their deep sorrow with Mrs. Paston in her bereavement.—Mr. L’Estrange said the deceased was a most trustworthy man.”

The interior of the pub and it’s all rather large in size, with a lower seated area which has a restaurant and numerous floors above which are usually reserved for private parties. They have also been used as a nightclub in the past and it has gone under numerous incarnations, including as Sams Rock Nite Club. I think that sounds just a little raucous for me. It was also named Samantha’s, which I assume is the same Sam, claiming to be the only rock club in Norfolk with its resident DJ, Gary Lee. When I get my little group about pub history going, I suspect that there will be a lot of memories from people about this pub and club.

The beer selection is mostly, but not entirely, from their own brewery set-up. I think the server was new, but he was friendly enough, with the pub feeling generally all rather clean and tidy.

The beer I went for was half a pint of the Anglo Saxon Amber from St. Andrew’s Brewhouse. Its flavour seemed to be playing a rather successful game of hide-and-seek if I’m being entirely honest, and it’s hard not to be as I merrily score every beer I have on Untappd. A thin and quite watery brew which was rather sub-optimal, it had the charming simplicity of something your mate might proudly offer from his garden shed brewery – you praise the effort, admire the bottle and hope he doesn’t notice you didn’t quite finish it. Julian had the Oaks from Barsham Brewery and was more pleased, noting it was a nice, standard bitter. The prices are slightly higher than average for beer, but not by much, so it’s all relatively affordable.

Flights are available….. I’ve had numerous beers from the brewery and I’ll just limit myself to saying that I haven’t ever been surprised or delighted. Well, I’ve been surprised, but not in the positive sense, as I had a Tombland Porter in December 2021 and it was hard to even get through it and I had the Grocer’s Ghost Pale Ale on the same night and discovered that it was even worse. However, others might get on better with beers from the brewery, each to their own.

I mainly remember this as Delaney’s, a vibrant and quite loud Irish bar, which Julian reminded me used to have elevated wooden seating by the window which allowed for watching over the bar. Julian also reminded me of how he once helpfully used to sit watching the bar for trouble-makers many years ago, he’s always offered that helpful service to landlords and landladies. Back to the pub, I’ve rated the food here higher than the drink over the years, but the service has always been polite and helpful. It’s located opposite where Norwich Beer Festival is held every October (other than last year when the Halls were out of commission, hopefully not something which will happen again this year) and there’s external seating which is agreeable for people watching. It’s a popular venue and so it’s clearly doing quite a lot right, so that’s all rather lovely.