Located opposite Oulton Broad North railway station is the former George Borrow pub. Julian the elder has visited this pub many times in his youth, but it’s not one that I ever went in. The pub takes its name from George Borrow (1803-1881) who was a novelist and early travel writer. He was certainly a controversial author and in a mood, the Norwich subscription library burned one of his books in the 1820s which feels a sub-optimal thing for a library to do.
This is from the early 1900s and Oulton Broad still has something of a village feel.
This is Google Streetview from 2009 and it’s the only photo they have of the pub before it was converted into a residential home. It closed in 2008 having opened as a licensed premises in the 1890s. To add confusion to matters, it seems that the venue has also been known as the Station Hotel and the Railway Hotel.
Here’s the venue on the 1890s Ordnance Survey map. In its day, it was also a 12 bedroom hotel, so would have been a convenient location for any travellers needing to catch a train. The nearby station was known as just Oulton Broad at the time, instead of its current Oulton Broad North, as what is now known as Oulton Broad South was then known as Carlton Colville station.
This is what it looks like today…..
At least the former pub sign holder has remained, even if the pub sign itself has gone.