I had thought I’d wittered on about this pub before, which is the JD Wetherspoon outlet in Gorleston, the William Adams. However, it appears that I haven’t and so I’ve had to cobble together some older photos for this post, this external photo is from 2023. This was the sixth pub of the day that Roy, Jen and I visited.
A 2018 photo of the interior, but it’s still pretty similar. My bag is a little more decrepit now though. Unfortunately, I don’t have carpet photos which is a bit of an omission, but I suspect that we’ll all cope.
The pub, which opened in March 2018, takes its name from the celebrated local lifesaver William Adams, born in Gorleston in 1864 and long remembered as the “Hero of Gorleston” for saving around 140 people from drowning, mainly while working as a bathing hut attendant and swimming instructor.
The site itself has a rather older religious and commercial history: it was previously occupied by Methodist chapels, the first dating from about 1807 and a rebuilt chapel of 1844, the latter later suffering war damage before the site was eventually cleared and used by GT Motors. There was some complexity about when JD Wetherspoon came to build the pub as two skeletons from the Victorian period were discovered in a crypt from the former church, which were reburied nearby.
Back to the visit that Roy, Jen and I made at the weekend, there were six real ales available and the prices were all towards the lower end of the scale.
Chicken done in three ways, classy as ever of me. The beer is the Noble Pair from Harviestoun Brewery and it’s not what I expected from what was named as a brown ale. However, there were some toffee and caramel flavours, all quite heavy, but still agreeable.
As it’s a JD Wetherspoon venue, I felt the need to take a look at some of the reviews. Things must be going well here, their average on Google reviews is very much towards the highest of the JD Wetherspoon outlets.
“I saw one man try and open a door for some fresh air and then a staff member came and rather aggressively shut it”.
I like a bit of passive aggressive behaviour when customers do things like prop doors open.
“Unfortunately I didn’t get to try the food. Me and my family along with our family dog sat outside, just about to order food when the shift leader came out and told us to leave because of our dog. We questioned the manager who was very rude and he wouldn’t give his name saying I can report him to whoever I like. I’ve been to many weatherspoons up and down the country and never been told to leave. My dog is not dangerous she is very old and wanted to rest”.
There’s always one dog review, as if the team members are going to break the pub’s national policy as the dog was old…..
“Came here today with my son and a friend all ate something different a few hours later we all had a bad stomach and vomited”.
I think the “all ate something different” might be a hint that it’s not from the food….
“Don’t sell alcohol for breakfast. Very disappointed, spoilt my holiday”.
Quite…
Anyway, this was the cheapest pub of the day, it had the best real ale selection of the day and was a handy stop for food.