The eighth pub on our list was the Lichfield Arms in Great Yarmouth, which isn’t a venue that I’ve ever heard of before. CAMRA notes that the landlord has been here for thirty years, which is an impressive stint and he’s delivered a really rather lovely community driven pub.
The pub was built here in the 1880s, originally defined as being in Gorleston, although I think it’s fair to say that this area is now considered to be part of Great Yarmouth. It was originally a Steward & Patteson pub before it became part of the Watney Mann estate, but it’s now a free house.
Initially this was just a beer house (these venues could sell beer and were often just a front room, but they couldn’t sell spirits or wines), but in 1903, the Yarmouth Independent reported:
“The next and last application was by Mr. C. J Wiltshire on behalf of Messrs. Steward and Patteson for the removal of the full license of the Little White Lion, King-street, to the Lichfield Arms beer-house, Lichfield road. This was, he said, the third time of asking, and Messrs. Steward and Patteson were prepared to surrender an off beer-house in High-street. Over 80 houses had been put up in the district since the last application, and it was greatly extending. There was a dearth of public-houses in the area, as was shown by the drink map. With respect to what had been said at previous Licensing Sessions, Mr. Bottle would be glad to know that two doctors had now gone to live in the district. (Laughter.)
William Pembroke, of the Lichfield Arms, the nominal applicant, said he had a great demand for spirits, especially since there had been so much sickness, and he had been twice called up at night lately.
Mr. S. Rivett, architect, said there were 441 houses on the Lichfield estate, and 85 had been built since 1901. The nearest full licensed house was 490 yards away.
Mr. Bottle—This application comes before us with a better grace than any other we have heard. There should be a full licensed house in a district with a population of 2,000 people. At present it hasn’t one full license.
Mr Wiltshire—The need for a full license there has been fully demonstrated.
Evidence of the service of the statutory notices in respect of this and all the applications was given by the Warrant Officer (Sergt. W. Moore).”
The request was granted by the licensing committee, as long as the High Street licence was surrendered. It was though the third time that the venue had requested this.
There was one real ale available, the Edith Cavell from Wolf Brewery and that’s not a bad one to select.
The beer was well kept, tasted as expected and was, once again, expertly food paired. For anyone interested, and I’m not sure who will be, but those crisps pack quite a mustardy punch.
There is one long bar and the decoration is traditional and comfortable. There’s a screen showing sports and although the customers were quite lively during our visit, we felt entirely welcome. The venue is all quite under-stated in a very positive way and it’s primarily wet led, although they occasionally do serve food for special events.
Those signs above the toilet doors look like they’ve been there for about forty years, but I’m all for heritage and keeping things in pubs rather than constant renovation and modernisation.
I liked this pub, it felt a welcoming venue, it’s clearly another place that’s at the heart of its community and if it was the landlord of 30 years’ standing that served us, he’s doing remarkably well to keep the pub going.