How marvellous, Brewdog nationally this week are running an “out of office” campaign, so anyone who comes to one of their pubs between 12:00 and 14:00 can claim a free pint of beer from a handful of choices. Quite marvellous. Technically, since I take my laptop and get so much work done in pubs, cafes and restaurants, I sort of ‘came to the office’ to take part in this promotion.
But, nonetheless, a generous campaign and the pint of Punk IPA was all very acceptable.
The train from Norwich to London Liverpool Street wasn’t very busy, around a handful of passengers in each carriage. Although, slightly irritatingly, I had to change carriage after getting all comfortable as I discovered the power didn’t work in the one that I had chosen. The conductor was a friendly and affable man, with the train being spotlessly clean since the cleaners spent around thirty minutes on it, cleaning it both inside and out.
Safely at London Liverpool Street, arriving on time. I noticed customers in two carriages couldn’t get out, an unfortunate side effect of these slam shut doors. I, being ever helpful, opened one door when walking by, whilst the others managed to unfree themselves from their trap.
Although I had a ticket to use public transport from London Liverpool Street to London Blackfriars, the underground was just shutting down and the times suggested by GWR didn’t seem to actually correspond to any underground trains. So, since I like walking, I went for the option of the 25-minute walk across the city.
I’ve never seen the above church, which is St Ethelburga’s at Bishopgate, near to Liverpool Street station, which just goes to show how unobservant that I can be… It’s one of the few surviving medieval churches in the city centre and there were once two shops at the front of the building, but these have since been removed. It was also one of the churches which allowed divorcees to remarry, which wasn’t quite within the rules of the time. Although the building has mostly survived, even through the London Blitz, it didn’t entirely make it through an IRA bomb placed outside in 1993, which destroyed 70% of the building.
The Bank of England.
St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Safely at Blackfriars station, where I promptly went up the wrong escalator and reached the platform for trains to Luton Airport. Hopefully no-one noticed me going up one escalator and then straight back down the one next to it.
This was awkward, I’d reached the correct platform, which was Platform 1, and noticed there was a train ready and waiting to depart to Three Bridges. This is also the train to Gatwick Airport and the passenger in front of me ran for the train, where as I thought I’d have a little meander around as I was hardly in a rush. And then I heard the station staff call out that they’d hold the train for me, so I do a slightly fast walk to get a train that I didn’t really need to get.
I thought I looked quite smooth and nonplussed in walking towards the train, although I might have actually rushed and been less lackadaisical if it was a train I was actually trying to get.
On board the Thameslink service from London Blackfriars to Gatwick Airport.
The train arrived on time at Gatwick Airport.
Inside the terminal, one of the few times that the ticket machines are so underused. Incidentally, my railway ticket failed to open the barriers and I noted that Gatwick Airport had employed a member of barrier staff who didn’t burden himself in using his customer service skills. But, since he was standing there at 01:00 in the morning, perhaps it’s not entirely fair to expect him to be anything other than fed up.
And here we are at Gatwick Airport arrivals at South Terminal, arriving around 30 minutes earlier than expected as I accidentally caught a train I hadn’t intended to get at London Blackfriars. The ticket cost just over £20, which I think is reasonable given the distance travelled and the comfort provided. It just now means I have to faff about for my flight, but I like the adventure really….
My time in Hull had come to an end, so it was time to get the train back from to Norwich. In theory, this would have involved a Northern train from Hull to Doncaster, an LNER train from Doncaster to Peterborough and a EMR train from Peterborough to Norwich.
Here it is, the pride of the north, a Northern Rail Pacer train (144019) which they were phasing out by July 2019. As can be seen here, since it’s October 2019, that timetable hasn’t been met and there’s another year of them.
These really aren’t the best of trains, they probably do need to be sent to the dustbin of railway history.
Anyway, I was meant to get the 19:27 train from Hull on the Northern service. There was flooding along the line, outside of where I was going, but it was impacting on the Northern train service. Being a responsible passenger, I approached the TransPennine ticket desk as this was the only one I could readily find and they’re the company who operate Hull Paragon Interchange railway station. On this, I wish they’d just call it Hull, as it’s a bizarre name for the city’s main railway station. The staff member there was helpful, but he reassured me that the 19:27 was running, but that there was a service at 19:12 if there was a cancellation of my service. But, if at 19:12 the 19:27 service was showing, I had to wait for that, which is what I did.
There was a member of First staff at the railway station, which is logical because they operate the very interesting Hull Trains open access service to London from Hull. He was offering customer service advice as the 19:27 service was changed to start from Sheffield, not from further down the line. And, by the time I spoke to him, the 19:27 service wasn’t operating on time. This is relevant, in what is otherwise a winding and endless story, of mine because I could technically now no longer get home. He said that the rail policy was to get as far along my journey as possible, which made sense to me. He also explained that there were some tests of the brakes going on as the train had gone through the flooding earlier on during the day.
So, on the 19:27 service I get. I say 19:27, but the doors didn’t open until 19:40 and it didn’t set off until nearly 19:50. It then made extra stops, so my train from Doncaster to Peterborough had long gone when I arrived into Doncaster.
I thought I’d go and ask LNER staff at Doncaster what the rail policy was, because I’m interesting in knowing what happens when the rail network goes a bit wrong and people need to get home. Some of what they told me I knew, other parts I didn’t. But, in short, I was told that the rail network preferred to get taxis home for anyone who missed their final connection, as this is the set-up that different rail operating companies have with each other.
I was also told that rail companies might pay for a hotel, but this would usually have to be at least semi-authorised by the rail company would end up paying for it. So, it would be hard for a member of LNER or Greater Anglia staff to authorise a hotel and then get Northern to pay for it, whereas taxis were always paid. LNER apparently frequently shuttle passengers by taxi from Doncaster to London and from Doncaster to Newcastle, but rarely pay for hotels. But, equally, I was told that rail staff have been told to be pragmatic, so if someone is stranded hours away from home, with no other passengers to share a taxi with, the rail company might just pay for a hotel and endorse the ticket for use on the next day.
I had also become aware by now that I had what they called “an illegal connection” which was possible. So, not a connection that wasn’t allowable, but just one that passengers couldn’t be expected to get as there wasn’t enough time to change trains. Which is like conformance times at airports, although they can enforce those cut-off points. In my case, I could connect from the Doncaster to Peterborough train onto the Peterborough to Ely train, but there was only four minutes to do so. The LNER staff told me that I was under no obligation to rush for this, nor was I expected to even know about it. Rail policy was I should present myself to rail staff at Peterborough and they’d advise me. It was clear here that if I wanted a free taxi from Peterborough to Norwich, I could probably get one by faffing about when disembarking. However, I prefer trains and don’t really like taxis, and it would have also been a waste of the rail company’s money, in this case, Northern Rail.
At this point, I boarded the LNER Azuma train at Doncaster, which is in the above photo when it pulled into the railway station.
I commented on these before when I got the train up, but these are really clear to understand. There was also plenty of seating on the train.
And I got my table seat, with wi-fi and power that all worked well. An LNER member of staff came by and I asked him about my connection at Peterborough. He said the same as the customer service staff had at the station, which was that I shouldn’t worry, I should just get off at Peterborough and ask a member of platform staff what to do.
I was slightly disappointed to get off, as a staff member had just come into the carriage to check tickets. The customer behind me only had a reference number for his ticket, not the actual ticket. I was humoured by the staff member when she said “what do you want me to do with a reference number?” and the customer replied “accept I’m telling the truth?”. Which is quaint and rather innocent. She replied “it doesn’t work like that, how it works is you give me £130 and then I give you a ticket and not just a reference number”. I’m not sure what journey he was making, as that seems a lot of money, but he wasn’t happy. They were just getting into quite an argument, albeit a polite one, and I was really disappointed that the train pulled up into Peterborough and I didn’t hear how that ended. I love a drama….
And the good news is that I got in Peterborough six minutes early, so an impressive performance from LNER on a really decent train. Above is the photo of the train as it departed from Peterborough towards London.
Which then meant that I’d get the Cross Country train to Ely, which turned up on time. I got another table seat and the train was comfortable, but not particularly clean.
Let’s just say, it was clear that there wouldn’t be a fight for space when boarding the train. This is Ely railway station and it’s a shame Dylan and Leon weren’t there, we could have gone under the tunnel at least 20 times in the time I had to wait. The Greater Anglia service was on time and the staff member was enthusiastic and helpful, something which is common with their staff, which is why I still like them a lot as an operating company.
And smoothly into Norwich railway station, on time and the Stadler train (the one on the left) journey was seamless and comfortable. The train fare cost £19.80 and I got in 57 minutes late, so I’ve put in a delay repay request to Northern Railways for £9.90. I’m not sure how this will work out as they don’t seem to think they operate a 19:27 service, as it didn’t come up on the on-line form. We shall see, but all told, the rail network did come together nicely and there was not one single moment where I was doubting whether I’d get home somehow, even if it was a taxi.
My train from Norwich to Hull involved four train journeys, (i) Norwich to Ely with Greater Anglia, (ii) Ely to Peterborough with EMR, (iii) Peterborough to Doncaster with LNER and (iv) Doncaster to Hull with Northern. This trip cost just £12 and was a bit precarious, as if I missed any connection then I would have missed the last train operating into Hull. Anyway, all was well and I ended up in Hull on time and without any delays.
The first journey was with Greater Anglia and the conductor was exceptional, and I partly know this as he sat down opposite me to read the Metro newspaper and he was conversational and humorous. His train announcements also amused me, I’ve never heard Ely described as something like the “effervescent and glowing beauty of Ely, which also has a big church”. Marvellous. The train was also the new Stadler service, which is growing on me after my initial scepticism (my favourite eight-year old boy has sold it to me).
Not much to report on the second journey, which was just the short hop from Ely to Peterborough with the new EMR set-up. It’s an older train which doesn’t have the facilities of the Stadler, but everything ran to time although I didn’t see a conductor on the journey. I did see the Flying Dustman though…..
The only train that I had which was timed was the Peterborough to Doncaster one, so I got on a train from Norwich which got into Peterborough giving me around an hour’s connection. This gave me chance to go to the nearby Wetherspoons and get a chicken wrap, as well as to moan about their quiz. And then complain about the LNER seating at Peterborough railway station…..
LNER’s Azuma train pulls into Peterborough railway station. This is a beautiful and sleek train and it was easy to identify which seats on board were reserved. They have a red light by each seat for reserved, a green light for free to use and an orange light for currently clear to use, but is reserved later on. I’m surprised it has taken rail companies so long to come up with such an easy system, but it’s very logical. No staff checked tickets and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bit of fare evasion going on along this route.
Doncaster railway station, a solid traditional building which I got to see for around 15 minutes.
LNER and Doncaster railway station are clearly, and rightly, proud of their Azuma trains.
I didn’t get a service operated by Hull trains, but this is an innovative open access operator which is now owned by First Group. They operate on the Hull to London route and I like the idea of this set-up, something similar is happening in Germany and hopefully it’ll expand throughout the European Union.
And safely into Hull railway station on the train which is on the right hand-side of the above photo. My ticket was checked by a friendly conductor and once again, for the fourth time out of four, I got a table seat so that I could type away on my laptop without having it perched on some dodgy tray table.
For the money, this was an amazing value fare given that I used four different rail services from four companies. Two of the trains were state of the art and the other two were perfectly adequate. It’s easy to be excited about railway services in other parts of Europe, and indeed around the world, but the UK network is still one of the best in the world that I’ve ever experienced for trips such as this.
And that was a lovely two days of volunteering at Norwich beer festival, my sixth year in a row. Always a friendly environment and I was sad to report that I didn’t even get one grumpy customer this year, although I did get the obligatory one who thought that there was unlimited beer for £3.
And, primarily for my own record since I can’t imagine anyone is in the slightest bit bothered, these were my favourite festival beers.
Orange Blood by 3D
Dark Drake by Dancing Duck
Robin Goodfellow by Papworth
Mild by Shipstones
Stain Glass Porter by Star Wing
Lemon and Basil by Blackjack
Cinder Toffee Mild by Half Moon
Hygge Figgy by Brass Castle
Dark Matter Custard by Turning Point
Stagecoach by Tombstone
Blackberry Porter by S&P
The Hike Norfolk monthly meal was this month at Brasov Restaurant on Dereham Road in Norwich, a relatively new dining option for the city which is well reviewed. The welcome was friendly and seemed genuinely personable, despite the meal’s organiser being concerned about the whereabouts of some of the group (I might have arrived fifteen minutes early…..). Anyway, the table for eight of us was ready and the dining environment was clean and comfortable, with quite a modern design to it.
The whitebait starter, with the fish being at the appropriate temperature and they were reasonably well coated with the batter. They had a pleasant taste and the portion size was perfectly acceptable. The homemade garlic sauce wasn’t though really to my taste, it was very watery and had no complexity to it other than a very strong garlic flavour which was too overpowering for the whitebait. I think I’d rather have had a tartare sauce with garlic flavouring, but nonetheless, the whitebait themselves were fine.
I can’t claim any attempt at Romanian cuisine with this little effort of mine here…. The Greek salad was though entirely satisfactory, with a decent quality feta cheese crumbled on the top and cucumber, olives, onions, tomatoes and lettuce underneath. The portion size was reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine, with the chips being suitably firm on the exterior and fluffy on the interior. The homemade sauce was very moreish (so moreish I ate most of it, forcing Gordon to get more for the table) and flavoursome.
Some of the others had Romanian dishes of various types and I think there was a view that they were well presented and interesting, although perhaps lacking a little in seasoning. But Gordon, who as usual ordered the most expensive on the menu, was content with his steak. Although he had the same problem with the garlic sauce as I’d had with my starter.
The staff were also very tolerant of our group, which as usual went off the rails somewhat when Gordon changed the subject to talk about his money. Or, something like that, I can’t quite recall…..
We weren’t going to have desserts, other than Gordon who messed the friendly and ever tolerant waitress about, but I doubt he’ll read this for some weeks so I can put that. However, the restaurant brought out this dessert for free, a Papanași, which was a doughnut type pastry with blueberries. This was a very kind gesture and the blueberries and the sauce were delicious and the pastry was light.
These weren’t my beers, I temporarily stole Dave and Gordon’s beers to take photos of a couple of the Romanian options. My ever more specialist beer tastes inevitably weren’t met at the restaurant, although that’s more to do with me than them. Although I do remember from my last trip to Romania, there were some dark beers available, including a dark version of Ursus. I couldn’t taste the difference between the above beers, I have no ability to really differentiate lagers as they all taste broadly the same to me.
All told, the service at this restaurant was well above average and it felt a welcoming environment, with the staff member being engaging and personable. I get the feeling that this place is a popular cafe during the day, with some intriguing cakes and coffees available for customers. For food, I was content with my choices, the prices were reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine. Ideally though, I’d have liked some better quality bread on the table and that garlic sauce was quite punchy. But, it’s another interesting addition to the city’s dining options and I hope it does well.
And, I have a week in Romania in February, which will be rather lovely.
I’ve been slowly working my way around numerous Brewdog outlets across the UK and mainland Europe, having been won over by their beer and food. Although, it’s the service element that Brewdog seem equally strong at, all combining to make this a popular and on-trend location.
I had reserved a table for James and myself to try their unlimited chicken wings. This allows diners to have as many chicken wings as they’d like for £10, with the staff bringing out more on request and there is also a vegan alternative involving cauliflower. We didn’t really investigate this option, but I’m sure it’s, well, lovely. We managed to arrive early and the staff member at the bar was helpful and suggested that we order drinks and then we could take a seat in the bar whilst waiting to be shown through to the restaurant area. This all happened efficiently and our table was reserved with a clear sign, it was just like being back in Liverpool for my Deskdog experience….
This is the first plate that is brought out, with something like twelve chicken wings on it. This is a perfectly generous portion in itself, with a blue cheese sauce and the wings looked appetising and well presented. They also tasted of an excellent quality, with the outside being crispy despite there being quite a thick sauce on them. The sauce was also flavourful, with a slightly hot taste to them, mixed in with some honey. The chicken was also tender and they were very moreish. Which is handy. Also, they were served hot and they seem to have been freshly cooked.
One thing which is quite unlike Brewdog is that they seem to have fixed some rules to this promotion, although I’m not sure what they are. The first rule is the clearest and is that this promotion must be booked in advance, whether on-line or in the bar in advance (although perhaps it’s possible to negotiate with the bar staff and take part if it’s otherwise quiet). With regards to the other policies, I’ve only discovered these rules from reading reviews of Brewdogs across the country, where some people think they have one hour to order, others two hours and others mention no limit. We weren’t told of any limit and nor we were stopped at any stage, so I imagine that the process is a little informal and flexible. James kept going much longer than me, as I’m far too concerned about maintaining my recent weight loss.
Another policy is that the blue cheese sauce provided with the first set of wings is expected to last the entirety of the promotion. When diners finish their first twelve wings, they can request another portion and then five wings are brought over. This seems sensible and avoids waste, although the staff member varied in pro-activeness in offering more wings. When James wanted more blue cheese, they didn’t mention this was possible only with an extra payment, which seemed unusually unclear for such a precise chain. It didn’t seem worth querying this 50p when the bill arrived, although if they’re going to charge like that, they should perhaps mention at the beginning that only one portion of blue cheese sauce is included.
Overall, I was entirely satisfied with the whole promotion and the staff were warm and friendly. Service was sufficiently prompt, although it could have been more pro-active for anyone who wanted to plough through a lot more wings, and I’m sure that there are some. But, Brewdog didn’t fail in terms of providing a clean environment, as well as a comfortable and fun atmosphere. All rather lovely. But they should have mentioned the blue cheese sauce.
And, I don’t want to make this some Man vs Food blog post, but James went through ten more wings than I did (I think I stopped at 22 wings) which was very impressive.
Thanks to the observant Brian, we managed to get seats at the one year anniversary of the opening of Spice Valley, on Magdalen Street in Norwich. I was aware of this Indian restaurant, but it was one of those places that I hadn’t quite got round to visiting. Free food and drink is though always a way to encourage me to visit….
The decor was modern and bright, with a staff member welcoming customers on entry. Since the restaurant wasn’t charging for food and drink, it was busy, but there was an orderly feel to proceedings and our party of five was promptly seated.
The restaurant’s generosity included not just free food, but also free drink. There was a wait on the drinks order being taken, but I can hardly fault that situation given they weren’t charging for them, and I’d add that later on they were pro-actively offering more drinks to customers. I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t usually drink Kingfisher, but it was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature and all that. I understand that the restaurant does sell local beers as well, but their on-line menu doesn’t mention that. If, however, I discovered that they were selling craft beers, that would be an extra reason for visiting…..
All very clean and tidy, the dining environment was comfortable and organised.
It was a little hard to get a photo of the food given how busy it was, but there were some poppadoms, starters and mains. The poppadoms were decent, with some flavour to them, and the onion bhajis and meat samosas were excellent, with the onion bhaji being crispy, but not too hard. I was slightly unsure what the curry was, I think it was chicken korma, with the meat being tender and it had taken on the flavour of the sauce, although it was quite a lightly spiced dish.
There was nothing at all wrong with the food, although it inevitably wasn’t possible to see how the food would usually be presented because of this one-off service style. And I very much like this whole gesture of inviting customers to have a free meal and drink, it shows that the restaurant is proud of their cuisine and keen to show it off. Since I’m also easily bought, I will likely come back in the near future, so their generosity won’t be entirely wasted on me. One thing that I felt was evident is that if a customer did have a problem, I’m pretty confident that the management would fix it promptly.
All very lovely.
After I had obtained some low priced accommodation in Liverpool, I just had to work out how to get there from Norwich. The trains weren’t priced at a particularly attractive level, which was especially irritating as there’s a direct service from Norwich to Liverpool (although I think that’s going as part of the franchise changes).
So, I decided to abandon my favourite form of ground transportation and instead of using the rail network, I looked at the bus options. National Express had a return fare from Norwich to Liverpool for £28, which was much cheaper than any other option.
The only little problem with this plan is that the journey was eight hours each way. Just what I wanted…..
Anyway, I boarded in Norwich and the driver mentioned that I was going on a long journey. Much as I appreciated his enthusiasm, I did privately think that I was already well aware of this situation. On this point, the boarding process was all very efficient and I was able to get an emergency exit row seat (they’re not really called that on buses, but it cheered me up to compare it to an aircraft).
I boarded the bus twenty minutes before departure, and like some child on a school trip, I managed to eat my Tesco meal deal lunch before we had even started. Marvellous.
At Birmingham, we were allowed off the bus. I’m not sure if disembarking was compulsory, but I got off to explore the facilities. And the city’s coach station is pretty bland, full of expensive outlets, chargeable toilets and nothing much of interest. So, I waited in line to get back on the bus. Fortunately, the driver called us existing customers back on first, so we didn’t have to show tickets and the like again. Other than for one customer who the driver had clearly forgotten and he had to show his ticket again.
Driving through Birmingham….. The bus was pretty much always on time, although it missed out several stops such as Dereham and Wisbech if no passengers wanted to get off there.
As for comfort, the bus wasn’t too bad at all, particularly with the extra space of the emergency exit seat towards the back. One woman, who shall we say wasn’t exactly a millennial, decided she wanted to watch some television soap on a tablet with the sound on, which irritated me. So I stared at her angrily, to which she was oblivious, and I thought it might be best for me just to put earphones on instead.
The driving, which was completed by three drivers, was all professional and it felt a safe environment. The power on board worked well, although the Internet was a bit hopeless and I gave up with that very early on during the journey. The bus wasn’t spotless, but it was sufficiently clean to not cause me any concerns.
The highlights, other than arriving, were seeing my accommodation at Keele University (B Block, Lindsay Hall) from the M6 and also watching Jonathan travelling in the other direction on a Megabus service from Liverpool. I can’t say that I exactly enjoyed the whole journey, but it was easy, comfortable and fairly priced.
Part of my Streets of Norwich project, although I’ve had to break King Street up since it’s so long….
The site of what was once 193 to 197 King Street, sadly demolished in the mid-twentieth century. The building which stands is the former Ferry Boat Inn, at 191 King Street.
There was once a yard at 193 King Street, known as Wickham’s Yard, which went down to the river, but this went when the properties at 193 to 197 were demolished. Five properties along this yard, which was pretty much all of it, came up for sale en masse in 1908 with the purchase including the yard itself and river access.
There was an archaeological dig here a few years ago when a building project was planned, but there hasn’t been much progress recently. But the armchair remains….
The Ferry Boat Inn, which closed in 2006 and unfortunately is unlikely to ever reopen now. This is particularly sad as it’s one of the few pubs which was left along the King Street from the many which once stood along here. The building has been used as a pub since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was likely a private residence before then dating back to the seventeenth century.
The pub was formerly known as the Steam Barge and the Steam Packet, taking its current name as this was the location for the boatmen who carried people and goods across the River Wensum. The pub is Grade II listed, so it should remain standing as a residential property even when the rest of the site is converted into housing. For a short while in 1987 the pub’s landlord was Steve Wright, later convicted as a serial killer who killed five women in Ipswich.
