Wymondham – Green Dragon
The fifth pub that Julian and I visited was the historic Green Dragon, a venue that I’ve visited before. The pub is operated by Admiral Taverns and has recently reopened after some troubled months which are probably best forgotten. There aren’t many older pubs in the country, as part of the Green Dragon dates from the fourteenth century and it’s one of the buildings that survived the 1615 Great Fire which destroyed so much of Wymondham.
There were four real ales and I went for the Umbel Magna from Nethergate Brewery, expertly food paired with Mini Cheddars. This was a very agreeable beer which is a modern recreation of a 1750s porter which contains coriander, with some subtle flavours which makes me wondering what other quality beers they were drinking in the eighteenth century. The pub doesn’t seem to be serving food at the moment, although that might be something that changes in the coming months.
The bar serves two rooms and as can be seen on the floor in the bottom left of the photo, there was once a divider to separate the room out. The service here was personable and engaging, I’d suggest that it was the most friendly and conversational of the day. I asked the server if there was a cellar in the building, but he said that it had been blocked and they now had a ground floor cellar for the beer.
This is the fireplace that we were sitting next to. Although the brickwork is from the 1930s the fireplace surround is much older. There’s a door next to the fireplace which is rumoured to lead to a tunnel which led to Wymondham Abbey, something I must admit to not believing ever existed and certainly doesn’t here as it’s a cupboard.
The pub’s front room which was for a long period used as a shop.
The Liberator Lounge and there’s more information about the military links with the Green Dragon at https://www.wymondhammagazine.co.uk/news/special-gala-day-for-389th-bomb-group.
It notes not to graffiti the bench.
The bench, where I think former servicemen have signed when they were stationed here. As some heritage, here’s what it looked like in 1933 when George Plunkett photographed it.
I very much liked this pub, the welcome was friendly, it was clean and I enjoyed the beer. It was very quiet when we visited, but it was on a Thursday afternoon and I suspect that some people aren’t aware that the pub has now re-opened. Its lost its place in the Good Beer Guide, but the pub has an excellent long-term reputation and things feel like they’re getting better again so perhaps it’s just a matter of time before they’re back.
