83.
Norwich - A Fine City, mainly
Graham Buckley had reported that since
moving to
The following morning, we did not rise
bright and early, but still early enough to get a cab into town and visit the
first pub of the day, the Gibraltar Gardens. The Good Beer Guide lists a
pleasantly surprising number of decent pubs in Norwich, so we decided to do
some. Though the Gibraltar Gardens is not amongst them, it is OK, and we
settled into the crawl with pints of Adnams, Woodfordes Wherry and Old
Speckled Hen. The pub was quite a foody,
bring-your-kids-for-Sunday-lunch kind of place, but fair enough. The music was
dire however, so we had to go.
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On the way to the next pub, G pointed out
the local landmark: a sign saying 'Old Falace Road'
as a result of repeated defacements.
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The Nelson is a very good backstreet pub
which has a very good selection of well kept beer and an extensive array of
pickled (onions, eggs, gherkins) and dry snacks which can be seen on a shelf
behind Smiley in the picture below. The bar also has a cushioned front and a
very pleasant appearance. The pub was also noteworthy as it had pint glasses
marked with numbers 1 and 31, and two very good pub dogs around and about. The
selection of beers was magnificent: Hobgoblin, Orange Wheatbeer,
Exmoor Hound Dog, Woodfordes
Wherry, Deuchars IPA and
Stonehenge Great Bastard. In actual fact we stayed for a second as one of my
few complaints is that the pumps are divided between two bars and the less
observant might not notice the selection chalked above the bar. I might also
add that my pork scratchings and pickled egg were top
notch. A man behind the bar was wearing a Delia Smith/Norwich City 'Let's Be 'Avin Yer' T-shirt.
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An even better pub lay just up the road. The
Fat Cat has justifiably entered the current Top Five pubs of all time rated.
Full details can be found on their website at www.fatcatpub.co.uk. There were nearly
thirty beers and ciders on draught and gravity when we went, as can be seen
below on the blackboards, and I cannot be arsed to
record them all below, but the Luddite (5%) stands
out as being fantastic, and there were also a number of options below the
£2 mark, such as the Black Dog Mild. The only criticism is that the long,
thin pub is if anything too popular, and at 4.30pm on a Saturday afternoon it
was absolutely heaving with real ale types and some students. The bar snacks
selection also gained full marks as they have excellent pork pies available
behind the bar at £1.60 a go.
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By the time we walked into the Belle Vue, the football was on, and we saw Cristiano
Ronaldo (complete with smug face that I'd like to
punch) score a goal which provoked a torrent of abuse. The Belle Vue was also busy, but much rougher, though fine for a pint
and a spot of dinner. The beer options were still reasonable (IPA, Courage,
Hen, Wherry), well priced and slipped down well.
However I would not have wanted to have stayed much later than about
The numbers of G's mates were expanding at
that time, but we did manage to form an advance party to nip up the road to the
Alexandra Tavern, another great pub. This was a much more cosy affair with a couple of roaring log fires and
comfortable seats. The beer selection was once again extensive and cheap, there
being Chalk Hill TAP and CHB, Tindalls Liberator, Exmoor Gold and Broadside. For some reason, G had lager and
G's mate Bob had rum and coke which he proceeded to
spill all over the bar. This state of pissedness was
further reflected when Graham started smoking, an action which was to have
consequences later on. We were so settled that we actually stayed for a second
round.
The time came to leave, and I briefly
retraced my steps to a nearby chippy for an excellent
portion of cod roe and chips (that I didn't actually need but after being
advised that the fish shop was legendary decided to try), before we headed to
Graham's old local, the Garden House. Once again, I was part of an advance
party as Ed's beer was not slipping down as well as expected on account of the
previous night's exertions. This is a big and slightly trendy pub with a number
of rooms and a couple of androgenous punters playing
pool. There weren't many seats so we had to stand up. Fortunately, there was a
bit of beer in the shape of Wherry, IPA, Adnams and something that I now can't read in the notebook,
but on so very many levels it was a pretty average affair.
After a walk to Norwich's compact city
centre, we got to the Ten Bells which is a very busy Greene King pub doing
above average IPA and Abbot. It was busy and didn't have many other notable
features.
It had been a long day, so we got a taxi
back to G's house to have a few nightcaps. Some beer flavoured
with peach blossom materialised which was a nice
idea, but was a little sickly. Graham didn't actually have any of this but
somehow still managed to have an accident in the bathroom. And
the landing. And the bedroom. And the laundry basket. And the door of
the spare room. This carried on long into the night, my sleep punctuated
by the sounds of retching, scrubbing and bedclothes on the spin cycle in the
washing machine.
Feeling as right as rain the next morning,
Elizabeth did us a great fry up (apart from G who was still off solids), before
we headed back. Along the way, we made a stop at the Montagu
Arms in Barnwell, near Thetford. This is another GBG
entry and again you can see why. It is a bit foody in
places, but it does have a low beamed bar, albeit a little difficult to access
if others are drinking there. The 'throne room' in the gents is very spacious
too. The choice was good - Flowers IPA, Broadside, Oakham
JHB, Bishop's Farewell and Archer's Little Rascal - and excellent quality, and
we chuckled as we reminisced over the weekend's events. Maybe G wouldn't have
had his accident had he been on the bitter, bitter as fine as was available in
this pub? Unfortunately, despite the nice surroundings, it was time to go our
separate ways and head back in time for the Midsomer
Murders.
A fine city indeed.
Bootiful.
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
Last updated 3rd April 2005.