Issue 155 of Norfolk Nips and Cask Force

Newsletter of the Norfolk Branches of the Campaign for Real Ale

No.155 Winter 2010

ANOTHER GREAT FESTIVAL!33rd Norwich Beer Festival report inside

Also inside:BEER FESTIVAL DIARYNORFOLK’S TRUE HERITAGE PUBSPUB AND TRADE NEWS

CHAMPION BEERS OF NORFOLKROYAL ANGLIAN REGIMENTA DAY IN ELY

FREE

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Generous ale drinkers in Norfolkhelped raise £5,400 to supportserving and former members ofthe Royal Anglian Regiment.

In May 2010, the WolfBrewery launched a new ale tohelp raise money for the RoyalAnglian Regiment BenevolentFund. The brewery donated £7from every cask of RoyalAnglian ale sold to the fund.Participating pubs also placedCharity collection boxes ontheir bars. The money raisedfrom ale sales equates to aledrinkers downing more than50,000 pints of Royal Anglianale since May and reflects the

strong support in Norfolk forthe Regiment and the impor-tant and dangerous nature oftheir role.

Colonel Tony Slater, Norfolksecretary for the Royal AnglianRegiment thanked peopleacross the county for theirsupport and said “Financially,there’s a lot we are going toneed to do for the soldiers inthe years to come. Secondly,it’s terribly important for themto know the support they havein their home county and thisdemonstrates just how wide-spread that support is, so weare very grateful”.

Raising a glass for our troops! Norwich & Norfolk BranchChairman: Graham FreemanTel: 01603 687495Email: [email protected]: Warren WordsworthTel: 01603 665557Email: [email protected] Secretary: Tim MacDonaldTel. 01603 865505Email: [email protected] Officer: Mark StimpsonEmail: [email protected] Norfolk BranchChairman: Phil BuffhamSecretary: Ian BaileyContact: Bruce WardTel: 01485 609107 Branch websites:www.norwichcamra.org.ukwww.camra.org.uk/wnorfolk

Branch mailing list web page:groups.yahoo.com/group/CAMRA_Norwich

Published every 3 monthsby the Norwich, Norfolk & WestNorfolk branches of the Campaignfor Real Ale © N&N CAMRA 2009Norfolk Nips is produced anddistributed by members of thebranch in their own time.

Edited by:Mike BaldwinEmail: [email protected]

Chris LucasEmail: [email protected]

Views expressed in NorfolkNips are not necessarily thoseof the editor or of CAMRA

Design & Production:Daniel Speed - Tamoko DesignEmail: [email protected]

Distribution:Norwich and Norfolk District: Tony Miles [email protected] Norfolk District : Ros Harre [email protected]

Advertising:For advertising enquiries pleasecontact Chris Shilling on:Tel: 01778 421 550Mobile: 07736 635916Email: [email protected]

Steve WhadcockTel:01778 420888 / 421550Mobile: 07736 [email protected]

WINTER 2010 | 3

Kay Edwards, Wolf Brewery Director with soldiers from the RoyalAnglian regiment saying “Thank you to publicans and the public forhelping to raise a total of £5400 from sales of Royal Anglian ale inaid of the Regiment’s Benevolent Fund.

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“Is that old ale for old people?”is what a student from theUniversity of East Anglia askedme at our recent Norwich BeerFestival. I spent some timeexplaining to her and herfriends about Real Ale and thevast choices and tastes thatwere available. However, it's acontinuing problem about howdo we educate the youngerdrinkers to try Real Ale wheneven my own children telleverybody “that's somethingdad drinks.” Our Brewers havetried to overcome this matterby producing golden beersthat look like lager. Even somehave cask lager that does seemto be attracting customers but I

find these rather bland. I canonly thank our members whospend their time teachingyounger people about theworld of Real Ale, After all itstops them getting a bad repu-tation for binge lager drinking. One solution is that next yearwe hope to recruit a YoungMembers position onto theCommittee so if you are inter-ested please can you contact me.

We are still asking for nomina-tions for Pubs to be includedinto the Good Beer Guide 2012and welcome any help in thesurveying which I know you allenjoy.

Like most of the staff I haveonly just recovered from ourNorwich Beer Festival and Iwould like to take this opportu-nity to thank all who helpedand to all those customers whovoted for the beers of thefestival. I hope you enjoyed ourbeer choice this year.

Finally on behalf of theBranch I would like to wish youa Merry Christmas and aHappy New Year.

Graham FreemanChairman Norwich & Norfolk

CAMRA

NORFOLK NIPS | Chairman’s Letters

Education, Education, Educated?

WINTER 2010 | 5

As another year comes to anend. It’s time to reflect onwhat’s been an eventful, butalso difficult year for manyPubs.

Whilst some Pubs have donevery well and real ales salesprices are up, others havestruggled with some shutting,never to reopen. The NorfolkHero at Swaffham altering toLiving accommodation. Alsothe Compasses at Snettishamafter its eventful year with theland lord being charged withmurder of the Landlady on the

premises. This Pub has nowbeen sold to local Builders.

Several others are shut withdoubts as to whether they willreopen. Your village local has intoo many places disappeared.Instead of sitting at homedrinking their supermarket tins,people need to get back to thepub whether its to pop in for apint on the way from work tohome, birthday, village meet-ings of different organizations,or for the sociable eveningdrink. It’s a case of use it or youwill lose it.

So as we go into the NewYear lets remember a Pub is notjust for Christmas it’s for life.On a happier note our localP.T.O breweries seem to havehad a good year. And therehave been some excellent beerfestivals and organized Triparound towns and breweriesand I look forward to this in2011.

Merry Christmas and a HappyNew Year

BuffChairman Of West Norfolk CAMRA

Use it or Lose it!

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Due to beer festivalfatigue it seems I get to takethe lead in editing this issue ofNips/Cask Force.

In days of old there used tobe an independent WestNorfolk magazine called “CaskForce”, which started as thebrainchild of Tony Cantle andhad as its overriding ethos“Don’t bore the readers, orthey won’t bother with themessage” Tony has very kindlywritten a little piece about thebirth of our now absorbednews letter and Tim Spitzer hasrecorded the greatest exploit inits name “Cask Force Task

Force” which was thesuccessful visiting by teams ofbranch members of every GBGpub in Norfolk in one day.

There are some photos whichinclude the 1993 prices in theFat Cat, they are a shock to saythe least!

Cask Force was self financinglike this magazine using adver-tising revenue skilfully obtainedby Stewart Chambers. We hadsome good contributorsincluding Charlie Askew whostill writes the very funny tastingnotes for Larling beer fest.

Some are still writing for usand some not, this is also the

case with some of Nips oldwriters; it would be nice to getsome of them back. Most ofthe articles speak for them-selves, I hope you enjoy them.

Lots of good news in thisissue Norwich beer festival wasa roaring success, a full reportis included.

Congratulations to HumptyDumpty brewery who almostswept the board at the festival.Also warmest congratulations

to the cider award winners.Who included our very own Jimand Pete from Whin Hill. I’ve been reminded that in

the new year we startsurveying pubs for the 2012

6 | WINTER 2010

The Words of Stig

This warm and friendly 17th century Freehouse is to thenorth side of Norwich cathedral. Owned by Craig & LynneMcLaren since 1993. ‘The Wig’ as its affectionately known,has built a reputation for fresh, fast, affordable British cuisine.

6 St Martins Palace Plain,

Norwich NR3 1RN

01603 625891

www.thewigandpen.com

Look out for our Cask Marque Plaque. This guarantees beer qualityin the Wig & Pen and theopportunity to TRY BEFORE YOU BUY.

For the 13th successiveyear, the Wig & Pen hasbeen included inCAMRA’s Good BeerGuide. We are very proudof this achievement.

• Good Ale • Good Food • Heated smoking area • Comprehensive Outdoor Dining Area

Sky & ESPN Sports TV • Late Night Opening

• Good Ale • Good Food • Heated smoking area • Comprehensive Outdoor Dining Area

Sky & ESPN Sports TV • Late Night Opening

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WINTER 2010 | 7

GBG If dear reader you haveany suggestions in Norfolkwhich you feel should besurveyed for possible inclusionplease let us know, my email isat the front of the magazine.

Remember real ale quality isvital it’s a good BEER guide.

Lots of varying articles to keepyou interested, I hope.Finally my thanks to all who

have contributed to this maga-zine this year and the moralsupport of many more, plusthanks to Mike and all atNorwich CAMRA for their helpand continued friendship.

Don’t forget Tim’s Xmascrawl, all welcome!

Have a good Christmas anddon’t go too mad with thebeer or food, like I’m the oneto talk!Cheers,

Stig.

Wow! That was some Festival!I think I’m getting back to

some sort of normality, what-ever that is.Many thanks to those who

spotted me working there andcame up and told me whatthey liked about Norfolk NIPSand offered suggestions forwhat they would like to see inthis publication.

Working at the Festival is justamazing. You can give asmuch, or as little, of the timethat you have available and bepart of a team that producessuch a great event. It doesn’thappen overnight, of course,and planning for the 2011Festival starts in April. I’ve always thought that whenyour hobby is also your job,you’ve got it made, so I’mlooking forward to doing itagain next year. If you enjoyedthe Festival and would like toget involved and join us nextyear, look for details on our

website or in Norfolk NIPS.Maybe next time I’ll jot my

experiences down – “The Diaryof a Steward” perhaps?

Having a bit of a tidy up canoften bring surprising results.It certainly did for Tony Miles,NIPS Distribution Manager forNorwich and Norfolk - hefound a copy of Norfolk NIPS.Nothing unusual in that youmight say, but this was IssueNo. 62, dated December 1992.In those days the newsletter wasan A4, 4 page publication,printed in black on tinted paper.

It carried a report on acampaign to save The Consti-tution on Constitution Hill,saying that many pubs wereclosing each week as a result ofthe recession and a letter to theEditor from “A A Hancock ofRailway Cuttings, East Cheam”.Apparently, he and his mateSid had gone to the Festivalwith Boots Vouchers, and he

was complaining about nonEnglish entertainment – theGerman Oompah Band. TheBeer of The Festival was Wood-fordes Norfolk Nips!

This has got me thinking.Does anyone have old copies ofNIPS? Older than issue No.62?Maybe Issue No.1? I am tryingto find out when that waspublished. Originally, NIPS waspublished under the acronym,RAINBOW. I’d like to knowmore about that too. If you canhelp, please get in touch.

In the meantime, have a greatChristmas, or a Happy Holiday,whatever it means to you, anda very Happy New Year.

Cheers!

Mike BaldwinEditor –

Norfolk and Norwich Branch

The Ed’lines

NORFOLK NIPS | Words from the Editors

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8 | WINTER 2010

News from the West

The Deer’s Leap on WoottonRoad in Kings Lynn may be upand running, and the DukesHead Hotel on TuesdayMarket Place is under newownership, and is promised asubstantial makeover, but thereare still plenty of opportunitiesin the area for budding land-lords. The Sportsman atWest Winch still lies empty, andwith a main road location andno other pubs in the largevillage it surely should be athriving business. Out atHarpley we hear that the Roseand Crown is now closed andthe Dray and Horses atTottenhill was also dark for awhile, but seems to be openagain as I write. The Compasses at Snet-tisham is in the process ofbecoming flats. Mick Hunter isretiring from the WhiteHorse at Gaywood, and this isjust one of several pubs in thearea being advertised as ‘ForSale’ or ‘To Let’.

Enough of the doom andgloom – lets look at some ofthe places that are doing welland are worth a visit. In September a friend came ona pilgrimage to Walsingham,and after the service decidedthat she would rather go for apint than be sprinkled withHoly Water, so we met up inthe Bull, close to the AnglicanShrine. We were not the only

ones crossing the road, andmany seemed to be attractedby the good value food, butmore to our taste was thechoice of 3 beers, includingBlack Sheep. After this weheaded up to the BinhamChequers to the home of theFront Street Brewery. I guessthat many visitors do not evennotice the brewery housed inthe old toilet block at theentrance to the car park. Smallit might be, but it turns out anexcellent range of beers, andfor those who would like to trysomething else, Buffy’s was theguest beer when we called.Forgetting that the ThreeHorseshoes at Warham isclosed during the afternoon wewent on to the CarpentersArms at Wighton instead. Thiswas called the Sandpiper lasttime I went in, and having hadthe North Norfolk treatment, itseems to major on food, butthe Adnams on sale was verygood. Back in Walsingham fora quick giant scone in the visi-tors centre before our guestdeparted back on the coach toNottingham we noticed a handpump lurking behind tocounter. This turned out to beWherry and it was probably thebest pint of the day.

A little while later we wereback in North Norfolk to handover a selection of beer to oneof the winners of the draw forthose who joined CAMRA atthe Sandringham Game Fair.We rendezvoused at the DunCow in Salhouse and were

very impressed both by thepub and the quality of thebeer. We then went on to thePigs at Edgefield, and took inthe whole ‘Pig’ experience,including the fine pig basedfood. If, like me, you have notbeen here since it was theThree Pigs, go and have a look.

Closer to home, the quiltingcrowd organised an exhibitiondown in Feltwell, and on theway back we took the opportu-nity to call into the GreenMan at Methwold Hythe. This is rather off the beatentrack, so get the map out andgo exploring. Only one beerwhen we called – TunnelVision, but a comfortable puband a friendly welcome. Rathereasier to find is the Georgeand Dragon at Wereham andhere you can have a choice of acouple of beers.

Another place, which is, I believe, under new manage-ment is the Sailing Club atLeziate. I helped to run a quizthere recently and although itwas not obvious on the bar,they did have a barrel ofTipple’s beer out the back – soask if you go in.

Not far from West Norfolkyou can visit some of the coun-tries premier Beer Festivals.Norwich and Peterborough arenow well established andamongst the biggest in thecountry, and were as good asever this year. However newon the scene is the Elgood’s

Pub News | NORFOLK NIPS

Pub News

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Beer Festival. This was held atthe brewery in Wisbech inSeptember and featured over100 beers. Not only was thechoice of beers and the venuetop class, but also the enter-tainment, at least when wewent on Thursday night, wasbrilliant. I had never heard ofDr Busker and the Wild Roversbefore, but I shall certainly lookout for them in future. Theyare not for the faint hearted –one of the punters said that itwas like being down the rugbyclub without the rugby – so ifyou are easily offended its bestto go a bit earlier and lookaround the excellent gardensinstead. Lets hope that thisbecomes a regular event.

Whenever I go away I alwayslook for the opportunity towatch a bit of live sport, and inNovember we headed out toMalta. A night at a MaltesePremier League Football fixturesaw us bouncing with theBirkirkara Ultras, as they tookon the might of Vittoriosa in athrilling 1-1 draw, but this wasput in the shade by an interna-tional Rugby game betweenMalta and Latvia. A last minutetry by the tough well organisedLatvian team took them to a33-26 victory, and although weconsidered taking up the offerin the programme of headingdown the nightclub in St Julianto party away the night withboth sets of players, we insteadheaded out for a meal (theMaltese speciality is rabbit),and a couple of bottles of theexcellent Hop Leaf Pale Ale.Back home a couple of dayslater it was about 15 degrees

colder and a good deal wetter,but at least there was thepromise of some Real Ale. We headed down to thePorterhouse in Lynn for theirquiz night and eagerly orderedIPA. Not on. Second choicewas St. Edmunds Ale, whichwas well past it’s best. Thirdon the list was Old SpeckledHen. Again it was not on.Guinness? Afraid not. I wasreduced to resting a pint ofRuddles smooth flow on myCask Marque beer mat, andwishing I was back in the sun.

Just before the weather brokea small group of the branchmembers went out for aSunday stroll around Fincham.This seems an unlikely venue,but the scenery is varied andthere is an abundance ofwildlife around – we saw anumber of hares and severalgroups of deer amongst otherthings. We finished up at theFincham Swan for an excellent Sunday Roastfollowed in my case by asuperb cheeseboard. Theregular Wherry and Abbot areserved alongside a guest beer,which was from Wolf on the dayof our visit. If you don’t fancythe traditional fare the specialityof the house is Thai food.

Jeff Hoyle

Ramblings from the Snug

In the last edition of Nips Ireported that an applicationhad been submitted to convertthe Rosary into flats. I am now

happy to update you thatNorwich Council have rejectedthe application. Sadly the pub isstill closed so until it reopensstory is still far from over.

I recently visited Belfast andwas looking forward to tryingsome Irish real ale. The first pubI tried the Crown, (which is inthe good beer guide), had agood selection of beers.However they were all servedice cold. The result was that thebeer was far too cold anddevoid of any flavour. Happilyat the next pub, the beer wasserved at a better temperature.I've had ice cold real ale servedin a few English pubs. Why dothis? It completely ruins a goodpint.

The deadline for nominationsfor the Good Beer Guide 2012is rapidly approaching. I'vealready received nominationsfor several pubs. If you haven'tsubmitted your nominationthere is still time to do so.Please email your nominationsto [email protected] by 31stDecember 2010,

Until next time

Mark StimpsonPubs Officer

NORFOLK NIPS | Pub News

WINTER 2010 | 9

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DUKEof WELLINGTONTRADITIONAL REAL ALE HOUSE

91 - 93 WATERLOO ROAD | NORWICH | 01603 441182

Just 15 minutes walk

from City Centre

CAMRA Good BeerGuide Listed

30 PLUS CHRISTMAS BEERS

Available throughout December

OpenMonday to Saturday12noon to 11pm

Sundays12noon to 10.30pm

14 REAL ALES GRAVITY SERVEDavailable all year round fromour glass fronted tap room

6 MORE ALESON HAND PUMP

WelcomingREAL FIRE

Come and enjoy our Tap Room witha selection of Belgian bottled beers,Schneider Weiss, Erdinger, Dunkeland Riegele all on Draught.

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NORFOLK NIPS | Ely Pub Tour

WINTER 2010 | 11

A summer’s day in July, what better than a WestNorfolk CAMRA pub crawl in the picturesqueIsle of Ely, nice. The local CAMRA branch puttogether the itinerary for us; sadly none of themcould make it on the day due to two working,and the others attending a beer festival. Fairenough!

So, itinerary in hand and using a map from theEly Winter Ales festival programme (hey, it didthe trick!), let’s go. We began down by the river,sitting outside the CUTTER INN, an excellentpint (and a half) of Sharp’s Doom Bar set theball rolling as we admired all the lovely boatsmoored nearby, the Cutter has good ale and aprime location (so a tad pricey). Next it wasaround the corner and up the hill (think I’ve gota stitch!), Ely isn’t as flat as you’d think, to theROYAL STANDARD, packed with lunchtimediners, our group found a table to sit at, this is aGreene King house with guest ales (big place), Itried Everards Tiger (good too). Away to ournext port of call on the ol’ list, we should havebeen warned by the ‘For Sale’ sign outside butwent in anyway, this was the HIGH FLYER, noreal ale on so a swift exit and onto the superbTOWN HOUSE. The only pub on the day whoknew who we were, plus points there! A goodchoice of ales from the likes of Buntingford andOakham, I plumped (or plimped?!) forHarviestoun Dragonfly, also a light lunch for me,the Town House has many rooms but retains aspacious feel. A massive distance (12 parsecsfrom the Rishi Maze perhaps?!) to our next stop,well, across the street to the HEREWARD.Some had lunch here, reasonably priced food inthis large pub, I thought a bit ‘Hungry Horse-ish’, the Charles Wells Bombadier I had wasgood (Buff walked out when they wouldn’t servehis beer in a jug glass).

The MINSTER TAVERN followed, bigger thanit looked from the outside, a decent basicboozer inside, situated next to Ely’s famousCathedral, Marston’s EPA was the ale of choice

here. Some more bodies joined us in theKING’S ARMS, this pub had a good refurbish-ment not so long ago, nice comfy chairs (no no,not the comfy chairs!), three or four ales on offerincluding a lovely drop of Wadworth 6X. Myselfand Buff were looking forward to some fish ‘n’chips from the nearby Ely Fish Bar, but weredowncast of visage to find it had closed it’sdoors (boo hoo hoo!!!), so had to settle for apacket of crisps in the WEST END HOUSE,washed down with some excellent Spitfire, thisis a great locals pub not far from the city centre.

We did get a nice meal in our next pub, andpub of the day in my opinion, the brilliantPRINCE ALBERT. Plenty of books dottedaround the walls to read as you sup your pint, aGreen King pub, they have XX Mild, guest alestoo of which I had Holt’s Humdinger, drunkwith my delicious ham egg and chips. Last stopwas the FOUNTAIN, I missed this due toenjoying my food and beer in the Prince Albert,some of the others went in and said it wasgood, from memory the Fountain has LondonPride and Adnams. Then time to catch ourvarious trains and head for home.

So, a good day all in all, some good pubswhich would bear repeat visits in future. The realale was of a decent standard mostly, thoughpossibly not the wide choice you’d find inCambridge or Norwich, but Ely is worth a trotaround. And you have the historic cathedral tovisit as well. Cheers!!!

Tim Spitzer

A day in Ely

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The King’s HeadOpen 12.00noon - 11.00pm Monday to Saturday

12.00noon - 10.30pm Sunday

Run by enthusiastic drinkers and CAMRA members.

Keg Free Zone 14 Hand PumpsNorfolk Ales and CiderMild always availableWorldwide Bottled BeersBelgian BeersTelevision-freeBar Billiardswww.norwichbarbilliards.co.uk

KEG FREE HOUSE

The Kings Head, 42 Magdalen Street, Norwich NR3 1JEwww.kingsheadnorwich.com

Dating from the 14th century, the pub has

been restored to a Victorian style.

CAMRA Norfolk

Pub of the Year

2006 & 2008

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Here in West Norfolk CAMRAwe love our music, and whatcould be better thancombining it with pubs andbeer? Here are our favouritebeer related songs.

1) Money, Money, MoneyThis is traditionally sung in thetap room of the ‘Long Pockets’in Cleckheaton on the occasionof a rise in the price of a pint.At one time this was a rareevent would draw hugecrowds, but recently it hasbeen performed with suchregularity that people wouldrather stay at home with somesupermarket takeouts.

2) The Lion Sleeps TonightIn mid September the locals ofthe Blue Lion in North Pick-enham used to gather in thepublic bar to celebrate the endof the Troshin’ season. This allday event was accompanied bythe brewing of a special strongbeer, with the result that byearly evening most of theassembled Troshers were headsdown and slumbering on thebar room tables.

3) Vat’s Up PussycatA regional variation of songnumber 1, particularly popularin Soho, where the song wouldclimax with the locals throwingtheir knickers at the landlord inan apparent protest againstanother price increase.

4) Flowers In The RainA traditional song from preWhitbread days in SouthernEngland recounting the tale ofa summer barbeque that wasinterrupted by an unseasonableshower.

5) Crack A Bottle by Dr. DreA song recounting the story ofhow a careless delivery driverdamaged some bottles of beerwhilst dropping them into acellar. Fortunately the oftenviolent lyrics are difficult tounderstand due to the tradi-tional rhyming slang used inthis sad tale.

6) Walk The LineA traditional ditty from thedays before the breathalyser,recounting the hilariousattempts of a drunken villagertrying to persuade the localbobby that he was in factsober.

7) Message In A BottleThe superficially banal lyrics,thought to have been pennedby Dan Brown, in fact containinstructions for unearthing thesecret of the Holy Tankard byreading the patterns left byyeast sediment in the dregs ofbottle conditioned ale.

8) God Save The QueensThe original version waspenned by the Prince Of Walesas part of the ‘Pub is the Hub’

campaign, but this song reallycame to prominence when itwas taken up by 4 angry youngpunks trying to prevent theirlocal from being turned intoflats. This was first performedat Manchester’s Free Trade Hall(so named because of the widerange of hand pumped alesavailable). Note to lawyers –no reference to any pub in theKings Lynn area is intended orshould be implied.

9) Stairway To HeavenAllegedly written at ThornhamLifeboat one mid Decemberevening, this ode to pleasurerecounts the wonderful feelingwhich one experiences whenone has booked a room at thepub and doesn’t need to drivehome on a cold winters nightafter a skinful of Adnams.

10) Smoke Gets In Your eyesAn angry protest song from thedays when some people werecampaigning for a smokingban in pubs. Some feel thatthere is a faction of this crowdthat have descended intotriumphalism when they spotthe lovers of the weed slopingout for a quick drag in some ofthe coastal pubs and burst intoa chorus of ‘Smoke on theWater’.

Jeff

NORFOLK NIPS |

With A Song In My HeartAnd A Pint In My Hand!

WINTER 2010 | 13

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WinterBeer Festival

January 25th- 30th 2011

The ONLY Thai Restaurant in Norwich in THE GOOD FOOD GUIDE 2011

We are in it!We are in it!

CHRISTMASPARTY BOOKINGS

now being taken or Hire the whole Pub!

(Call for details)

Merry Christm

as and

a Happy New Year fo

r

our customers!

NN#155:Layout 1 26/11/2010 11:32 Page 14

NORFOLK NIPS | Post-its

WINTER 2010 | 15

Pleasure Boat - Hickling.Having had the long awaited coat of paint andgeneral clean-up after several months of closure,the new tenant is making a good effort to turn thetrade around, and with a good pint of Woodford'sWherry (£2.90) , and Adnams it could be a step inthe right direction, I wish them well.

Old Hall Inn - Sea Palling.A warm and friendly greeting along with a choiceof Woodford'sWherry(£2.80), Adnams Bitter(2.80), and a changeable guest beer awaits theholiday makers and local regulars alike. Also avail-able is a wide variety of home cooked food fromlocal produce, all of which are at reasonable pricesand can be enjoyedin either the restaurant or the bar.

Reef’s Bar - Sea PallingAfter a brisk walk along Sea Palling beach, whatcould be better than a pint of “Real Ale”. This cancertainly be achieved at the above, but althoughthe condition was goodand priced at £2.80 perpint, sadly it was the only choice.If you’re feelinghungry, food is served from noon until 10.00pm.

The Rumsey WellsLarge Adnams pub that is easy to miss on thenarrow pavement of St Andrews, which would be ashame. Three rooms of very different characterincluding The UnderBelly downstairs, whichdoubles as an art gallery.The six week period for guest ales has been

extended throughout the winter months. The smallbar is split in two, so make sure you check bothsides to see what is on offer. The Purity Ubu was invery good condition when I visited.Good food is available all day, with a new winter

menu including locally sourced sausages and pies.Sunday Roasts too. There is a good range of enter-tainment on offer, full details in their newsletter,The Rumsey Times or their website www.rumseywells.co.uk

West Norfolk Hotel - Heacham.It's a pleasure to be served by a very friendly land-lord in 9perhaps due partly to a "Spotless" bar withgleaming polished brass beer pumps, along with avery busy lunch time trade.(perhaps partly due to thefact that the pub has its own butchers next door.)How's that for diversifying. Several real ales wereavailable, but my choice of Bombadier was defi-nitely a good decision.

Fox and Hounds - HeachamThis pub has the big advantage of having its ownbrewery in the out-buildings of the premises, andalongside Adnams Broadside were four brews fromthe Fox Brewery, namely:- Amerillo Bullet, 90Minute IPA and my choice of Fox LSB. What a pity Icouldn't stay and try the others as it was so good.

The Bob Carter Centre, School Road,Drayton.There are four watering holes in Drayton, (countingThe Otter in the Drayton part of Thorpe Marriott),but this is one you might miss.Situated opposite the church and playing fields, ithas a large car park to the rear. A range of sportingactivities are on offer and rooms can be hired forfunctions. The large comfortable bar has a separatedining area and a large projection TV. Beers arefrom Greene King, with an additional guest Alefrom a local brewery, since the Centre is LocAleAccredited.Good food is available (not Sunday) with Curry

and a Pint night on Mondays and Steak and a Pintnight on Fridays.

Pub Post-itsAs always, remember that these post-its are subjective and reflect the personal experience ofour correspondents. Please feel free to email your post-its in to [email protected] - andif you really like the pub, why not nominate it for next year’s CAMRA Good Beer Guide?

Norfolk Nips OnlineDid you know that you can also readNorfolk NIPS on line? Just go to www.NorwichCamra.co.ukand click on the Branch Newsletter link

d

for

ers!

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The CottageFREEHOUSE

• Up to Ten Cask Ales •Real Cider

A selection of Malt Whisky and Gins

9 Silver Road, Norwich, NR3 4TB. Tel: 01603 665535 www.thecottagenorwich.co.uk

Opening Hours Mon - Sun 12 noon - 11.00pm

Quiz Night Every MondayLive Music Every Friday Night and Sunday Afternoon

Tapas is the first Thursday of the monthSunday Lunch 12-3pm

Hot snacks are available all day everydayBar Billiards table available

A Merry Christmas and New Year to all our

customers from the staff at the Cottage!

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Norwich and NorthNorfolk Branch

Friday 17th DecemberChristmas Pub Crawl inNorwich (TBA)

Tuesday 21st DecemberBranch Meeting and ChristmasQuiz - The Railway, NorthElmham 8pm. Please book yourseats on the coach

Friday 7th JanuaryFirst Friday FiveVisiting five pubs in Norwich(TBA)

Tuesday 18th JanuaryBranch MeetingThe Nelson, Nelson Street,Norwich

Friday 28th January Campaign Trip visiting selectedpubs in Norfolk

Friday 4th February First Friday Five - Visiting fivepubs in Norwich (TBA)

Tuesday 15th FebruaryVoting MeetingThe York Tavern, Norwich

Friday 25th February Campaign Trip visiting selectedpubs in Norfolk

Friday 4th MarchFirst Friday Five - Visiting fivepubs in Norwich (TBA)

West Norfolk Branch

8th December - Cider Talk,Green Quay, Lynn, 8.30pm, £4 fornon-members, no requirement topre book.

14th December - Crown Inn,Mundford, Branch Meeting

18th December - King’sArms 11am, Norwich Xmaspub crawl

11th January - Hare Arms,Stow Bardolph , Branch Meeting

30th January, Sandboys,Bawsey, walk (TBC)

8th February, Willow House,Watton, Branch Meeting

26th February, East AnglianRegional Meeting, StuartHouse, Lynn 12 noon

All Branch Meetings start at 8pm.

NORFOLK NIPS | Norfolk CAMRA Branch Calendar

CAMRA Calendar

WINTER 2010 | 17

Got a short pint? If you believe that you have beentreated unfairly in a pub, club orbar, you should contact theTrading Standards service bywriting to them at Norfolk TradingStandards Service, County Hall,Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR12UD or faxing them on 01603222999.A wide range of consumer infor-

mation and advice is also availableonline from the Consumer Directwebsite atwww.consumerdirect.gov.uk

NORFOLK CAMRA XMAS CRAWL 2010NORWICH –

Saturday 18th December

1100 King’s Arms (Hall Rd)

1200 Trafford Arms (Grove Rd)

1245 Coachmakers (Saint Stephens Rd)

1330 Champion (Chapel Field Rd)

1415 Arts Centre (Saint Benedicts)

1500 Plough (Saint Benedicts)

1545 Rumsey Wells (Saint Andrews St)

1630 Golden Star (Colegate)

1715 Old White Lion (Oak St)

1800 Plasterers (Cowgate)

1845 Leopard (Bull Close Rd)

1930 King’s Head (Magdalen St)

Contact-Tim Spitzer 07950-823270, or email me at [email protected]

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Norfolk’s True Heritage Pubs 8 | NORFOLK NIPS

This series of articles highlight the pubs whose interiors have been little altered in the past 40 years orso. This issue features a hotel bar last refitted in 1955 and a pub with a crackin’ snug – both havelarge fireplaces with log fires suitable for a winter’s night!

Seventeenth centurycoaching inn still with itscobbled area running to therear. Most hotels in the countryhave modernised their bars inrecent years but the Crownretains one that is littlechanged since 1955. Prior tothe 1950s the main bar was

actually 3 small rooms. Then anextensive refit took place inc.1955 which involved theinstallation of wall panellingrescued from Didlington Hallprior to its demolition; itretained the ancient large fire-place, added a smaller brickfireplace, and installed a bar

counter made of old woodenbarrel parts featuring twonearly complete casks - one ateach end. There was a cabinetfor a bar back which has sincebeen removed and which wasreplaced by new shelves in thelate 1980s.

Another change is theremoval of the dark stain fromthe wood panelling to matchthe current vogue for bars withlight pastel shades. The onlyother notable change was theloss of the lounge with its smallcounter that was formerly situ-ated at the front of thebuilding and which wasconverted to a bedroom in

18 | WINTER 2010

Crown Hotel, Downham Market

Left: The exterior of the CrownHotel, Downham Market taken atdusk

Below: The staircase at the CrownHotel, Downham Market

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2006. There is a small diningroom; a function room upstairswith a vaulted ceiling, amodern bar which replaced a1960/70s one and new dadopanelling; and a Stable Restau-rant at the rear which is openat weekends. Other genuineold items to look for are thefine staircases with massiveturned balusters and paneledsquare newels; also the doublehinged exterior door situatedbetween the bar and thedining room.

The Crown Hotel, 12 BridgeStreet, Downham Market PE389DH is open from 9.30am to11pm. Meals are served from12 to 3 (4 Sun) and from 6 to9pm. Phone number is 01366382322. Accommodation is

available in 13 en-suite rooms.Real ales on sale are AdnamsBitter, Greene King IPA, Abbot

and two guest beers from inde-pendents or micro breweries.

NORFOLK NIPS |

WINTER 2010 | 19

An 18th-century pub which iswell worth a visit for itsabsolute gem of a snug bar onthe right hand side. The exis-tence of three types of quarrytiles on the floor indicateschanges in the past but thissmall room has been in itscurrent form for about 50years. It has a lovely large1930s brick fireplace and thebar counter has ply panels from

the 1960s. The main loungebar on the left has a 1960scounter with ply panels but thebar back dates from the mid

1980s. The main feature of thisroom is the inglenook fireplacewith a suit of armour in thealcove next to it. The originaldoor to the lounge was to theright where there the lowerceiling and a small hatch

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The public bar of the Crown Hotel, Downham Market with its log fire,panelling and ‘barrel’ bar

Kings Head, Hethersett

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20 | WINTER 2010

Tel: 01603 721141 www.salhousebell.co.uk

Offering four real alesA traditional 17th Century pub,

how they used to be

From Norwich & Acle head to Salhouseand at the mini roundabout follow the signto Wroxham, we are 200yds on the right.

Open all day every dayfood is served:-

12-2 & 6-9 Tuesday to Sunday

12-3 Sunday for plated home cooked Sunday luncheswith homemade Yorkshire puddings and fresh vegetables. Booking advised if dining.

Superb food using fresh, local, seasonal produce

Shoot dinners a speciality

Popular quiz every Wednesday from 8:30pm

Meat raffle every Sunday at 4:30pm

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counter are still evident. Theroom has been extended to therear and to the left in moderntimes to provide more space

for diners. There is a large,secure family garden at therear, part of which is an allot-ment for some customers.

Kings Head, Norwich Road(just off B1172), HethersettNR9 3DD is open from 11 to11pm (12 Fri, Sat) ; 12 to 11Sun. Meals are served from 12noon to 2; and 6.30pm to 9pmMon; from 12 noon to 9pmTue to Sat; and from 12 to3pm Sun (no meals Sunevening). Phone 01603810206. www.kingsheadhethersett.co.uk The real ales on sale are

Adnams Bitter, Fullers LondonPride and two guest beers, oneof which is usually from Wood-fordes.

NORFOLK NIPS | Heritage Pubs continued

WINTER 2010 | 21

If you require photographs ofyour pub interior / exterioryou can contact Mick on01733 390598 or [email protected] discuss your requirements.

Alby HorseshoesAldborough Black BoysAttleborough London TavernBawsey SandboyClippesby Muskett ArmsClenchwarton VictoryCromer The CottageCromer RedLionDrayton Bob Carter Leisure CentreDownham Market Railway ArmsDownham Market White HartEarsham Queens HeadFilby The Kings HeadGorleston Dock TavernGorleston Mariners CompassGt Yarmouth MarinersGt Yarmouth Red HerringGt Yarmouth St Johns HeadHeacham Fox & HoundsHopton White HartKenninghall Red LionKings Lynn Live and Let LiveLyng Fox & HoundsNewton by Castle Acre George & DragonNorth Elmham Railway

North Walsham Orchard GardensNorwich BeehiveNorwich ChampionNorwich Cottage (Silver Road)Norwich Gardeners/MurderersNorwich JubileeNorwich Ketts TavernNorwich Kings HeadNorwich LeopardNorwich RoseNorwich Take 5Norwich Trafford ArmsNorwich VineNorwich York TavernNorwich Wig & PenReedham FerryReedham Lord NelsonReedham ShipTacolneston PelicanSheringham Windham ArmsSwardeston Lakenham/Hewitt Rugby ClubWest Acre StagWroxham Brewery TapWymondham Cross KeysWymondham Green Dragon

Update Here is a current list of all the pubs in Norfolkwhich are part of the CAMRA LocAle scheme.New entries are in Bold.

The snug bar at the Kings Head, Hethersett

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Tales of the sightings of strange mythical creatures are interwoven into the folklore of thisgreen and pleasant land. Before I moved here,many spoke in hushed tones about The SurreyPanther and The Basingstoke Spider. In Norfolk, I learned of Old Shuck, Snap the Dragon andfrom more recent times, Splat the Cat andCaptain Canary.

So it was with some trepidation that I set of insearch of a new beast, The Norwich Bear.

Some said I would have to venture into TheRose (Queens Road), others said Ketts Tavern,but a few days before Halloween, I cornered thebeast in The Crypt, under St Andrews Hall.

Beast? Well, Kevin and Dawn from the abovementioned pubs, actually.

So where was the bear? Dawn explained thatshe remembered that her friends would talk aboutgoing to Norwich for a bear. Bear? The pennydropped, this is dialect, and they meant beer.

Kevin and Dawn, who took over the KettsTavern 10 years ago, decided to set up thebrewery as an exclusive strategy to serve theirpubs. They knew what their customers liked andchose the beer range accordingly:

Classic – a session beer, light and hoppy

Legend – a Best Bitter, copper coloured andfruity

Platinum Blond – more of a lager style – fullflavour, well rounded, with a mellow taste.

Both Classic and Legend were at the 33rdNorwich Beer Festival. Kevin explained thatClassic had been tweaked a bit to make itslightly fuller and less bitter. He was right.

There will be seasonal specials as well, SmokeyBear has come and gone and a new winterspecial, Santa Claws, will be available in earlyDecember.

So where is this all happening? Currently, atThe N2B Brewery in Stokesby, but when TheRose is refurbished, it will move in there. It willbe in the centre of the pub, on display behindglass. It will have 1 ½ barrel capacity, plusbottling facilities for bottled conditioned beers.

“It will be significantly different”, said Kevin,“more like “extreme brewing” in the USA”

And that means Taster Trays and dipping intothe Home Brew market as well.

So there we are – I set off in search of a bearand instead found a couple embarking on a newventure. The beers are good, and I think that themarketing is spot on.

But, no bear.

Pity, I even had a name for it.

Bruin.

Mike Baldwin

NORFOLK NIPS | New Brewery Report

In search of The Norwich Bear

WINTER 2010 | 23

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24 | WINTER 2010

The Lobster& Stables Restaurant

10 Real Ales • Fine Wines • Childrens MenuBaby Changing • Disabled Facilities

Large Beer Gardens • Dogs are welcome

13 High Street, Sheringham, Norfolk, NR26 8JPTel: 01263 822716 www.the-lobster.com

OPENING HOURSMonday to Thursday 10am to 11pmFriday to Saturday 10am to 1.30am

Sunday 12 noon to 12pm

BEER FESTIVALS ON BANK HOLIDAYS

FRESH FOOD

SERVED DAILY

Vegetarian and Vegan

options available

NORFOLK ALE SHOPREAL ALE

REALISTIC PRICES

OVER 80 ALES ON SALE

FIND US INSTORE ATTHE GENERAL STORE

41, HIGH STREET, RINGSTEAD.PE36 5JU. NEAR HUNSTANTON.

Telephone; 01485 525270Email. [email protected].

OPEN SEVEN DAYS8am -5.30pm.

EXCEPT TUES/WED/SATCLOSING AT 1pm.

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This being the Christmas edition of Nips/CaskForce I thought it would be interesting to reporton a pub with a totally different cultural back-ground with traditions which are also ancientand colourful.

I speak of The Vine in Dove Street Norwichwhich is operated by a Thai born boss lady andher superb far Eastern staff.

The Vine is the only Thai pub in the city, there arerestaurants but The Vine is a pub which sells Thaifood, you are just as welcome to chat as to eat.Needless to say the food is superb with genuineThai ingredients used wherever possible.

Three cask ales are always available, OakhamJHB is permanent with Wolf Coyote the otherregular, a guest ale occupies the third beerengine. Recently Tipples beers have featured, thebeer is kept with great skill and is always spot on.

Let me introduce you to the driving forcebehind all this; Aye, the landlady, came to Britainas a student in the 90s and found that she reallyloved our pub culture and of course the beer,finding it very different to Thailand’s loud “partyparty” style bars. A few years later she lookedinto running another pub in Norwich but wastold that the owners were only interested in wetsales, food was not an issue. Things didn’thappen and the opportunity was lost.

Aye had visited The Vine in its previous guiseand found it not that welcoming to a stranger,but she did love the building. In July 2008 thechance to run The Vine occurred, the closed pubwas a mess but Aye could see the potential. Anew layout with an upstairs dining room andtoilets allowed room for food and beer.

When deciding on beers, she chose OakhamAles JHB because she believes it best compli-ments the tastes in Thai food.

In Buddhist tradition it is advantageous to havea new home or workplace blessed by monks.This was done with prayer seals placed above

the doorways upstairs and down and for goodmeasure, the cellar, I’d suggest it works as TheVine is celebrating its second successful year andis in the GBG!

The Thai atmosphere is completed by thevoices of the staff and the small shrine above thebar containing a female deity and images ofAye’s favourite king of Thailand. The Thai atmos-phere will be added to at Christmas as fullChristmas decorations will go up as well!

The Vine will be open 12-2pm Xmas day and12-9pm boxing day, Aye says she loves the totalquiet in the city on Xmas day.

I asked Aye what were the big festivals in Thai-land, it seems there are many, they celebrate thecalendar new year 1st January with 15 days ofcelebration, then 13th April is Thai new yearwhich includes three days of water fights, this isalso the only day you can touch ladies in thestreet but only on the face with colouredpowder on your finger! Aye has all the basescovered though as her Grand parents wereChinese so she celebrates the Chinese new yearas well when relatives give you gifts of money inred bags. In between festivals she has managedsomehow to organise a winter beer festival on25th-30 January 2011 with ten beers on!

So a great little pub run by a great little char-acter, try it yourself.

NORFOLK NIPS | Pub review

The Vine, Norwich

WINTER 2010 | 25

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26 | WINTER 2010

Over the past year my husbandand I have been setting upNorthcote Brewery. We havedeveloped our own style ofbeers which reflect our tastesand experiences. Lots of whatwe like to call ‘market research’has gone on, a good excuse todrink plenty of beer discoveringthe flavours and styles that wemost liked and would enjoycreating for others to drink. As you can imagine, this typeof research is desirable work, somuch so that friends and aleenthusiasts in general havejoined us in our research for amonthly Beer Club, taking in adifferent real ale pub eachtime. As part of our ‘marketresearch’ we left our friends athome and travelled across thepond to the Craft Beer Week inNew York during Septemberand October.

Craft beer is the term used inthe US for beers from micro-breweries. We have met somany people who think American beer is all tastelessgeneric lagers, weak as dishwater which gives you aterrible hangover. That couldn’tbe further from the truth withthe craft beers we sampled,they were tasty, innovative andsome that could knock yoursocks off strong.

There was no main event orsingle area for the NYC craftbeer festival unlike most festi-vals here having a large venueselling cask and bottled ales

over several days, with nearbypubs holding fringe events insupport. New York seemed tobe all fringe events – the brew-eries, brew pubs and craft beerpubs all had very popularattractions, showcasing beersfrom all over the US, somespecialising in one particularbeer or brewery per day, oftenwith meet the brewer eventsand ‘Oktoberfest’ style partiesto attend. Popular and oftenexclusive restaurants wouldoffer beer and food matchingevenings, opening up the beerworld to beer novices andfoodies. In Norwich, the beerfestival week is one of thebusiest for the local pubs; I canimagine events such as thesewould go down a treatbetween sessions and aroundthe main festival itself.

The next thing we noticed,and this may be a bit of acontentious issue, was thatnearly all the craft beers wereserved on keg rather than cask.Chatting to the brewers fromRiver Horse Brewing Co in NewJersey, it became apparent thatbottle and keg is the way it’sdone there. There is a smalland slowly growing apprecia-tion of cask ale there, but it’s avery specialised medium. Forexample, the popular NYCpub, Rattle and Hum, wouldregularly have over 40 alesavailable on keg, 60 or more inbottle, but just 4 on cask. Therewas no snobbery over caskversus keg, just that consumers

seemed to prefer their beerscooler and a little more carbon-ated. Talking to staff at Rattleand Hum, all of which have toattend beer school, it becameapparent that to be considereda craft beer pub, you needed alarge selection of beers, if thebeers were just on cask manywould go off before they weresold. I have noticed recentlyhowever, via the power ofTwitter that some of our homegrown breweries are experi-menting with keg too – standup the excellent Thornbridgeand Hard Knott (among manyothers), award winning brew-eries experimenting withsomething a little different.

Next came the actual beersthemselves, in lots of placesyou’d be hard pushed to find abeer that’s less than 6% ABV.Strong stuff in strength as wellas flavour, we would regularlysee beers at around 10% and itwasn’t unusual to find beers at18% on offer in the pubs.Wondering if this was to dowith differing drinking culture,or maybe the ‘we do every-thing bigger and better’attitude you sometimes see inthe States, we asked some ofthe brewers we met. Most feltit was the fashion for extremebeers in the US at the moment,using huge amounts of hopsand turning out powerfulbeers, but some felt the tidewas also turning, and ratherthan producing somethingdesigned to shock and get

Across the Pond | NORFOLK NIPS

Beer festivals here and abroad

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Correspondence dpeople talking, they justwanted to brew tasty drinkablebeers that people would enjoy.The variety of beers availablewas staggering too. One craftpub was featuring over 40 ofthe wonderful beers from therenowned Stone brewery. Wewere taken a back, ‘how canone brewery produce so manydifferent beers?’. Looking atthe beer menus available, wesoon realised beer is a verycomplicated thing in theStates, there were over 15styles of IPA alone. Is a porterreally no longer a porter if youstuff it with hops, is it really aBlack IPA? I guess the proof isin the pint, if it tastes good andyou want to drink it, then call itwhatever you like, and boy didwe drink it.

Having recently sold our firstpint in Norwich, part of ourexperience at the NY beerfestival has gone into our beersand how we plan to developthem. However, we haven’tlost sight of our roots either,Cow Tower, our session ale, is avery British pint with malty andhoppy depth of flavour, leavingthe drinker wanting another.Our new beer Golden Spire,draws on those hoppy lessonslearned in the states, butwithout the keg.

Jennifer Nicholls

NORFOLK NIPS | Letters

WINTER 2010 | 27

Dear Editor,I very much enjoyed reading thereport on the Central YarmouthPub scene in the last issue.

However, I feel that I musttake issue with one pointraised. The authors stated“Further, I hope that thosewho found glasses left withbeer still in them wonder why.It was not because they wereoff. Had that been the casethey would have been takenback, it was just because they

were just not very good.”

Surely, if they beer is substan-dard in any way, we should sayso, the Licensees need to knowif there is a problem.

I would hate to think that aLicensee who introduces a caskale for the first time couldrevert to Keg beers, saying“Well, I tried real ale, but evenCAMRA members wouldn’tdrink it.”

Name and address supplied

Graham,My name is Mr Eric RavenscroftI was visiting some relatives inKings Lynn this week end andwas told by a friend to visit apub in Norwich Called theDuke Of Wellington on theWaterloo Road, what a realpup great selection of ales ,the landlord and staff and

customers where Very friendly,it’s not often I make a commentabout a pub, but on this occa-sion credit is worthy of mesitting down and writing!Can you please add this in you

next copy of your magazine soyou readers don’t miss outThank you

Eric

Dear Editor,My wife, Jane, was the luckywinner of the word searchcompetition in the Spring issueof Draught Copy. The prizewas a weekend in a cottagenext to the Brewery Taphostelry aka “The Shed” inWroxham, Norfolk. We arrivedwith 2 extra tasters, our sonand his girlfriend, on Fridayevening 8/10/10 to begin ourarduous weekend of samplingthe 50 or so real ales brewed atNorfolk breweries. By Sundayevening, our duty done, weconcluded that there was nooverall champion due to the

vast range and our continualchanges in preference.No beer were priced over£2.95 pp most were betweem£2.60 - £2.80 with the ShedBitter (4.2%) best value at£2.30 and also Jack’s favourite,full of flavour.

We didn’t sample them all, butall that we did try were inexcellent condition. We aremost grateful to John Frank-land for generously donatingthe prize. We will definitelyrevisit the Shed/Brewery Tapwhenever we are in Norfolk.

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28 | WINTER 2010

THE ARTICHOKE FREEHOUSEat Broome

162 Yarmouth Road, Broome, BungayNR35 2NZ Tel: 01986 893325

On the 580 and 588 Anglia Bus routes

Up to 8 Real Ales (4 on gravity)3 Belgian Fruit BeersOutstanding selection of Scottishmalt & Irish Whisky

Opening Hours12pm to 11pm weekdays & Sunday12pm to 12am Friday & SaturdayClosed Mondays(Except Bank Holidays)

Lunchtime Meals12pm to 2.30pm weekdays12pm to 4pm Sundays

Evening Meals6.30pm to 9pm Tuesday to Saturday(Booking is advisable)

Beer garden and ample parkingNORFOLK CAMRA PUB OF THE YEAR 2009

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Norwich Aviation Museum haskindly offered a prize of afamily ticket (Two Adults andThree Children) to the winnerof this competition.

Identify the aircraft Aabove, and B below.

Question C: What was themuseums location, NorwichAirport called whenit was an RAF base?

Entries [email protected] 1st Februaury please

Congratulations to RogerForeman of Dersingham whowon the "What am I drinking"competition and wins amystery prize.

Thanks go to The NorthNorfolk Railway who kindlyprovided prizes for the compe-titions in Issues 152 and 153.

NORFOLK NIPS | Competition

City of NorwichAviation Museum

WINTER 2010 | 29

My West Norfolk CAMRAmates have been pestering meto write an article for CaskForce since 2001. Theyassume that my Yank back-ground will provide a differentbut hopefully interestingperspective. I must admit upfront that I would rather besampling beer than writingabout it. I guess that is why ithas taken me almost 10 yearsto sit down at the computer.

So here goes…I first visitedEngland in 1996 and was firstintroduced to cask ale in a localpub in Harrogate, North York-shire. At the time, I didn’trealize the big differencebetween cask and keg. Pleaseexcuse my ignorance but caskale is a rarity in the US and wasnon-existent in ‘96. However, Ithink I have been a quick studysince my first pint of the realstuff. My visit in ‘96 was only ashort holiday but it left mewith a great love for yourlovely country or the “OldCountry” as many Yanks call it.

Fast forward four years…youcan’t imagine how ecstatic Iwas when I received news myjob would be taking me toEngland where I would beliving for at least three years! Imoved to Norfolk in July 2000and made it a personal goal tosample as many cask ales ashumanly possible. I quicklywent sightseeing in London

where I noticed a pub adver-tising itself as “purveyors offine ales, porters and stouts.”Now, I am no dummy when itcomes to beer so, I know thatporters originated in London. I ran into said pub and excit-edly ordered a pint of porter.Unfortunately, the young lassbehind the bar didn’t evenknow what a porter was! A crusty, lager-drinkingcustomer commented that itwas some sort of beer that“grey beards” used to drinkbut he hadn’t seen it in years.Had I entered the TwilightZone? Could it be possiblethat porter had disappearedfrom London, the portercapital? I made it my missionto seek out porters above allother beers. Unfortunately, thelager-drinker was right, thedark stuff was extraordinarilydifficult to find, if not impos-sible. I diligently searched for afew months with only my noseto guide me. Then, I found adecent clue, an advert for theBedford Beer Fest! Go westyoung man, go west! My firstbeer fest and 50 ales to chosefrom…what a country! Butalas, still no porter. The goodnews was that I found CAMRAand quickly joined up. Now, Ihad some information at handand the list of upcoming beerfests, it was getting better.

Tune in next issue for Craig’svoyage of discovery (Stig)

From Across the Pondby Colonial Craig

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30 | WINTER 2010

Magnificent Ales from a fine City

Northcote Brewery, Norfolk’snewest brewery in the heart

of Norwich.

www.facebook.com/NorthcoteBeers

@NorthcoteBeers

www.northcotebrewery.co.uk

Bringing quality andflavour to a pub near you.

Selling to the trade and direct to the public in casks, pins and bottles

Call Head Brewer Jennifer Nicholls to discuss your order now.

0776 422 1493

Northcote Brewery, Norfolk’snewest brewery in the heart

of Norwich.

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On the 17th June 2010,my wife & I set out tovist some preserved steam railway centres in ourcampervan. I am particularly fond of the GreatWestern Region, so we headed towards Kidderminster, Worcestershire.

As we are Camping & Caravan Club memberswe stayed at their site at Woverley. Withinwalking distance (10 mins) from the site was apub called THE LOCK. A lovely place right nextto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal,hence the name. Four ales were on offer and wetried them all. We also met fellow CAMRAmember Tony Greif,who was staying at thesame site with his wife, daughter & son in law.The next few days we spent visiting severalstations along the Severn Valley Railway. We alsomade a visit to the new museum at Highleystation. Lots of pristine locos on display and wellworth a visit.

Bridgenorth is a picturesque town which canboast two levels. A lower town & the highertown perched on top of the hill with acastle.Those in need of sustenance should lookfor THE WHITE LION ( upper town) recom-mended for ale & food.The bar has sevenhandpumps,mainly local ales and includes twomilds. Bridgenorth station also has a pub - THERAILWAYMANS ARMS, which has five beers onoffer, including one of my favourites BathamsBest Bitter - Lovely! Across the track is the motivepower depot (SVR) so a look at that is a must.Six locos there in various stages of repair.

The next move was to the club site at Oswestryand to visit some old friends at Rhosllaner-chrugdg. Don’t ask! Anyway it is south ofWrexham. A trip to Llangollen was very benificalnot only for the railway but to relax at theCORNMILL. This pub overlooks the river Deeand has spectacular views from the outsidebalcony area of the river and the railway.Beershere were Facers DHB,Wincle Sir Phillip,Wood-lands Midnight Stout and CambrinusDeliverance. It makes you feel good to be alive!

Whilst in the area we took the opportunity torevisit the Pontcysylle aqueduct. Some time agowe crossed the aqueduct in a narrow boat onthe Llangollen canal. This time we were downby the river Dee underneath this amazing struc-ture. Built in 1805 it is 120ft high and 1000ftlong and is quite awesome. My 2010 CAMRAGood Beer Guide informed me of a pub THEMILL INN was near by at Cefn Mawr (TrevorBasin) .The beers listed were Greene KingSpeckled Hen and Hydes 1863 plus a guest.

To my suprise neither beers were on but FacersGold and Stonehouse Station Bitter were. Not abad result!

One other Railway worth a visit is the Welsh-pool and Llanfair narrow guage line whichterminates at Llanfair Caereinion. A great oppor-tunity to go to the GOAT HOTEL. Well why not!My lunch was Slaters Honeybee and WoodsQuaff.

A return visit to Woverley and the SVR for the1940's weekend threw up another pub gem,THE ROMPING CAT at Old Woods (Salop) Isampled the Sadlers Mellow Yellow out of thesix on sale and very nice too! The last port ofcall was Tysley (Birmingham railway Museum)who had their open day on Sunday 27th of Juneand was on the route home. For the benefit ofany railway enthusiasts I have listed the locosseen during our tour. 813,43104,46443,4566,7812 Erlestoke Manor,1501,7802 BradleyManor,3802,5952 Cogan Hall,5552,7822Foxcote Manor,6430,80072,44806 KennethAldcroft, 5643,822 Earl,823 Countess, 4930Hagley Hall,1000,48773,7714,80079, 600Gordon, 47383,7325,42968,4164, 5764,7752,9600,4965 Rood Ashdon Hall, 45593Kolhaper,5043 Earl Mount Edgcumbe,4953Pitchford Hall and 6201 Princess Elizabeth.

A great weeks holiday in all. With thanks to mywife Carol for doing the driving when required.

BRUCE AND CAROL WARD

NORFOLK NIPS |

WINTER 2010 | 31

Steam and Ale

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They came, they saw, theyconcurred – Oh, and they dranka lot of beer too! They came indroves from all over the world –The USA, Australia, Canada,Norway, Denmark and Luton.They saw the magnificentsurroundings of St Andrews andBlackfriars Halls (ours until 2015,at least).

They concurred, that TheNorwich Beer Festival is simplyone of the best and that Norwich

and Norfolk are paradise for RealAle drinkers.

The beer list was a bit differentthis year, one or two eyebrowswere raised when it waspublished, and some oldfavourites were missing. But the selection was very wellreceived and maybe it was timeto discover some new favourites.

The Gold Award went to MrsSimpson’s Thriller in Vanilla from

The Brown Cow Brewery inNorth Yorkshire.

Elmtree Beers (Norfolk) pickedup Silver for their Golden Pale Aleand the Bronze went to Adnamsfor Tally Ho. Full details of all thewinners are on the Norwich andNorfolk CAMRA Branch website.

Fancy dress was very much inevidence, during the week, aswell as Saturday night. There

NORFOLK NIPS |

WINTER 2010 | 33

The 33rd Norwich Beer Festival

Norwich Door to DoorNominated Charity of the Festival 2010

Norwich Door to Door offers mobility transportfor passengers with severe mobility issues.Their fleet of six minibuses are a lifeline for

those who find public transport difficult orimpossible to use. Their aim is to provide socialinclusion to help people develop their fullpotential.

They offer a door to door service, but alsohave scheduled services Monday to Friday fromTaverham, Costessey, Trowse and Dussindale.

At weekends, group bookings are possible.

I caught up with Founder Roger Hadley andChairman Douglas Munro at the Trade Sessionat the Festival. They were clearly delighted athaving been chosen as our charity and werelooking forward to the week. Their colourfulstand in Blackfriars Hall was adorned withartwork by student Georgia Dodds fromthe Norwich School of Art. She was also oneof the volunteers who went round with thecollection buckets.

So how did it go? After the Festival, I spoketo Jill Gaul from the Charity. She said that they

had raised£3229.93 fromdonations, andthere was more tocome from thedonated unusedbeer tokens,nominated beer,etc.

Jill said thatone or two businesses had takecollection boxes and that Dougie Clark fromThe Duke of Wellington had promised a FundRaising event for them.

Jill anticipated thatthe total would be inexcess of £5000.

As Jill said, “Wow!”

Continued Overleaf

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34 | WINTER 2010

Norwich Beer Festival photos | NORFOLK NIPS

was, amongst others, a sprinklingof Wally’s, a cricket team, someHalloween Ghouls and morepirates than you could shake astick at (Shaking sticks at Pirates isnot be recommended – Ed)

There is little time to rest on ourlaurels as planning for the 2011Festival starts soon. If youenjoyed the Festival and want tobe part of it next year, come toone of our Branch Events, or lookon line for details of the meet-ings. You too could be part of agreat team that makes theFestival possible.

And you might, just possibly,enjoy yourself. Enjoy the photos!

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NORFOLK NIPS | Norwich Beer Festival

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36 | WINTER 2010

Broadland Sunrise from Reedham based breweryHumpty Dumpty has been named the Cham-pion Beer of Norfolk 2010 by the Norwich andNorfolk branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

The 4.2% Best Bitter described as ‘Beautifullysmooth with a swirling malt, hop, and fruitaroma’ emerged victorious from a year longprogramme of beer tasting conducted by theNorfolk Taste Panel.

Organiser Alan Edwards explained “Membersof the panel completed over three hundred tastecards covering nearly sixty beers from nineteenNorfolk breweries. We are lucky to have aroundthirty breweries in the county and the panel triesto cover as many as possible. The panel werehighly complementary of the quality and mix offlavours found in Broadland Sunrise. The beerfaced strong competition but has emerged as aworthy winner.’

Alan continued, “It is a triple success for thebrewery as apart from Broadland Sunrisescooping the Best Bitter and Overall Championaward their Railway Sleeper and Norfolk Nectarwere tops in the Strong bitter and SpecialityBeer categories. The brewery began in 1998and now incorporates a shop at the brewery.Many of the beers are named after either railwayor Norfolk themes.

Six local breweries are award winners and it ishoped their success will give a boost to thebranch ‘LocAle’ scheme which publicises pubswhich always stock beers from breweries within30 miles of the hostelry.”

Full Results

Champion: Broadland SunriseHumpty Dumpty, ReedhamTel: 01493 701818

Bitter: Oak Best BitterGrain, Alburgh Tel: 01986 788884

Best Bitter: BroadlandSunriseHumpty Dumpty, Reedham

Strong Bitter: Railway SleeperHumpty Dumpty, Reedham

Golden Ale: Golden Jackal Wolf, Besthorpe Tel: 01953 457775

Speciality Beer: Norfolk NectarHumpty Dumpty, Reedham

Strong Mild: Flintknappers MildChalk Hill – Norwich Tel: 01603 477078

Stout: Dark Horse StoutElmtree, Snetterton Tel: 01953 498761

Real Ale in a Bottle: WinklepickerNorfolk Square, Gt Yarmouth Tel: 01493 854484

Champions of Norwich Beer Festival | NORFOLK NIPS

Humpty Dumpty On Top

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Alby Horse Shoes InnFreehouse

Situated on the A140 Norwich/Cromer RoadUp to 5 Real Ales including Wherry & Mardlers

Home cooked Food - locally sourced

SPECIAL STEAK AND ALE NIGHTSLAST FRIDAYS DURING WINTER MONTHS

10% OFF MEALS BOOKED BY CAMRA MEMBERS

Margaret & Richard Rushmer look forward to meeting you

01263 761378 www.albyhorseshoes.co.ukWe are In it!

The pub with no bar, ales direct from cask.

Watch www.nelsonslocal.co.uk for forthcoming events.

Tongue twizzling food, and great value.

Fiendish Quiz on Third Tuesday ofJan & Feb at 1pm.

Watch out for meet the Brewer event in March.

Real fires Victory Barn Function RoomCome & visit Nelson’s local.

Walsingham Road, Burnham Thorpe Norfolk PE31 8HN

01328 738241

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Pig n Falcon - St NeotsLIVE MUSICWED, FRI + SAT

BREWS TO DATE455

FROM 9/4/09

Huntingdonshire CAMRA

MOST IMPROVED PUB OF THE YEAR

2010

Tel 07951 785678 – New St, St Neots – PE19 1AE

Pot Belly Best £2.00

Oakham Ales Inferno £2.40

Greene King IPA £2.20

Plus 5 Guest Ales at all times

Pigs Winter Beer Festival26-30 January

20+ seasonal and strong ales plus Real Ciders

www.PignFalcon.co.uk

Two roast dinners for £7.50 SundayLive music New Years Eve with band

‘Crumbs for Comfort’

Beer Festival 24/11/10 - 28/11/10 with live music on the 26th

See www.kingsarmsnorwich.co.uk for details

Or join us on Facebook!

Everchanging 13 Real Ales, Cider and Mild.

Popular Quiz Night last Wednesday of every month

Food served every lunchtime 12 - 3pm

Michaela and Toni welcome you to

The Kings Arms 22 Hall Rd Norwich NR1 3HQ Tel: 01603 766361

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40 | WINTER 2010

Sandringham might be thehome of royalty, but is also wellused by us commoners. Youcan come anytime to walk inthe woods around the estate,pick your own apples in season,or visit the cafe and shop and itis always popular. Howeverthere are a few times a yearwhen thousands of peoplearrive for special events. The most famous takes placetowards the end of July. TheSandringham flower show hasits origins in a village competi-tion when residents of theestate competed to see whohad the biggest marrow andother such feats of gardeningexcellence. You can still go andsee the entries for the innumer-able classes of vegetables, fruitand flowers all displayed in avariety of interesting and enter-taining ways but whilst twohuge tents of these exhibitsoccupy the centre of the show,I think it is fair to say that theseare not the main attraction.What attracts the masses is theroyal presence.

In the past it was the dear oldQueen Mother who used topull in the crowds, but now it isthe chance to see the Prince ofWales and Duchess of Cornwallin the flesh which enthuses thepublic. Several years ago, Ibecame involved in theNational Osteoporosis Society,and we always have a stall atthe show. Whilst I stand aroundor bring the occasional coffee,the women enthusiastically

dispense advice and informa-tion about the condition andour monthly meetings, as wellas sell a few things to raisemoney for the charity. Thisyear we had a fine selection ofquilts and knitted dolls madeby some of our members.

The star of the stall wasundoubtedly the knitted sheepand we spent a lot of timeexplaining that you could notbuy them separately, but thatthey were part of the KnittedNativity display (Similar to theone that accompanied Stanand Jen on the Norwich pubcrawl a couple of years ago).The highlight of the day for usis when Charles and Camillacome over for a chat. Camilla ispatron of the charity and theyalways make a point of talkingto everyone on the stand.

I think I let the side down abit when I said to the Prince‘Hi, how are you?’ but he is aprofessional and did not orderme to be sent to the tower forbeing disrespectful. Indeedthey are invariably extremelypleasant and charming andshow a deep interest in whatwe are doing. This year theywere accompanied by JudyDench and Maggie Smith, whospent ages deciding whichdolls to buy and generallypassing the time, much to theconsternation of the securitypeople who saw the royal partydisappearing off into thedistance. Anyway, after all this

excitement it seemed time tofind a pint, but disappointinglythere was no real ale availablein the vast tented city despitethe claims on one of the adver-tising hoardings, so it wasanother cup of coffee and awander round the showgardens and Sandringhamtransport museum.

A couple of months later wewere back. This time it was forthe Sandringham Country andGame Fair. Once again thegrounds were transformed intoa tented city, but instead offlowers and royalty being theattraction this was a gatheringof the hunting, fishing andshooting set. I’m not reallyone of them myself, and brieflythought of wearing a ‘Save theWhale’ tee shirt or trying topromote a vegan lifestyle, buton reflection I think I mighthave been used as an unwillingprop in the shooting demon-stration or torn to pieces by thedogs. And dogs there were.Every shape, size colour andbreed imaginable was there -Retrievers, Labradors, Spanielsand probably the odd Shitzu.[Q) What’s a Shitzu? A) Onewithout Penguins].

Some were wandering withtheir humans, others were inthe show rings chasing things,searching for things or justlooking cute. No problemabout getting a beer this time.Richard and the organisers‘Living Heritage’ had set up the

Cider and Perry | NORFOLK NIPS

Show Time At Sandringham

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Sandringham Beer Festival tentand were offering about 30beers from Norfolk breweriesalongside a selection of ciders.An interesting extra was achance to take part in a blindbeer tasting with the aim ofselecting the best beer of theshow. Participants were alsoentertained by Richard’s anec-dotes about the world of beer.Another innovation was thechance to sample beer in athird of a pint measures givingmore opportunity to try agreater range of ales. Our jobthis time was to promoteCAMRA and entice newmembers to join. This was verysuccessful and we recruited 28over the two-day duration. We also met a large number ofinteresting people from all overthe country and some really

beautiful dogs. Ros was all forswapping a few pints of beerfor ‘Elsie’, currently a cute ballof fur, but who she thinks willgrow up to be a StaffordshireBull Terrier.

So if you fancy a day out nextyear, and you want to seeroyalty, the Flower Show isnormally the last Wednesday inJuly. Come and see us on theNOS stand, I can’t promiseknitted sheep next year butthere will be something ofinterest. The game fair ispencilled in for the secondweekend in September.

Richard is keen to do the BeerFestival again and is hoping toexpand his selection of localbeers, so if you, or anyone youknow, would like to be

included, contact us, and I willpass the information on. If youdo come, call at the CAMRAstall and talk to us, otherwisewe spend too much of ourtime in search of the latestcutting edge culinary creation.This year it was exoticmembers of the animalkingdom in burgers (ostrich,bison, kangaroo.....) andwhoopee pies, which I amassured, are ‘the new cupcake’.

We can’t wait for next year. I won’t let Ros have a dog, butI have downloaded her the free‘Knit yourself a Jack Russell’pattern from the Guardianwebsite. Come and see it onour stall next year!

Jeff

NORFOLK NIPS |

WINTER 2010 | 41

The MarinersLOWESTOFT

THE MARINERS RESTMinimum SIX

Real Ales + CidersStunning Beer garden!

Rotterdam Rd, Lowestoft NR32 7ESTel 01502 538813

GORLESTONTHE MARINERS COMPASS

8 Real Ales plus a selection of Ciders21 Middleton Rd, Gorleston NR31 7AJ

Tel 01493 659494

GREAT YARMOUTHThe MARINERS

NORWICH & NORFOLK 2010 PUB OF THE YEAR!

Winter Beer Festival(Christmas Ales available) 6th - 19th Dec

EIGHT Real Ales + Real Ciders always available

Welcoming Open Fire in Winter

69 Howard St South, Great Yarmouth NR30 1LN

Tel 01493 332299

Ale and Cider HousesNow at:

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42 | WINTER 2010

The Real Ale ShopBranthill Farm, Wells-next-the-Sea,NORFOLK NR23 1SB

ON THE B1105 FAKENHAM- WELLS RD

Over 50bottle conditioned realales from 15 Norfolkbrewers who all use

Branthill Farms famous malted barley.

TEL: 01328 710810www.therealaleshop.co.uk

Winklepicker

Norfolk Beer ofthe Year 2010 Real Ale in a

Bottle Category

Brewed with a combination of darker malts, Winklepicker is a delicious traditional porter. A slight roasted flavour is imparted from the

chocolate and crystal malts giving the ale a lovelycocoa aroma that will excite the taste buds.

5% ABVOrder now in time for Christmas!

Tel: 01493 751975email: [email protected]

www.norfolksquarebrewery.co.uk

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CAMRA Announces Results of EastAnglian Cider Competition 2010Two Norfolk cider makers, Crones OrganicCider, and Whin Hill Cider, are celebrating winsat CAMRA’s East Anglian Cider Competition.The competition, which attracted a total of 21cider entries and 5 perry entries, took place atCAMRA’s Norwich Beer Festival in October thisyear.

The results for cider were:1st Owld Norfolk, made by Crones OrganicCider (Kenninghall, Norfolk)

2nd Porker’s Snout, made by Pickled PigCider (Stretham, nr. Ely, Cambridgeshire)

3rd Sweet Cider, made by Whin Hill Cider(Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk)The other finalists were (in alphabetical order):

Cambridgeshire Cider, made by Hereward (Ely,Cambridgeshire)

Rioja Cask, made by Millwhites Cider (HemelHempstead, Hertfordshire)

Slider Red, made by Pagelsham Punch(Pagelsham, Essex)

The winner for perry was Whin Hill Perry, madeby Whin Hill Cider (Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk).

The East Midland and Yorkshire Cider Competi-tion 2010 also took place at Norwich BeerFestival, and attracted 6 entries. The results were:Winner:Medium Sweet, by Moorlands FarmCyder, North Newbald, Yorkshire.

Runner-Up: Thirsty Farmer, made by FarmerFear, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire.The winning cider, Crone’s Owld Norfolk, wasdescribed by judges as having a “very pleasant,subtle fruit, honey, and flowery aroma, as well asa rounded balanced flavour, with a lemon/limehint. The full apple fruity aftertaste that fadedslowly was very enjoyable”. Robbie Crone, said“I can only say I’m delighted with the win andvery pleased to find that our efforts to produce atop quality cider from Norfolk grown apples hasmet with success. In 2008 we decided to investin improved storage and maturation vessels inorder to see if we could produce a smoother andmore refined end-product by allowing it to agefor the full two years and our only regret is wewill only have 650 gallons of the ‘Owld Norfolk’till the next lot comes on stream.”

The silver medal went to Pickled Pig’s Porker’sSnout, which was described by judges as having

NORFOLK NIPS | East Anglian Cider Competition

WINTER 2010 | 43

Norfolk Cider Makers TakeTop Honours

Continued Overleaf

Pubs SellingReal Cider

CAMRA has launched "Real Cider SoldHere" window stickers to promote pubsserving real cider or perry. To see the latestlist of pubs that have this sticker, go towww.camra.org.uk/ciderpubs.

The aim of the window sticker is to supportpubs by ensuring they can showcase theavailability of real cider to consumers. Thiswill in turn raise the profile of real cider,increase real cider sales and support pubs inthese difficult times to differentiate them-selves from other drinking establishments.

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a “pleasant mellow aroma and a well balancedapply flavour with a hint of pears. A tasty tannicsweetness in the aftertaste makes this an excel-lent all rounder.” This is the 4th year in a rowthat Pickled Pig has been in the top 3, which isan outstanding level of consistency.

Charles Roberts of Pickled Pig Cider, said “It’s fantastic to be ‘in the medals’ again in thedraft cider competition. The number ofproducers and the quality of East Anglian cidersis increasing all the time and that’s excellentnews for the produces and the consumers whosupport us. I was fortunate to taste many of theciders at Norwich this year, East Anglian cider issurely back on the map with some very fineofferings. We look forward to a good year againnext year after a fine harvest of fruit this autumn.”

The winning perry, Whin Hill Perry, wasdescribed by judges as having "an oakey fruitaroma with a hint of toffee, and then full oftangy flavours, followed by a smooth dry finishwhich rounds it out to a well balanced drink".Overall, it was described as "scrumptious", whichleft judges wanting more.

Whin Hill also came third in the cider competi-tion with their sweet cider. Judges described itas having “a complex aroma including oakbarrels, with an oakey tannic taste, and a dryliquorish aftertaste”.

Jim Fergusson and Peter Lynn from Whin HillCider in Wells-Next-The-Sea said that they were“very pleased to have won both the gold perryaward and the bronze cider award at theNorwich Beer Festival, it really made all the hardwork of establishing our orchards of perry pearsand cider apples at Stanhoe worthwhile. Our ciders and perries are made exclusively from apples and pears, with no added water,flavourings or colours”.

Chris Rouse, CAMRA’s Regional Cider Co-ordi-nator for East Anglia said, “This has been anexceptional year for quality, especially from thenewer producers who did more than hold theirown. Thanks go to all those who helpedorganise the competition and to Norwich BeerFestival for hosting the competition.”

NORFOLK NIPS | East Anglian Cider Competition continued

The Sole & HeelRackheath

Newly refurbished Pub & Restaurantwith recently extended Beer Garden

Minimum of 5 changing Real Ales on gravity

Restaurant open daily with A la Carte menu in the evenings.All produce locally sourced where available.

Fortnightly Sunday Quiz

Bar open: Mon 4.30-11pm, Tues 12-2.30 and 4.30-11pm, Weds-Sat 12-11pm, Sun12-10.30pm Restaurant open: Tues –Sat 12-2.30 and 6-9pm, Sunday Roast 12-4pm

2 Salhouse Rd, Rackheath, Norwich NR13 6QHTel 01603 720146 Web: www.soleandheel.bravehost.com

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46 | WINTER 2010

THE ANGEL INNFREEHOUSE

Now Overall NORFOLK CAMRAPUB OF THE YEAR!

Open all day every day

Excellent home cooked meals available from our award

winning kitchen

Large Beer Garden with play area

En-suite accommodation

Camping and Caravanning availableLarling, Norfolk, NR16 2QU (17th Century former coaching inn)

Tel: 01953 717963www.angel-larling.co.uk

Great real ales, fine wines and spirits.A large Home-Made selection of traditional food served

daily, Main meals, Set menu deals, Light lunches, Specials& Childrens menu. Roast Dinners Sundays 12-3pm

Chilled bar rolls made daily only £1.00

Attleborough’s only current Good Beer Guide pub 2010 & 2011Camra Discount Scheme & Local Ale

Breckland Council Rating Level 5

Parking, Disabled facilities, Baby changing,Smokers sheltered garden, and Beer garden.

Well behaved dogs on leads welcome.Christenings, Funerals, Intimate Weddings / Civil Ceremonies catered for

Church St, Attleborough Tel :01953 457415

The LondonTavernFree House

The food served here at The NewInn is a combination of Thai, Chinese and Traditional British

cuisines. It is always fresh, cooked to order and servedin the traditional manner.

All of the produce served at The New Inn is locally purchased, and there is a full vegetarian and special dietary requirements menu too. There are also manydifferent spirits, wines and real ales to choose from.

For your enjoyment and comfort we have a large, air-conditioned restaurant, which can seat large groupsor parties, as well as couples or individuals.

New Inn at RoughtonPub & Restaurant where East meets West

Norwich Road, Roughton, Norfolk NR11 8SJ

Telephone: 01263 761389 www.thenewinnroughton.com

He should have gone to theEATON COTTAGE, UNTHANK RD,NORWICH 01603 453048

Fine Real Ales,lagers,wines and spiritsAll Sky Sports • A traditional pub

Good covered outside areas • Doggies welcome

“a festival of beers every day”

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS!

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NORFOLK NIPS | Letter

LetterHi Chris.Congratulations on publishingthe article 'What I did on my holi-days' by Clive Taylor. In my viewthe comments were 100% accurate and reflect the sad situa-tion of the pubs here on theWest Norfolk Coast. I am sick todeath of the pubs that do serve adecent pint ripping customers offwith their nouveau cuisine foodofferings. Outrageous prices forvery little food on the plate.Where you can get a decentmeal, the beer suffers both inrange and price. I am just backfrom a holiday on the borders ofYorkshire and Lancashire. Whatan oasis. Excellent meals, warmreal fires and delightful choices ofreal ales and all at sensible prices.

Beyond my immediatestamping ground there is ofcourse the excellent WindhamArms in Sheringham. I also give ahigh rating to the Ship atWeybourne. Why does this pubnever get a mention? It alwaysserves a selection of ales fromlocal breweries at probably thelowest prices in Norfolk (JDWetherspoon excepted), andprovides good food at sensibleprices to boot, and yes, it doeshave a real fire. Living inThornham my visits there aresomewhat attenuated by drinkdriving legislation.Kindest regards

Ted Taylor

Thanks for your letter Ted, it’snice to hear from our readersfeedback and your opinions areexactly what we want to hear.Cheers, Chris (Stig)

WINTER 2010 | 47

I’m with James May on this one. Inthe first edition of Beer, he wascomplaining about Hotel Bars notselling real ale.

Definitely one of my pet hates,this one. Over the years, I have, onmany occasions, travelled longdistances from Norwich to stay in ahotel, prior to a weekend event.

Arriving late, gasping for a pint,the god news is that the GuestInformation in my room assures methat the bar is still open and offers agood selection of fine wines, spiritsand beers from around the world.Walking into the bar, I realise thatwith all this shiny chrome I shouldhave brought my shades.

However, my usual cursory glancealong the bar reveals the completeabsence of anything faintly resem-bling a handpump. Not only that,but looking over the bar, there is adistinct lack of anything remotelyinteresting in bottles.

At this point, one of two thingsusually happens – either the barstaff realise that glasses have to becollected and vacate the bar, or,they ask me in a cheery voice whatI would like to drink.

My response to this is often in theform of “I wanted a cask ale, butyou don’t have any.”

They have no way of knowing, ofcourse, but their reply is crucial formy blood pressure. (I will never forget the extremelychirpy young lady, who, withoutwavering, said “oh we do Sir, wehave Worthington Creamflow!).

No excuse.

But, it’s not only Hotel bars. Theother week, I visited The Theatre

Royal in Norwich for the first timesince the refurbishment, andfollowed the signs to The AdnamsBar. Once again, lots and lots ofshiny chrome, Adnams beers onsale, but none of them cask.

The conversation went thus:“What can I get you sir?”“Well, I really wanted a decent

pint of Cask Ale, but you don’t haveany.”“We have Adnams Bitter Sir”“Yes, but that’s not cask!”“Ah, you mean the beer that

comes from those funny hand-pumps?”“Yes.”“Ah, alas, we cannot serve that

here, because this is the upstairsbar, and we cannot pull it throughfrom the cellar.”“Oh, so do you serve it in the

down stairs bar then?”“No.”No excuse.

I honestly think that the Industryis missing a trick here. We have allread in recent months howMarstons, The Brewery Tap inWroxham, and the Keighley andWorth Valley Railway have come upwith solutions to the problem ofgetting real ale into places whereyou wouldn’t normally expect it.

The campaign for Real Ale hasbeen won, in my opinion. We arenow fighting to save communitypubs, but many of those doomedto close only offer bog standard“lagers” at inflated prices, whichare sold in supermarkets at a frac-tion of the cost.

And Hotels are doing the same.What gets me is that the Hotel chainreferred to at the beginning of thisarticle is owned by Whitbread!

Definitely no excuse!

No excuse

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48 | WINTER 2010

Last year I decided I wantedguaranteed snow for Christmasso a plan formed to go to theTyrol for Christmas.

Of course research was doneand breweries located!Unfortunately the great law of

Murphy came into force andour departure was booked forthe day after the West Norfolkxmas crawl departing at 0430!Not only that but it was thesnowiest Christmas for 30 years.

But with some effort we madethe bus for a very difficultjourney to Eurotunnel andbeyond to Koblenz everythingwas white including the worry-ingly frozen windscreen on thebus!

The second day included astop in Wurzburg for theWeinachtsland Christmasmarket, very atmospheric as itwas snowing quite hard. So farno beer of interest due to a latearrival in Koblenz.

We arrived in the Tyrol fairlylate at night staying in Kirch-berg just outside Kitsbuhel.

The next day was free ofexcursions, so I grabbed thechance to take the slow train toSalzburg through the moun-tains, bright sun made forsome great sights, with thechance to use my camera as itwas a slow train.

Salzburg was bustling withChristmas shoppers but I firstvisited Sternbrau but after

about 10 minutes in the kellarcouldn’t get a beer despiteasking (in German) at least twobarmaids. Strike one!

I continued my tourist activi-ties whilst waiting for theopening time of my main targetthe famous Augusteiner BrauKlosterbrauerei, an abbeybrewery above the river.

The beer kellar is actually inthe monastery and the drinkingfacilities are very impressive.

When you arrive you buy aticket, pick up a stoneware jugwash it in the provided foun-tain and get it filled, there wasa choice of Helles, Dunkel anda special seasonal brew.

Food was provided by anentire arcade of deli styleoutlets, so you simply filledyour plate and took a seat inone of the two halls.

A pleasant couple of hourspassed, all beers were tried, at

Christmas in Austria | NORFOLK NIPS

I Love To Go A Staggering

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least once. Now where is therailway station?

Christmas Eve brought a tripto Kitsbuhel and the brewerytap for Huberbrau situated inthe next village. The bar is agem with a vaulted room righton the mainstreet the beerswere superb and the atmos-phere tremendous especiallywhen an elderly lady at thenext table turned out to be anex opera singer and sang someChristmas songs.

Lunch was Tyrolean Grustlwhich is fried potato and baconin its own pan topped with acouple of fried eggs, yum.

Christmas Eve is the climax ofan Austrian Christmas with thecandle on the tree being litbefore the exchange of gifts;this took place at the hotel.

Christmas day it rained, butturned to snow by afternoon avery quiet day.

Boxing day saw the start of atwo day return journey with astop off at Ulm. This has acathedral with a stunning spirewhich you could see about 30miles away. No beer wasconsumed, but a very goodcake shop was open, so goodwe nearly missed the bus!

The rest of the journey wasuneventful with Koblenz beingreached too late for a breweryvisit. Sounds like I’ll have tovisit Koblenz independently!

A great experience but I thinkI’ll go local this year.

Merry Christmas, Stig

NORFOLK NIPS |

WINTER 2010 | 49

Thin Ice 4.7% Jan/Feb Old Wagg 4.0% March/AprilDouble Swan 4.5% May/June Mad Dog 4.4% July/AugBarleymead 4.8% Sept/Oct Old Black Shuck 4.5% NovSnickalmas 5.0% Wenceslas Winter Warmer 7.5% Dec

North Brink Brewery, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire Tel: 01945 583160

Available all year round:

Cambridge Bitter 3.8%Gold Award

Champion Bitter of Britain 2006

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50 | WINTER 2010

South Norfolk’s Best Kept Secret

The Pelican InnTacolneston

01508 489 521

WINNER OF THE SOUTHNORFOLK ‘PUB OF THEYEAR AWARD’ 2009 /2010.

Four Local Real Ales on Hand Pump

Bottled Norfolk Real Ales In our New ‘Real Ale Shoppe’

Taking bookings NOW for

Christmas Hampers

Special Discounts to CAMRA Members

With THREE Beer Festivals a Year

Large beer garden, traditional games, lunchtime menu and a good selection of real ale, spirits and soft drinks

Listed in the Good Beer Guide every year since 2000.

Queen’s Head and Waveney Brewing Company

Traditional Village Pub with a breweryproducing permanent and seasonal

ales on site

Station Road, Earsham, Norfolk

Tel: (01986) 892623

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Here is a summary of the Branch Officer elec-tions, with thanks to Ian Bailey for the use of hisexcellent minutes,

All post holders were returned unopposed. Allcandidates listed below agreed to serve in post

Chairman Phil BuffhamSecretary Ian BaileyTreasurer Jim FergussonMembership Secretary Jeff HoylePress & Publicity Bruce WardPubs Officer Ian BaileyPubs Preservation Officer Andrea BriersNips Editor Chris LucasWebmasterCider Andrea BriersBranch Contact Bruce WardPublic Affairs Officer Nobody came forwardfor this post.Auditor Ros Harre

• Social Secretary, Jackie is OK to continuewithout official title. Nobody else cameforward.

• Nips Circulation, Ros is OK to continue withthis as a non-committee post.

• Webmaster, Nige neither reported businessnor whether he wished to continue in post.As no one else offered the post remains in limbowhilst the Branch Chairman soundsNige out.

• Andrea will continue to provide support to herformer posts: Press & Publicity and Pubs Preser-vation. Regional Director to notify HQ ofchanges.

NORFOLK NIPS | AGM

West NorfolkAGM 2010

WINTER 2010 | 51

The Shoulder of Mutton ~ Strumpshaw ~

Fine ales and good food served in a friendly atmosphere

Real ales includeAdnams Bitter andBroadside plusTWO guest ale(mainly from local

breweries)

Food served 12-2pm and 7-9pm (Mon-Sat), 12-2pm Sundays

Pub games include Darts, Pool, Crib and Petanque!

Ian and Jenny look forward to welcoming you..

Norwich Rd, Strumpshaw, Norwich NR13 4NT

Tel 01603 712274

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52 | WINTER 2010

96 Angel Rd, Norwich NR3 3HT

01603 427490email: [email protected]

www.norwichinns.com

Angel Gardens Free House

Under same ownership for 22 yearsUp to 7 reasonably priced RealAles including three guest alesHome Cooked Food • Monthly Quiz & Darts • Live Music on Saturdays • Beer Garden

2 Bars (with one for Private Hire)Ample Car Parking

Party nights on Christmas andNew Year’s Eve with live music.Pre-Christmas meals, book now!

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19th – 22nd January, Sheridan Suite,Oldham Road, Manchester, M40 8EA

CAMRA is proud to present the return of theirNational Winter Ales Festival which for thesecond timing running will be held at theSheridan Suite in Manchester. Located just acouple of miles from Manchester’s Victoria andPiccadilly Stations, the National Winter AlesFestival will showcase an exciting range of morethan 200 real ales, foreign beers, real ales in abottle, ciders and perrys!

Breweries will be represented all across Britainand will include: Fullers (London), Joseph Holt(Manchester), Wells & Young’s (Bedford), HowardTown (Derbyshire), Bollington (Cheshire), OkellsBrewery (Isle of Man), Moorhouse’s (Lancashire),Daniel Thwaites (Lancashire), Theakstons Brewery(North Yorkshire), Hawkshead Brewery (Cumbria),Marble Brewery (Manchester), Lancaster Brewery(Lancashire), Kelham Island Brewery (Sheffield),Thornbridge Brewery (Derbyshire) plus many more!

Although the emphasis will be on British beers,ranging from traditional Old Ales to lively GoldenAles, CAMRA will also be bringing a sample fromothers parts of the world, including Germany,France and Czech Republic.

The Champion Winter Beer of Britain competi-tion will take place on Wednesday at the event.Porters, Stouts, Old Ales and Barleys Wines fromaround Britain will fight it for this prestigious title.All beers that make it to the final will be on salefor visitors to try after the judging has taken placebut you’ll have to be fast as these can sell outvery quickly!

CAMRA members get £1 off the FULL price offadmission at all times (except Thursday which isfree ALL day)For further information please visitwww.alesfestival.org.uk/winterales

NORFOLK NIPS | NWAF 2011

CAMRA’s NationalWinter Ales Festival

WINTER 2010 | 53

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54 | WINTER 2010

A selection of our Award winning Norfolk ales

For Christmas Parties and PresentsOrder 5 Litre Mini Casks & 4 Bottle Gift Packs

from your local or our brewery shop.Shop open 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday

and Saturday 18 December

The Wolf Brewery Rookery Farm, Silver Street

Besthorpe, AttleboroughNorfolk, NR17 2LD

Telephone: 01953 457775E-mail: [email protected]

www.wolfbrewery.com

Special Winter Ale

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WINTER 2010 | 55

NORFOLK NIPS | Beer & Music

TRADITIONAL JAZZ

Acle Recreation Centre,Bridewell Lane, AcleReal Ales include AdnamsBitter, Theakstons and TipplesRedheadFriday 4th March – Rod Masonand his Hot Five (from Germany),including former local favourite,Sean Moyses, on banjoEnquiries – Brian Davis 01493 701880

Brook Hotel, Bowthorpe,Norwich (off Dereham Road)No Real Ale at presentTuesday 8th March – The NewOrleans Z’Hulus. New Orleansstyle band led by British trum-peter now living in Belgium,and featuring musicians fromBelgium, Germany, Hollandand France

Tickets/Enquiries – Rod Playford01362 667811

Fisher Theatre, BroadStreet, Bungay, SuffolkAdnams Bitter on handpump

Following a very successfulspell lasting several years at theKing’s Head in Beccles, jazzsessions have now transferredto the Fisher Theatre in Bungay.Every Sunday evening - Red Beans‘n’ Rice New Orleans Jazz Band

The Diplomat, OrmesbyRoad, Ex RAF Coltishall site(Nr Coltishall) NR10 5JZ Real Ales include house beer ‘SixSquadron’ and a guest beer.

First Sunday of every month(1.00 – 3.30 pm) – NorfolkDixieland Jazz Band.Admission free, but lunchbookings advisable on 01603 738866.

Crown Inn, Banningham(Nr Aylsham)Adnams Broadside, GreeneKing IPA and Abbot Ale

Sunday 30th January(1.30 – 4.30 pm) – NorfolkDixieland Jazz BandAdmission free, but phone01263 733534 for lunch reservations

Red Hart, Bodham (Nr Holt)Adnams Bitter and BroadsideFirst Friday every month –Lumiere Rouge Ragtime Band

North Elmham MemorialHall (On B1110 Dereham-Guist Road)No bar, but you are welcome totake your own drinks with you.Friday 17th December –Lumiere Rouge Ragtime Band

Monthly sessions have beentransferred to this venue on thethird Friday of every month,and it is hoped they willcontinue in the New Yearwhilst Marsham Arms is out ofaction due to their serious fire.

George and Dragon,Newton by Castle AcreHouse beer Newton Bitter,brewed by Elgoods (replacingElgoods Cambridge) plus localguest beers

Tuesday jazz sessions by BlackBowler Hat Jazz Band have nowfinished, but the venue nowfeatures a Jazz Trio on the firstand third Mondays of everymonth, in addition to theSwing Jazz Quartet on thirdFriday of the month(Also folk music on firstThursday every month)

Northrepps CottageCountry Hotel, Nut Lane,Northrepps (Nr Cromer)Greene King Abbot Ale and IPASunday 12th December (JazzCarvery from 12.00 – 3.00 pm)– Chris Wigley’s Phoenix JazzQuartet. Also jazz carveries areplanned for the remainingSundays in December.It is not clear at time of writingthese notes whether jazzsessions will continue in theNew Year. (Phone 01263579202 for further details)

The Buck Inn, The Street,Flixton, SuffolkWoodforde’s Mardler’s andAdnams Bitter are the regularsat present, plus a good selec-tion of guest beersEvery Thursday -Sole Bay Jazz Band

MODERN/ MAINSTREAM JAZZ

Green Man, WroxhamRoad, RackheathWoodforde’s Wherry, AdnamsBitter, Fuller’s London Prideplus guestsEvery Tuesday Full programme consisting of

Music & Real Ale

Continued Overleaf

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56 | WINTER 2010

COAST ROAD, WALCOTT,

NORFOLK NR12 OPE

Telephone

(01692) 650371

Proprietor since 1989: STEVE BULLIMOREFREE HOUSE

OPEN FOR FOOD & DRINKS ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, 11am - 11pm

Food available all day until 10.30pm10% off food and drink on production of CAMRA membership card

www.lighthouseinn.co.uk

FOUR REAL ALES & CIDER

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various bands and musicians.NB. No jazz on 28th Decemberand 4th January. Sessionsresume on 11th January

It was very sad to hear of therecent death of BarbaraCapocci, who had run jazzsessions at the Green Man, andpreviously at the Red Lion inThorpe, for many years, and Iam sure everyone will join withme in expressing our sinceresympathy to her husband, Mike,(who continues to run the verysuccessful resident trio at theGreen Man) and their family.

For further details of jazzsessions at the Green Man,phone Brian McAllister on01603 782693, or visit web site

www.norwichaccommoda-tion.com/jazz

Dereham Jazz Society,Lakeside Country Club,Quarry Lane, Lyng (nrDereham) Greene King IPA andWoodforde’s Wherry

Every Wednesday – Fullprogramme consisting ofvarious bands and musicians invaried styles, which usuallyincludes one ‘traditional’session each monthNB. Following a review ofattendances, it has beendecided to scale down thenumber of sessions held eachyear at the club. After theChristmas Party and Jam Nighton 8th December, the club will

close for an extended WinterBreak, and will resume again inFebruary.For further details phone

01328 863511 or 01362696741 or visit websitewww.lakeside-jazz-club.co.uk

Seasonal greetings to all – andkeep jazzing!

Keith Chettleburgh

NORFOLK NIPS | Beer and Music continued

WINTER 2010 | 57

Norfolk Nips 156The Spring edition of NorfolkNIPS will be published on Friday 4th March.

Copy for inclusion must bereceived by Wednesday 16thFebruary

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58 | WINTER 2010

Earle ArmsHeydon

Traditional Norfolkfreehouse and restaurant

3 Real Ales always available

Woodfordes Wherry, AdnamsBitter and Black Sheep

01263 587376Satnav: NR11 6AD(Just off B1149 Holt -

Norwich Rd)

FOUR REAL ALESLive Music, Friday & SaturdayLarge garden overlooking the

River Wensum

OPENMon - Thurs 12-11

Fri & Sat 12-12 • Sunday 12-11

The Gatehouse Pub 391 Dereham Road, Norwich NR5 8QJ

01603 620340

Mark & Marie offer you a warm welcome to the

Fox and HoundsHeacham

Home of The Fox BreweryWe are a free housespecialising in real ales.

The first pub in Heacham to be inthe CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

Live Music every Tuesday

Quiz Night Thursday

www.foxbrewery.com

Tel: 01485 57034522 Station Rd, Heacham, Norfolk PE31 7EX

OPEN ALL DAY 7 DAYS A WEEK

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WINTER 2010 | 59

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60 | WINTER 2010

I came across some old photo-graphs whilst tidying up awhile back, about an eventundertaken by the WestNorfolk branch of CAMRA backon Saturday May 22nd 1993,dubbed “Cask Force TaskForce”. The idea was to visitevery pub in the Norfolksection of that year’s, “GoodBeer Guide”, in small or largergroups we were assignedvarious areas to cover on the day,then meet up in Norwich comethe evening. In those heady daysthe branch had the numbers totake on this challenge.

Myself and Stig were luckyenough to draw apart ofNorwich, sadly I’ve lost thenotes I took on the day, but willtry and piece together some-thing of this day from thephotos, so here goes. The twoof us began at the CatherineWheel , ales included LondonPride, Adnams Bitter,Bateman’s XB, and Bass, I’venot been in the CW for a whileso don’t know what it’s likecurrently, I remember it being agood back in the day. 2nd pubwas the Bread & Cheese(Adelaide Street I think), againAdnams and Bass featured,can’t make out the others, stillthere so maybe someone cantell me about it now, again apub I’ve not been in for a longtime. Next the Fat Cat, we allknow this champion ale house!And, of course, it is still brilliant,although from my pictures

they only had eight ales onhandpump and four on gravity,changed a bit since (wonderhow much the rolls were?!).

Alexandra Tavern followedanother pub which is still oneof the finest pubs in Norwich,no picture of what ales theyhad on then, but I bet theywere cracking. Over to EarlhamRoad and the Black Horse, I seeFlowers IPA was £1-20 a pint,think they had six ales on offer(might be four), the branchwent in here on a recent Xmascrawl, not bad. The Reindeerwas next, home to the Rein-deer Brewery then and run bythe wonderful Wolf Witham,who went on to bigger andbetter things as we all know(Wolf Brewery for those whodon’t! He’s a tall lad!), the pubhas had a chequered historysince those days (Finnesko &Firkin anyone?!), now hasElgoods beers and thankfullystill with us. Micawbers Tavernfollowed which has also beenknown as Seamus O’Rourkes,and remains a good boozer.

Onto the Tap & Spile (anyoneremember that pub chain?),knew the’ landlord’ Jim well,bit of a biker I recall, now backto it’s original name of the OldWhite Lion and run by MiltonBrewery, well worth a stop(Oak Street). Onto the GoldenStar, a Green King pub whichcontinues to serve a good dropof their ales, I recall Stig hadone of those GK Pint-and-a-halfglasses, don’t think too manypubs noticed! And so to ourfinal stop, as we met up withthe other branch members atthe St Andrews Tavern, nowcalled the Rumsey Wells, theend to a mammoth day.

Does anyone reading thisremember that day? Maybeyou could contact us with yourmemories and stories, be fun to read how others got on. We gained minimal publicity,as basically this was just a glori-fied pub crawl, I think if wewere to do it again we shouldget sponsored for charity. Mindyou we are a smaller branchnow, but it would be inter-esting to do it again (2013?). Cheers!!

Historical Article | NORFOLK NIPS

CASK FORCE TASK FORCE 1993(by Fernando Alonso’s Blown Diffuser, aka Timbo)

Stig and Wolf at the Reindeer

Tim at the Fat Cat in 1993

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In September, 17 of us from theWest set off for a Bateman’sweekend. We stayed inBateman’s pubs and toured thebrewery in Wainfleet Lincs.

Bateman’s has survived as afamily business despite nearlybeing sold to the nationals.Several family members gottogether and bought out theremainder to avoid this happening.The brewery is centred aroundan old windmill which nowcontains the visitor centre andbar, which was serving SalemPorter a week early at the behestof one of our “colonial”members who is a great fan ofthe “Dark”! The visitor centrecovers the history of the brewery.It includes a letter to a customerin the distant past threatening tosteal their cows if they don’t payup! The tour was informative andvery entertaining; we wereshown the old brewery and thenew brewhouse known as “The

Theatre of Beers” (Any similarityto the name of football stadiumsis purely coincidental!). Openedin 2002 the walls are adornedwith plaques displaying thenames of sponsors large andsmall.

Lunch of Pie and Peas wasincluded and was very nice,especially accompanied by twoand a half pints worth of beertokens! After lunch we took theshort rail trip into Skegness, wewere lucky enough to arrive at“Skeggie” in time to see a classic50s diesel train built for acommuter line from Kent intoLondon which had to benarrower in width than standarddue to the re-skinning of many ofthe tunnels on the line. OurAmerican contingent discoveredthe meaning of the phrase“bracing” when they ventureddown to the sea.

The day was completed by anexcellent fish supper back inWainfleet, others chose to visitone of the three Bateman’s

owned pubs in the town. The Old Oak featured, as a guest,the beer of Dixon’s Riversidebrewery founded in 2003 inWainfleet an independent microin Bateman’s home town. Wain-fleet also features one of the laststore front petrol pumps with anarm which swings out over thepavement to allow you to fill upat the kerbside. One otherslightly surreal feature of Wain-fleet is an entire London street ofGeorgian town houses built inthe town due to an architecturalmisunderstanding.

Due to a lack of accommoda-tion six of our number wereallowed to stay in the Director’scottage at the brewery a shortstep from the mill bar.We were all treated to breakfast

at the brewery on our last day bythe visitor centre manager whichwas great. My son was happy ashe had a pint of Salem Porterwith his breakfast, all in all agood trip, where to go next?

Jackie Lucas

Bootiful Norfolk tobracing Bateman’s

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62 | WINTER 2010

WHEELWRIGHTS ARMS FREEHOUSE

INTRODUCING REAL ALESIPA (DRAUGHT) £2.40, ABBOT ALE £2.50,

OLD SPECKLED HEN £2.50

• CARLING, CARLSBERG, FOSTERS £2.70 •• JOHN SMITHS £2.50•GUINNESS £2.90 ••STELLA £2.90 •STRONGBOW £2.80 •

• MILD £2.40 • BOTTLE BEERS FROM £2.70 (MAGNERS £3.00)

SPIRITS FROM £2.00

FULL SKY ULTIMATE PACKAGE & ESPN FREE WIRELESS INTERNET CONNECTION

Don't forget we also serve Tea, Coffee and Cappaccino all day

Parties catered for • 24 hour licenceSorry but children under the age of 14

are not permitted on the premises after 8pm

01493 663705Beccles Road, Gorleston

Great Yarmouth Norfolk, NR31 0PS

Simon and Karen welcome youall to their traditional family pub.

Great selection of real ales and wines, along with fine dining

and excellent company.

Back in the Good Beer Guide for 2011

Casque Mark accredited

www.whitehorsechedgrave.co.uk

26 St Leonards RoadNorwich NR1 4BL

01603 618734

A real gem,well worth a visit.

Eight real ales to choose from, two ofwhich change regularly.

Two pooltables upstairs.

Pork pies and other light snacksavailable all day.

Hog roast available sundays.

Lovely enclosed beer garden withlarge sheltered smoking area.

Only a ten minute walk from thetrain station and city centre.

Open all day from 12 noon everyday.

Sky Sports and ESPN

Wishing all our customers old and new, a very happy Christmas!

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We Don’t Have a Big Screen TV, Food Or a Juke BoxWe do have 17 handpumps, with Real Ale from far and wide,

2 Real Ciders and 2 Real Ales From gravity, a large car park, large beer garden With heatedsmoking shelter, darts, pool, quizzes And crib.

We now serve morning coffee from 10am, children are welcome.

The Royal Oak lies at the heart of the community and new customers are always welcome. Come along and get a real

welcome from a real pub selling real ale!!!!!! Nick, Delia And The Team would love to see you soon.

The Royal Oakat Poringland

A dream of a pub situated in the village of Poringland on the B1332 road to Bungay. The main bus route from

Norwich stops right outside.

Contact us on

01508 493734 New email: [email protected]

Norwich And Norfolk Pub Of The Year 2007

Norfolk Pub Of The Year 2007

13 years in the Good Beer Guide!

Merry Christmas to all our loyal customers,

from Nick and Delia

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Documents

Issue 155 of Norfolk Nips and Cask Force