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  • Writer's pictureSi Everitt

BRAPA IN .... THE NORFOLK COUNTDOWN : PART 4/6 (FAILED PLAY OFF PUSH)

Hello Pubfans,


Six more pubs from 'lovely' Norfolk and we are getting to the good ones now. Had things been different, they'd have made the playoffs easily. In one or two cases, they really should've been in the promotion picture. But something stopped that from happening. Let us find out what!


16. Duke of Wellington, Norwich


Now if we are simply talking 'pub', the sort of pub I love, traditional street corner locals with little fuss or pretention to be anything other than a bloody great boozer, then this place'll have you purring. A fine green and red carpet, an undulating surface a bit like a golf green (were there bodies buried beneath?), a friendly landlady and of course, that real pub staple, Blind Sooty on the bar. Curmudgeonly old men are scattered about the place looking like they've chewed on a selection of wasps. This place could and should have been top five, but I was just wholly unconvinced by my ale, Golden Jackal by Wolf. It wasn't 'off off', just a bit tired and dull and hard to drink. I'd had this beer in the Red Lion, Preston, Herts and enjoyed it a lot more there, so much for locale! And you know what its like when you aren't enjoying your beer, it seeps into your whole enjoyment of the pub. You view it through less rose tinted specs, and I was taking quite a dim view on the lack of customers, and anything resembling 'joy'. A shame, but it is really fine margins as we enter the upper echelons of the league.


15. Rosebery, Norwich


Very close to the Duke of Welly, in fact this was the pub I did immediately before as the sun set on my first day. In many ways, polar opposite experiences. My main gripe here was how 'Londonified' this place was - like one of those Big Smoke pubs, or similar. It lacked charisma, as an interior at least, and didn't feel at all Norwich. It is a bit like flying to Spain and immediately going for a MaccyD's. However, and it is a big however. Lovely staff. And my Mr Winter's Vanilla Latte was a thing of absolute joy. Beer of the week contender. I smuggled a couple of Colin's fig rolls which only served to enhance it. Secret pub snacks always taste nicer when people around you are paying for their food! Imagine if I'd been able to have this pint in Duke of Welly, then you'd be talking a title contender. But in conclusion, happy people plus great beer take the edge off Londonness.

14. Chequers, Binham



My one really punishing walk of the holiday came on the final day, striding out for an hour from the bus stop at Little Walsingham to the Priorytastic hamlet of Binham. A few more passing cars than I'd have expected / liked, but not at all terrible. Woolly hat on, I was dying of 'head-heat' when I arrived. You won't be surprised to learn our old bug bear was out in force, terrified unfriendly yokels. Both the farmer in the Norwich City jumpsuit and his mate were proper misery guts. The barman, camp Dan Walker, wasn't much better. Only Norfolk's Young Geoff off Byker Grove said 'alright', and that was when he was in his van leaving the pub. It was a beautiful pub with its carpet and chequers. Little roaring fire in the corner, but it was too much in the circs, so I retired to the 'beer garden', NOT that anyone helped me find it even though it was obvious I was struggling. The Moon Gazer Pintail was a cracking pint, one of the best pales all week. Suddenly, I was cold as the wind whipped up and blew against my sweaty back! Just couldn't get comfy. Again, a pub which given different circumstances could easily be top ten.



13. Rose & Crown, Snettisham


Smell must be the most underrated of the senses when determining what makes a good pub. I enter here to the woodsmokey smell of bygone age, and immediately I feel at peace, having suffered a bladder shattering bus journey around Hunstanton and down towards King's Lynn from Brancaster Staithe. The sense of well being increases at the amount of smiling faces. Was I really still in Norfolk? And the barman's comment, "no, I don't know how to pronounce it either" when I tripped over 'Triskele' about ten times was a nice touch, on a holiday where I was grasping for any sign of humanity and camaraderie. It was also the last tick of my holiday, and I could relax, satisfied with my 36 ticks for the week. What a shame then that being half term, there wasn't a spare seat in any of the cosy pubby bits. I ended up retiring to a 'residents game room', half expecting to get turfed out at any moment, but all I got were sympathetic glances. I sat with my back to the action on a low plastic stool as French teenagers with an arrogant dog played some form of Battleships, whilst a posh Mum lost everything to her posh daughter.


12. Fat Cat & Canary, Norwich



From the last pub of my holiday to the first. Considering this is my lowest ranked of the Fat Cat thrillogy, yet still one I rate very highly in 12th place, it shows how strong the Fat Cat's are. A minute before opening, I'm the first customer to arrive. With Norfolk hindsight, I wish I'd hung around at the bar and chatted with the bored, friendly barman, seemed a top lad. I'd not get many better opportunities. But I retired to the corner like some timid loser mouse, admiring the green and yellow cushions, and just the general excellently done decor and interior. Great old rock 'n roll like Dick Dale played, and the Norwich Bitter was drinking well though took some adapting to after my Brownie Hunter train beer. Two students arrive, and tell the barman they are new to the area, from Sheffield no less. People talk about Norwich and Sheffield as though they're some kind of top real ale town bedfellows, but let's be honest Norwich doesn't hold a candle to Sheffield. But with more pubs of this quality, and a reduction in the number of GBG entries to about 20, it surely would.



11. White Hart Free House, Ashill



You know when everybody is converging on a rural unlikely pub on a chilly unassuming midweek lunchtime that you are in the right place. A beer delivery lorry nearly reverses over me as I took the above photo, what a way to cark it that would be! Shame I can't remember which brewery. Probably Thornbridge. Obviously not a new pub, but it may as well have been, it was like they'd gutted it and started again. Perhaps they had. It was very clomp clomp bare boarded, seating wasn't the comfiest, but it was warm in other ways. I'm called 'Mi' lovely' and 'mi' darling' before I'd even been served. I got the sense of a very hardworking place where they want to give everyone a equally good experience. I witnessed the staff going out of their way to talk to the elderly village codgers sat alone. A village twild wanders in wearing funky sunglasses to much amusement. Oh, and the Barsham Winter Warmer was a spicy delight. Kinda pub which leaves you with a smile on your face.


So there we have it, I LOVE writing these up. I'll be sad to go back to the regular format for Tunbridge Wells!


See you tomorrow for part 5 as we enter the top ten, or 'those who made the playoffs' - but where do the best Norfolk pubs get promoted to? Suffolk? I'm being facetious of course!


Thanks for reading, Si

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