London and Norwich info.

May be of interest to those who are in the area. We can't go to either, but others may be able to. Found them on yahooo scoopgen group today and copied as found.

1..Hi London Drinkers
Advertised in the Rake when I was in there on Saturday was an SE1 pub crawl this Wednesday 11th May starting from the Market Porter at 6pm. It continues to the Brew Wharf and Rake and then visits two pubs that are new to me (believe one was called Platform Deck or something similar) before finishing in the Dean Swift (6 pubs in all). I am definitely going on this with an afternoon visit to the Old Fountain beforehand - was orinally going to come into London on Tuesday in any case but this crawl sounds very good.

2..For information:

Norwich City of Ale - Celebrating Fine Ale in the Fine City

Norwich City of Ale is a city-wide celebration of city pubs, local breweries and real ale taking place for ten days between 26 May - 5 June 2011. Norwich is renowned for its vibrant city free trade and Norfolk has a multitude of micro-breweries and grows the finest malting barley in the world. Couple this with a beautiful, friendly and historic city with the most complete medieval street plan in Europe, plus a venerable tradition of pubs and brewing, and you have a recipe for a most successful event that organisers hope will attract visitors from all over the UK and perhaps from much further afield.

Real ales from thirty-five local breweries* will be available with the focus on local, craft, sustainable, green and natural products. Thirty-one city pubs will be participating, hosting a wide range of events from pub quizzes, live music and special food and beer pairings to "Meet the Brewer" evenings. The Launch Party on Thursday 26 May featuring local produce and local bands will see the festival officially opened by Roger Protz, renowned beer writer and Editor of the Good Beer Guide. The festival continues for ten days throughout the city with a Brewers' Market at the Forum on Saturday 28 May and culminating in an Official Closing Party and Awards Ceremony at the magnificent Dragon Hall on Sunday 5 June.
The festival will be distributed throughout the city and there is a single Official Programme, available from all participating outlets, featuring all the pubs, with map and ale trails, the breweries, beers and a calendar of events. Over two hundred beers are listed and PintPicker profiled to provide an at-a-glance visual representation of each beer's flavour characteristics. With such a large range of ales on offer this is a popular feature with real ale lovers as it makes it very easy to see which ales are most likely to match your taste preferences. See www.pintpicker.co.uk.

Over its long and illustrious history Norwich has achieved many firsts: England's first provincial city (up until 1780s); the first printed plan of an English City (1558); the first English provincial newspaper (1701); the first municipal library (1850); the first long distance commercial phone call in the UK (1878); the first UK postcode (1959); the first pedestrianised street in Britain (1965). And now, in 2011, it proudly becomes the first UK City of Ale.
With thirty-one pubs, thirty-five local breweries, hundreds of real ales, ten days in which to try them and a beautiful medieval city to wander in and around, Norwich City of Ale is shaping up to be a must-do event for real-ale and heritage lovers alike.

http://www.cityofale.org.uk http://twitter.com/CityOfAle http://www.facebook.com/CityOfAle

* Local breweries are those within a 30-mile radius of Norwich; other Norfolk breweries; and breweries with one or more tied houses in the city.