PuG crawl to Norwich - Friday 14th April 2023

[Bucking Fastard]

I have been looking into this a bit more and trying to put a crawl together and now fully appreciate why the Norwich City of Ale organisation divides the city up into 7 Real Ale Trails. Yes the City has some heavyweight pubs, but a lot are spread in the outskirts and miles from each other, and no way to do all in a day unless you have a designated driver or a jet pack.
Now taking Quinno's advice that you cannot go to Norwich and not go to the Fat Cat (handily one of the destination pubs furthest away on the other side of the city to the train station), my cunning plan would be to bus it out here early and then have a more leisurely stroll back to the train station.
Therefore my proposal would be meet in the City Centre and, for nothing more than my personal historical connections, i propose The Murderers.
Then stop BG on Rampant Horse Street is just around the corner and busses 21, 23 or 24 will take us to stop ID on Adelaide Street.
Its a short walk to the The Alexandra Tavern from here and then 5 minutes back across the road to The Fat Cat.
Afterwards I have plotted a route across the north of the city back to the train station and, after the initial 15 minute walk to The White Lion, every other pub is under a ten minute walk.
Kings Head
The Plasterers Arms
The Leopard
Adam & Eve
The Red Lion on Bishopsgate
Coach & Horses
and then 5 minutes back to the station.

I appreciate most of these have already been visited by those that have been to Norwich but this northerly route does afford plenty of Wild Card options as well for those that dont want to visit these again.

If people think this is a dooable proposal then I'll work out the route and also to squeeze a couple more in as this is currently 10 pubs..

Great work Gann.I know nothing about Norwich but I like the idea of visiting the Fat Cat reasonably early into the crawl so that it can be properly appreciated ,followed by a leisurely stroll among the northern pubs before dropping back to the station.The bus from the Murderers sounds very sensible .If there are two additional candidates close to that route,I would say that's then a very cunning plan indeed.

[Gann]

Thanks Neville:::
I am more than tempted to try and squeeze in https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubmap/28516/ and the Fat Cat Brewery Tap between the White Lion and the Kings Head.;Unfortunately it’s another 15 minute walk out to the Duke of Wellington but then you can get a bus from the Brewery Tap to the Kings Head virtually door to door in six minutes.
This may make it a long day for those that need to catch a train home, so will need to work out the timings of that option.

[Bucking Fastard]

Thanks Neville:::
I am more than tempted to try and squeeze in https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubmap/28516/ and the Fat Cat Brewery Tap between the White Lion and the Kings Head.;Unfortunately it’s another 15 minute walk out to the Duke of Wellington but then you can get a bus from the Brewery Tap to the Kings Head virtually door to door in six minutes.
This may make it a long day for those that need to catch a train home, so will need to work out the timings of that option.

Yes agreed it all depends on when folk are departing.I'm relaxed due to the overnight stay but it would be helpful to get an idea of constraints that may exist.

[Strongers]

Yes agreed it all depends on when folk are departing.I'm relaxed due to the overnight stay but it would be helpful to get an idea of constraints that may exist.

I'm staying in Norwich East so no constraints from me.

[sheffield hatter]

Therefore my proposal would be meet in the City Centre and, for nothing more than my personal historical connections, i propose The Murderers.
Then stop BG on Rampant Horse Street is just around the corner and busses 21, 23 or 24 will take us to stop ID on Adelaide Street.
Its a short walk to the The Alexandra Tavern from here and then 5 minutes back across the road to The Fat Cat.
Afterwards I have plotted a route across the north of the city back to the train station and, after the initial 15 minute walk to The White Lion, every other pub is under a ten minute walk.
Kings Head
The Plasterers Arms
The Leopard
Adam & Eve
The Red Lion on Bishopsgate
Coach & Horses
and then 5 minutes back to the station.

This looks like a very good framework for the crawl. Thanks for your efforts so far!

Just one suggestion that I hope you'll think helpful: how about meeting nearer to the station and then moving on to the Murderers? I found the Compleat Angler surprisingly congenial when I was very briefly in Norwich this time last year. Thinking back to my visit to the Murderers a few years prior, it seems to me that is likely to be a bit busier and (with it being a smaller pub) pretty crowded. The Angler seems more likely to be quieter, less crowded, and easier for people to find each other.

And for a Greene King pub, it has surprisingly good beer, and from local breweries too.

[Gann]

This looks like a very good framework for the crawl. Thanks for your efforts so far!

Just one suggestion that I hope you'll think helpful: how about meeting nearer to the station and then moving on to the Murderers? I found the Compleat Angler surprisingly congenial when I was very briefly in Norwich this time last year. Thinking back to my visit to the Murderers a few years prior, it seems to me that is likely to be a bit busier and (with it being a smaller pub) pretty crowded. The Angler seems more likely to be quieter, less crowded, and easier for people to find each other.

And for a Greene King pub, it has surprisingly good beer, and from local breweries too.

Good input and we can do that. Not sure we can meet here and do the Murderers as well if we want to visit The Duke of Wellington and Fat Cat Brewery Tap. I’ve worked out how to incorporate these but it does have us finishing in the Coach and Horses around 10 past 8 that may be too late for some who need to leave by train earlier than that.
We could go direct from the Complete Angler to the Alexandra Tavern as there are two busses from virtually outside the Complete Angler which will do this for us.
Anyway I’ll put together some timed options and we can decide when we know what peoples travel arrangements are and more importantly that the rail unions are not going to bugger things up for us…

[sheffield hatter]

We could go direct from the Complete Angler to the Alexandra Tavern as there are two busses from virtually outside the Complete Angler which will do this for us.

That seems like an elegant solution, especially as I'm inclined to think the Murderers is not all that essential. But didn't like to mention it until you mentioned how easy it is to skip it!

I'm also a little wary of jumping in to this discussion, because as things stand I won't be making it to Norwich. I feel bad about this because I followed up Nev's suggestion at the start of the thread very enthusiastically and had been expecting to go, and was looking forward to meeting up with everyone again.

[Mobyduck]

I'm also a little wary of jumping in to this discussion, because as things stand I won't be making it to Norwich. I feel bad about this because I followed up Nev's suggestion at the start of the thread very enthusiastically and had been expecting to go, and was looking forward to meeting up with everyone again.

Unfortunately the same goes for me, although I was in Norwich about 18 months ago and doing around 20 pubs there is definitely some unfinished bussiness.

[Gann]

Unfortunately the same goes for me, although I was in Norwich about 18 months ago and doing around 20 pubs there is definitely some unfinished bussiness.

Ah that’s a real shame guys. I also know Tammy and Dave can’t make this one so get the feeling it’s going to be quite a small and bijou crowd for this one.

Perhaps it’s pertinent to get a show of hands for who else is intending to attend outside of me, Strongers and Nev. Because if it’s only us who are intending to stay over then we can finalise the plan now.

[Bucking Fastard]

Ah that’s a real shame guys. I also know Tammy and Dave can’t make this one so get the feeling it’s going to be quite a small and bijou crowd for this one.

Perhaps it’s pertinent to get a show of hands for who else is intending to attend outside of me, Strongers and Nev. Because if it’s only us who are intending to stay over then we can finalise the plan now.

My friends Brian,Steve and Ian are all coming on the crawl and are staying overnight,although not all of them will be as keen as me on more pub visits on the Saturday !. Nige and Clive are aware but not signed up as yet and wont be staying overnight if they do decide to turn up for the Friday crawl.