The Shed, Wroxham

The Brewery Tap at The Shed, Wroxham, Norfolk is a converted boat shed hidden away amongst the basins off the river Bure, nearly impossible to find but serving around 50 real ales from Norfolk microbreweries.

It manages to keep these beers fresh using a

temperature controlled Cellar (a 3 metre by 2 metre cold room), where we have the capacity to hold 3500 pints of beer using our innovative methods of storage preservation and dispensing (Patent Pending)

Apparently this involves decanting the beer into special plastic bag containers, adapted with one way valves to allow the carbon dioxide out during subsequent fermentation. Additionally, the beer is kept at around 9 C, a few degrees colder than a normal cellar, to further preserve the beer. They claim to have kept some beers fresh for over 4 months using these methods. Certainly, every drop of beer we’ve had has been in fine form.

The patent application explains:

Brewing apparatus comprising a polymeric bag with a dispensing tap and a valve allowing gas to vent and a container to receive the bag. The valve should be a one way valve such as a check valve or Bunsen valve to prevent ingress of oxygen which might spoil the bags contents. The container should hold 36 pints, have a lid weighing less than 25 kg and prevent light from spoiling the bags contents. The tap may project through a hole in the container so that the majority of liquid can be drained but the sediment remains in the bag. A tap extension may communicate between the location of the bag and the serving location. The apparatus allows wine and real ale to undergo a subsequent fermentation stage during storing.

The local Panther brewery, whose beers are served at the Shed, mentions the technology on its website:

Panther brewery is now pleased to support the Fresh Ale Bag Technology Ltd. Fresh Ale Bags (FABs, Patent Pending) allow the real ale to stay fresh for longer once opened (minimum of 3 months) which has always been a problem with conventional casks (5-6 days). We believe this innovation will allow us to expand our business and provide a greater choice of ales for you when visiting pubs and retailers.

The beer selection is superb, featuring some of Norfolk’s finest – Grain Brewery’s Bitter and IPA, Humpty Dumpty Wherryman’s Way IPA and Tipples Redhead when most recently visited – as well as beers from less well known breweries such as Bees from Walcott, Panther from Reepham and Beeston from near Kings Lynn. They also encourage ordering in food to be delivered to your table from local takeways. There’s a pool table, a good jukebox, and the ambience is unlike anywhere else we’ve been – where else would a heron wander into the bar looking for snacks? (a regular visitor apparently)

The Pubs of Ludham, Norfolk

Ludham is a village in the Norfolk Broads, between Norwich and Great Yarmouth on the A1062 and reachable from the river Ant at Ludham Bridge, the Bure at St Benet’s Abbey and the Thurne via Womack Water. (Google Map)

There are two pubs in Ludham, about a mile apart – the Kings Arms in the centre of the village and the Dog Inn near Ludham Bridge. There have been at least 6 other pubs in the village centre and the buildings still exist as private dwellings, all visible within footsteps of the King’s Arms. Another closed pub, the Chequers, once stood at St Benet’s Abbey. From the Dog Inn beer garden you can see across the fields to where the Chequers once stood.

Ludham pubs:
Kings Arms, Norwich Road
Dog Inn, Ludham Bridge (Johnson Street)

Closed pubs:
Bakers Arms, Yarmouth Road
Chequers, St Benet’s Abbey
Rose and Crown, Staithe Road
Royal Exchange, Staithe Rd, Sunnyside
Royal Oak, Norwich Rd
Ship Inn, Yarmouth Rd, opp. Baker’s Arms
Spread Eagle, Staithe Rd – Manor Gates/Croft

Ludham Pubs:

Kings Arms, Norwich Road The Kings Arms is in the centre of Ludham, less than 10 minutes walk from Womack Staithe off the river Thurne. It serves good pub grub and Woodfordes Wherry and Nelsons Revenge when visited. There was once a small lounge bar to the left which was primarily for food, but this has now been opened out to create a larger bar area. A 1973 pub guide describes it as a “real old village pub with all the things that one would expect to find in it” and this is still true, although there is no longer “a roaring fire for the winter months” (George Nobbs, Pubs to visit in East Anglia). There is no longer accommodation either; in 1922 when the bus service first came to Ludham, the driver slept at the King’s Arms before returning to Great Yarmouth the next day (Staithe Road, Ludham Archive). There is outdoor seating in the beer garden and at the front of the pub. Above the front entrance hangs a sign from the closed Norwich Brewery. Within a few footsteps of here you can see 6 closed pubs of Ludham.

Dog, Johnson Street, Ludham Bridge The Dog Inn is about 5 minutes walk from Ludham Bridge and the river Ant, on Johnson Street. There has been a pub here since at least 1689 when an entry in the church register records ‘the burial of Mary Thaxter from the Dog-house’ (Joan Snelling, Ludham, a Norfolk Village), although the present building is more recent. A free house with Wolf Straw Dog and Woodfordes Wherry when visited. The beer garden has views out towards St Benet’s Abbey where the closed Chequers pub used to stand.

Closed pubs:

Baker’s Arms The Bakers Arms was an early 18th century beer house with a public bakehouse at the rear. It closed at the end of trade on Sunday 19th April 1959. It stood on the corner of Yarmouth Road and the High Street, on the right of the present shop. The building has since been demolished and the site is now Bakers Arms Green, where the village sign stands. An old photo on www.norfolkpubs.co.uk shows the pub with a ‘Bullards pure Ales and Stout’ sign. The pub is shown in the 1954 movie “Conflict of Wings”.

Chequers, St Benet’s Abbey The Chequers once stood on the banks of the river Bure at St Benet’s Abbey. It is actually in the Parish of Horning but by land is only accessible from Ludham. The building burnt down in 1891 (Tim Pestell, St Benet’s Abbey) and nothing can now be seen, although some remains of the pub and other buildings exist under the soil amongst the ruins of St Benets Abbey. The images above show the curve of the river where buildings including the Chequers and the brewery to the left once stood – the model is on display in Horning Church. There are some wonderful paintings of the Chequers at Grove Farm Gallery. Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery has sketches of the interior of the Chequers in 1858, ‘whose cool recesses speak of ancient ways’ (G.C. Davies, Handbook to the Rivers and Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk)

Rose and Crown, Staithe Road The Rose and Crown, also known as the Crown, was a pub from at least 1752, closed by 1907. Part of the bar may still exist inside the building which is now called Crown House. There was a Post Office in the pub for over 30 years in the 19th century. It had ‘a large public room for auctions and meetings and a cellar’ (Staithe Road, Ludham Community Archive Publications)

Royal Exchange, Staithe Road A beerhouse in the 19th century, the Royal Exchange is now a private dwelling called ‘Sunnyside’. The building is believed to date from the 1600s.

Royal Oak, Norwich Rd A pub in the 18th century, this thatched building opposite the churchyard is now a private dwelling.

Ship Inn, Yarmouth Rd, opp. Baker’s Arms Discover Ludham, produced by the Ludham Community Archive Group, records that in 1794 the larger house in the row opposite Baker’s Arms Green was the Ship Inn.

Spread Eagle, Staithe Rd – Manor Gates/Croft The Spread Eagle, a pub for just over 40 years in the late 1800s, was in a building which had previously been the vicarage (it backs on to the churchyard) and later became a temperance hotel. It is now two dwellings, Manor Gates and Manor crofts with the small former communal bake-house to the right; a former licencee was also a baker.

Humpty Dumpty Brewery

The Humpty Dumpty Brewery, Reedham

I picked up a few bottles of Humpty Dumpty beer from Lathams of Potter Heigham during a recent visit to Norfolk. If you visit the Norfolk Broads, Potter Heigham is a good place for beer supplies. Lathams stocks a range of bottled ales (there’s more to be found at a shop next door) and the Falgate Arms pub is only 10 minutes walk away and worth the walk beyond the riverside Broadshaven pub.

Today I cracked open the Bad Egg, followed by the Lemon and Ginger. The Lemon and Ginger is citrusy as you’d expect, a refreshing beer, but the Bad Egg was even nicer, a malty beer with a hint of fruit and thankfully no egg.

The King’s Arms Norwich

During a recent stay in Norwich, I picked up a copy of the Norwich & Norfolk CAMRA guide ‘Real Ale Walks in Norfolk’, which refers to the King’s Arms as a ‘drinker’s paradise’, and we were soon heading in that direction! It’s tucked away just off Queen’s Road, about 10 minutes South from Norwich Castle and 5 minutes from the Travelodge.

A pub since 1830, its a traditional city pub now owned by Batemans, split on two levels inside, with a ‘shed of dreams’ out in the beer garden. As luck would have it, we visited during the 5th Anniversary Beer Festival, and so as well as a number of beers at the bar, their were many more casks in the shed.

We started with Grain Brewery Harvest Moon 4.5%, a fantastic hoppy ale that my sophisticated taste buds found ‘bloody lovely’, and which the tasting notes accurately described as ‘resinous’. I had to follow this with another Grain Brewery beer, Winter Spice 5.0%, a sweet (like candy) ruby beer that tastes like a quaffable Port! This is a fine winter drink, ‘flavoured with curaco orange peel and all spice berries’ according to the brewery, although their Harvest Moon got my vote for Beer of the Festival.

We also tried Beeston Brewery Worth the Wait, one of their regular beers on handpump, a refreshing bitter i’m told is the pub’s best seller and I can see why, I could’ve settled on this one for the evening. But in search of new tastes, I opted for a half of Festival Brewery Emerald which I found tasted cheesy and couldn’t finish, and finally Oldershaw’s Ahtanhum Gold, not quite as memorable as their smashing Caskade, but a nice hoppy bitter nevertheless.

I’ve tended to head into the centre for a drink when visiting Norwich, or out to the Fat Cat, but I’m glad to have found this welcoming pub just off the beaten track and now consider this a must-visit pub. Cheers!

Tipples Brewery Longshore

Another bottle from Tipples Brewery, Longshore 3.8%. There’s a great mix of flavours in this! A bit of sweet hops at first, then a brief burst of fruit, before a full malt flavour rolls in, ending with a citrus tang. Their tasting notes humbly describe it as an ‘ordinary bitter’. It’s not! They also call it ‘immensely pleasing’ and that I agree with.

Tipples Brewery Moonrocket

Tipples Brewery is based in the Broadland village of Acle. I picked up this bottle of 5% Moonrocket, along with a clutch of others from their brewery shop on Elm Hill in Norwich. It pours a pale amber colour and tastes deeply hoppy, with a dry finish and a bitter tang of something almost Orange, but subtler; Clementine?! It’s one those tastes that doesn’t so much go down to your belly, as rise up through your head! Very nice stuff and I’m looking forward to their Longshore beer next…