November 2025. Norwich.
3 visits to Dad in his care home this week, he’s barely woken when I’m there but he grips my hand which is enough.
I took a trip out to Norfolk on Friday, someone has to brave the flatlands, and found myself on a busy train from Ely in a four seat arrangement where one chap had clearly bought 3 tickets. One for his suitcase, one for his handwritten notes, and one for him and his giant laptop which was encroaching on my space.
Arriving at Ely at 14:26 with 19 minutes till my final leg (patience !) I calculate that 19 minutes is the exact amount of time needed to nip out to the closest GBG pub, sip a pint, and just catch the 14:45.
OK, the internet says 8 minutes each way, and I would have to seek a guard to let me through the barriers as those paper cards never work, but worth a go.
There’s thirty (30) Beer Guide pubs in Norwich. Southwold, the capital of Suffolk, has zero (0), and rightly so. Do the math.
There’s two Coach & Horses too; this is the one on Thorpe Road near the Royal Mail and Carrow Road, the one with iconic balcony.
My first visit in, I guess, 25 years, and I have no recollection of it at all.
Norwich pubs are of a type, clustered around the ring road and NBSS 3.2-3.6. This one has lots of table reservations, all for 4 hours hence,
and all for Louises, Lauras and what looks like Vickexia but is probably Potter Heigham dialect for Vicky.
There’s either a lot of all-female pub quiz teams, or women in Norwich do all the “life admin” so they can complain about it on MumsNet.
It’s very cosy and friendly, particularly the barmaid.
Real fire, darts, Gill Scott soundtrack, chewy Pale (3.5+) from their own Chalk Hill Brewery,
and clearly a pub tolerant of New York Knicks fans (they play in Gorleston under franchise).
Just time for a dash to the Gents* to admire Sir Geoffrey looking on angrily at England’s latest batting collapse,
and the random wall chart showing previous Norwich City managers.
Oops, my phone is telling me I have minus two minutes to get back to the station.
Never in doubt.
* Never EVER assume toilets on your train will work
retiredmartin 
“19 minutes between trains at Norwich station ? Coach & Horses then …”
Another day it could be 19 minutes between trains at Stafford station, Coach & Horses ( £2.85 Bass ) then … if the Railway ( £4.40 Bass ) isn’t open yet.
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It’s strange to me that the Lord Nelson can’t stay in the GBG. Classic ambiance and no food service. How can you not sell tip top beer? Seems criminal.
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I think it’s hilarious and inexplicable that Southwold hasn’t got any GBG entries again. Used to be Lord Nelson and often Sole Bay. I haven’t been to Southwold since 2017 so I can’t really comment !
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Lord Nelson had changed hands last time we were there. No food service which made it more pub like. The beer turns over very quickly. Not sure how you wouldn’t be able to keep standards up.
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On the CAMRA website (replacement for What Pub) you can see beer scores for visited pubs, and there’s a few pubs with good scores (Red Lion and Harbour, notably).
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Dave, I’m sure that Martin will disagree, but to me this sounds like a classic case of reverse snobbery, on the part of CAMRA.
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It’s normally me who gets accused of reverse snobbery !
Part of the problem is east (coastal) Suffolk has such a small branch allocation, which has to be spread over a wide area that includes a few new Taps and community-owned pubs, so Southwold doesn’t get one just because it’s a tourist draw.
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Yet wouldn’t you think that a (well-heeled) tourist town might get a couple of pubs in. Opening sensible hours and converting people to the joys of proper beer? Or am I missing something?
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I think you make an excellent point, Bill. The GBG aims for geographic spread so you get pubs across the UK that wouldn’t make it on beer quality alone.
No GBG pubs in Wells, recently, either.
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I think you could be right Paul. Kind of sad to think it since the Nelson is a great pub.
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I doubt they care, and I doubt it makes any difference to trade. Folk visit the Lord Nelson as part of a break in Southwold (my sister’s just back from there) rather than because it’s GBG.
And if you put the Lord Nelson in, you’d have to take something out from Wenhaston or Kessingland.
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Wenhaston better not come out! Classic pub.
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