Vernon Arms, Norwich

The Vernon Arms is an old coaching inn in the middle of a quiet village. For parking, the pub guides you to use the village hall car park nearby. There is a small extension to the front of the pub. There is a large garden at the rear and tables at the front on a gravel yard. Internally, the pub is decorated in cream with beams. There are old photos of the area on the wall and an old parish map. It is divided into three small rooms. A largeish bar area and two smaller side rooms which are used for eating. On the left as you come in is a dartboard and pool table. On the right as you enter, in the main bar area is a large fireplace with a leather settee in front of it. However, after eating, we chose to sit on the stools at the bar. Initial impressions are that this is mainly an eatery, but sitting in the bar area, you realise that it isn't. It is obviously used by locals from the area as well as holiday makers and passing trade. Service is excellent and the clientele were friendly. The landlord remembered where we said we were going two days later and enquired how we enjoyed ourselves. Beerwise, there is the usual stuff plus four real ales - Black Sheep Best Bitter, Adnams Bitter, Abbot Ale and Fullers London Pride. These, I confess, might not be the most adventurous ales to have, but they were well kept and really tasty. I tried all four a number of times. I do not usually like Abbot Ale, but this was really tasty. The pub held a beer festival while I was in the area and had 20 guests including Tipples Redhead, Grain Brewery Oak Ale and Fuller's Golden Pride, which, at 8.5%, nearly blew my head off. I tried 10 different ales and all were very tasty. The food was consistently excellent. We ate here 4 times during our stay in the area and did not have a bad mouthfull. Portion sizes were large enough for a main course alone to satisfy. All in all, this is an excellent pub and I would recommend it highly.

Official site of the Vernon Arms, contains sample menu - www.vernonarms.com

Official site of the Vernon Arms, contains sample menu - www.vernonarms.com