The Whalebone, Norwich

A traditional two room pub to the north of the city,still much as Pub SignMan described it six years ago with the obvious exception of covid restrictions.The four beers on were Adnams Southwold and Ghost Ship , Woodefords Wherry and Lacons Blonde. A great example of a traditional locals backstreet boozer.

Located to the North of the city centre, this is a decent sized roadside pub offering an excellent range of well kept ale. You enter into a small front bar with a scuffed wood floor and traditional servery. Seating here is limited to bar stools and a single table with a couple of chairs. A nice fireplace can be seen top the right with a pile of CAMRA magazines on the mantelpiece. Following a passage to the left of the bar, you emerge into a traditional rear bar with similar flooring but plenty more seating including lots of tub chairs. The walls are half panelled and various bits of breweriana can be seen around the room. From here, you move on again into a modern extension with a checked tile floor, bare brick walls and a skylit ceiling. High tables and stools predominate here, with modern art prints on the walls fitting nicely into the surrounds and there was a collection of board games near the door. To the left was another room which was set up as a dining room with laminate flooring, plush seating and simple, clean décor. An attractive beer garden can be found to the rear, offering plenty of good cover and lots of sturdy garden furniture. Several TV screens throughout the pub were showing football, with the commentary audible in some rooms despite pop music playing simultaneously. The hand pumps are split between front and back bars, so make sure you check both sides to see the full range. Options on this visit comprised Sharps Doom Bar and Atlantic, Adnams Broadside and Southwold Bitter, Woodfordes Wherry, Oakham JHB, Wolf Golden Jackal and Rudgate Cherry Pale. I sampled the JHB at £3.40 a pint and thought it was in outstanding condition. The barman was welcoming enough and a bunch of cheery local's all acknowledged me when I left. This is a great pub that seems very versatile, with a number of very different areas making it possible to cater for a range of tastes. I thought this was a great pub to start a crawl around Norwich in and would like to try the place again a little later in the day, as I imagine you get a good atmosphere in here at busier times. One of a number of fine pubs in this part of the city.

I really enjoyed our visit here, staff are very welcoming. This large pub is also very well kept. I especially liked the bar side with it's original bar and original gas lamp fittings on the back bar. The ceilings were papered and painted in burnt sienna and walls painted in crimson. Seven handpumps, I went for the Broadland Best ale.

Called in here on our way round Norwich pubs and found it to be a friendly local and spent our time chatting to the landlord while enjoying a couple of beers from Wolf brewery - Golden Jackal and Straw Dog. He has plans for the pub with extensions, and holds beer festivals. There is an outside seating area.

While we were on holiday we visited this pub on a Monday evening to meet a friend of ours. We chose this one as he lives locally and said it was a good real ale pub. Inside there are two main bar areas finished in traditional dark wood. The left hand bar leads through to a covered garden area. There were ten real ales available from £2.70. I had London Pride which was well kept but at £3.40 was a bit more than I was expecting. I doubt we will visit again as our friend is moving, but I can recommend it as a good unspoilt real ale pub with a good atmosphere.