The Queen of Iceni (Lloyds No 1), Norwich

A large spoons over two floors in the Riverside development. Open plan with big clear windows, roughly circular downstairs with raised areas by the river and at one end. Usual ‘spoons mix of furniture, tall near the counter and lower at the edges. It’s got a long counter with a curve at one end, a set of five pulls and unusually a set of four pulls plus the normal load of T-bars in between. The usual cask suspects are separated onto both sets with no duplication and only one of the guests was doubled up. There’s a riverside patio with a view of an odd footbridge. Not much decor as there’s a lot of window, basically a few pictures of the riverside in its industrial days above the windows. It’s the nearest ‘spoons to the railway station and the football ground hence “home fans only” signs and a sea of yellow inside when I popped in on a home game Saturday morning.

I visited the Queen of Iceni on a recent Friday morning at around 11:00 for breakfast, and I would estimate that the tables in this cavernous open plan pub were a quarter full, many be taken up by Norwich fans who were about to set off for Friday night football at Middlesbrough. The curved L-shaped bar counter to the left faces split-level seating with a sea of high tables in the centre of the pub and raised areas to the left rear and right front. Some standard furniture can be found in the right rear corner and also upstairs on the mezzanine balcony area, and obviously the toilets are up there as far away from the bar as possible. The seating against the rear windows on both floors afford views of the passing River Wensum. Outside there is a also a riverside patio and terrace that would be a major draw on clement days. The bar counter supports standard and premium keg alongside two banks of four hand pumps. These were drawing Saltaire’s Triple Choc, Black Sheep, Stone Henge Ales’ Great Bustard, Ruddles, Sharp’s Doom Bar and GK Abbot Ale. The full English was very cheap and actually quite good, certainly worth the money. I initially would’ve had this place down as a conventional Wetherspoons rather than a Lloyds No. 1, but I can confirm that the drink promo posters in the gents are for Lloyds, and the young weekend crowd. This was a pleasant stop to have my pre-crawl breakfast, but I would hate it in here when it’s packed so I’ll be avoiding at busy times.

A large modern Spoons on the waterside. Plate glass windows, high ceilings, party like it’s a sterile 2002 (the group of ladz of a bantz-fuelled pink t-shirted stag do were of course in attendance on a Saturday morning and inevitable one of them was called Spud). There’s also a riverside terrace which was not set-up for punters when we arrived, meaning the interior was close to capacity. Three genuine guest ales at the bar and my Green Jack Orange Wheat was in good shape, with none of the ‘long pour’ traits you often get in the JDW chain (NBSS 3.5). One major downside was the lack of cleanliness. Close to the station so a default start or finish option for a day’s crawling. Visited early August.

Official site of The Queen of Iceni (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Queen of Iceni (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com