The Duke of Wellington, Norwich

Appropriately located in Waterloo Road, it’s very deceptive, looking like an ordinary community pub, I expected three or four beers but was faced with a blackboard listing 15 beers although I think only 9 were available. They claim up to 32 cask on gravity serve. Seven were numbered and I think they prefer you to order by numbers, the beers are kept in a cold room in the servery. The other two beers were marked HP which I found out meant “hand pump”, the two pumps being in a rear room, the other casks are gravity served in the cold room. The pub is on a corner site with a bar down each roadside face, the rear room also has a couple of snugs leading off it. Both bars have low T-bars of course. Tasteful decor in cream above the dado, taupe wallpaper below, the woodwork in black or brown. A collection of brewery mirrors adorns some walls. Mostly furnished with tables and chairs with the odd armchair, sofa and pew.

It’s quite amazing how many good traditional ale pubs there are in the NR3 postcode and this is one of the best, and well worth a visit, especially as the relatively nearby Fat Cat Brewery tap makes an excellent double. A bit of a tardis pub internally the trick with this one is not to be fooled by just the couple of hand pumps on the bar but to spot the beer board on one of the far walls which details the array of ales available on stillage in a glass walled room behind the serving area. I agree with the others below that there was a pleasant friendly atmosphere here and the homemade pies available were top notch indeed. All in all a very pleasant pub visit.