The White Lion, Norwich

A white painted detached pub, a slightly odd shape inside, three bars but don’t use the door in the entrance porch to one of them, turn left into an old fashioned tap room. Here it’s quarry tiles and wooden benches, un-upholstered but with thin cushions, brown painted and kitchen tables. Clear windows down one side and the counter down most of the other, the end wall has a big blackboard listing a dozen ciders and perrys as befits a CAMRA Cider & Perry pub of the year 2023 finalist. It also illustrates cider making and brewing. Another smaller blackboard lists the cask beers. Eight pulls and a T-bar of nationals stand on the counter, a good selection of strengths and styles mostly local but a Roosters and a Vocation had made the trip south before me. The only decor other than the blackboards are a couple of photos and a collection of CAMRA awards. The other bar is reached by a corridor behind the shared servery and there’s a snug on the way, the other bar has a bar billiards table and there’s an outside area as well. Well worth the stagger out from the centre.

Unaccountably, my first visit to this Camra award-winning pub, and it didn't disappoint. Pleasingly traditional interior featuring the main bar, a side room with the bar billiards table and a plainer rear room. We found five of the eight handpumps in use, with a pair of Norfolk beers - Tindall's Black Gold (£2.30, half) and Elmtree's Golden - an three from further afield. Also has a reputation for its extensive range of draught ciders and perries.

This was the next stop on our Norwich crawl after the Fat Cat and therefore had the unenviable position of being after the Lord Mayors show. But it stands up very well and I thought it was a very good pub and wasn’t totally surprised to learn later on our crawl, from a local CAMRA branch member we bumped into, that the White Lion has been voted the Norwich Branch Pub of the Year and City Pub of the Year for 2023. A wonderful warm welcome as described below and a fantastic traditional multi room interior, and any pub that has a room containing both a bar billiards table and a tropical fish tank score’s highly from me. Good range of ales as also described below, but this pub also does a cracking range of 12 real perrys and ciders from the cellar room, that are advertised on a large chalk board mural at the end of the smaller main bar room.

The entrance of the White Lion leads to a front bar area with an L-shaped bar on the rear wall and bench seating under the windows across the front wall and up the left under the ‘Cider Board’ that is a large chalk board that takes up the entire left hand wall. Listed on here are 6 traditional ciders, 4 fruity ciders and 2 perries. The red tiled floor runs throughout the pub and to the left of the bar counter is a ‘Cask Board’ on a old exposed brick chimney that covers a burner below. Tindall Brewery’s Black Gold Stout, Glamorgan Brewing’s Hancock HB, Mobberly’s Bunji, Rooster’s Brewing’s YPA and Elmtree Beer’s Golden Ale were the listed cask beers. There was at least one hand pump unused so even with this list the pub wasn’t operating at full capacity. To the left of this chimney breast is a doorway to the back bar, and a few more tables and chairs that are faced by a small L-shaped section of the bar counter. Through to the right rear access is gained to a large open plan area with bar billiards at the rear and a sparse mix of standard furniture and armchairs at the front. This area is mostly standing room. Next to a fish tank on the left wall is a hatch through to the bar for service. Down the right side of the pub is a thin outside seating / smoking area. The service in here was extremely friendly from the young lady behind the bar, and who doesn’t like a bit of low volume drum and bass early on a Friday afternoon! I would certainly visit here again, although I’d be a bit disappointed if it was busy and I couldn’t stand in the bar because I much preferred this area to the rest of the pub.

An interior with exposed beams and rough white plastered ceiling. A half of Mobberley Brewhouse Bunji went down very well, served by an almost flirtatious, utterly authentic Norfolk barmaid – probably the one encountered by Quinno – ‘Of course you can, my lurverly.’, but it did come in at £2.40, which is higher than the pricing of typical London alehouses, though was worth the premium just for the priceless barmaid alone. Deserves a visit in its own right and a no-brainer on a crawl.

A small cosy front room with the main servery and a low ceiling and exposed beams,but drift around the back of the bar to another room with an unusable front door and you will find a bar billiards table and a tropical fish tank.This took me back to the days of my drinking youth in the 70's.There is a beer garden and the three room interior is traditional and the welcome friendly.The ale selection was Tindall Black Gold,Staffordshire Hancock HB,Mobberly Bungi,Elmtree Bean Golden Ale and Rooster YPA (NBSS 3.5) with various crawlers halves being served in smart handled glass tankards,nice touch.It seems that the USP here is to offer a few ale from further afield,as most of the other GBG listed pubs in the area tend to focus on Norfolk ale. It's easy to get chatting with other customers in such a convivial setting,I really liked it and would happily return .