The White Lion, Norwich

End of a long day’s crawling with only a handful of genuine quality pubs and pints under our belt, we finished-up here. This is a genuine multi-roomer, we sat in the front bar with its basic quarry tile flooring, wonky beams and pillar box red walls. To the rear is a brighter room with a sadly unusable (but soon to be reinstated) bar billiards table. Eight pumps with five ales on from a mix of micros. The S&P Darkest Hour stout was lovely (NBSS 3.5) although the Mr Winters Dodgy Tackle was a bit more so-so (2.5). There were, I think, also some ciders. In a city full of decent bar staff, the barmaid here (‘hello my loves!’) who also knew her beers (she recommended another S&P stout - subsequently spotted and tried the next day- “you’ll enjoy that one my loves, I know I do”) is worth a transfer fee and we spent most of our 30 minutes joshing with her. Off-beat, fun and worth a visit. Visited early August.

I've been meaning to get to this Norwich pub for some time. But I finally got around to visiting it for the first time yesterday. It's almost always the local CAMRA branch cider pub of the year. So, I was certainly looking forward to it. It did not disappoint, with a decent range of ales in addition to a fantastic cider range. I'm fairly sure that The White Lion is no longer a Milton pub. It was under new ownership and there was no sign of any of their beers. Instead, the range was Ilkley Mary Jane, Shortts The Cure & 2 Tone, Mr Winter's Atom SMASH, Tiny Rebel Five Dollar Shake & Bull of the Woods Woodstock. Ciders were Ascension Wrath, Seacider Sticky Toffee Pudding, Pulp Mango & Lime, Broadoak Purple Haze, Gwynt y Ddraig Farmhouse Pyder & Black Dragon, Abrahall's Cracklin' Rosie, Village Green Dry, Sweet & Oak Staged, Biddenden Dry & Thistly Cross Whisky Cask. I would say that this certainly rivals the Fat Cat and possibly the Duke of Wellington as best pub in the city. I'll certainly be back.

I enjoyed my visit to this pub with friendly staff and good beers. They have a range of Milton beers plus guests, and a good reputatation for their ciders. It is just within the inner ring road but can be reached by bus no 28. It has made it into the 2013 Good Beer Guide.