The Norwich Society

20/06/2026

What with the hot weather and the World Football Cup it is likely that much beer will be consumed. Norwich was once home to a wide range of brewers.

If you turn off Westwick Street towards Coslany Bridge you will find yourself in a quiet cul-de-sac that would once have been a bustling industrial complex. Richard Bullard founded the Anchor Brewery in 1837. Over the years that followed the business prospered and by the end of the century it occupied a seven-acre site.

Over the same period the brewery built an extensive tied estate, largely through taking over smaller breweries, not for their brewing capacity, in fact after the acquisition the brewery would often be closed, but for their tied houses. By 1914 the company’s estate included 133 premises in Norwich. In 1958 they acquired their Norwich rivals Youngs, Crawshay & Youngs.

Three years later they joined with Steward & Patteson to take over Morgans. At this time their position must have seemed unassailable but the two victorious chairmen made a huge mistake. Their target wasn't Morgans’ brewery but its tied estate, and so they sold the brewery on to the national firm, Watney Mann. As part of the deal it was agreed that Watneys could sell their brews, which included very popular keg beers, in Steward & Patteson and Bullards pubs. Soon Watneys were outselling the local brews at the same time they started to purchase Bullards’ shares, and by 1963 they took over the Norwich firm. In 1966 brewing ceased at the Anchor brewery. In 1972 the site was sold to a property developer and it is now the site of the appropriately named ‘Anchor Quay’ residential development.

This information is taken from Frances and Michael’s Holmes excellent website http://www.norwich-pubs-breweries.co.uk/
You can also watch the Norwich Society’s video talk on Norwich’s lost pubs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1XllWKkPl0

11/06/2026

Great news about the major charitable donation to the Sainsbury Centre.

A vision to revitalise the Sainsbury Centre, one of the most popular art museums in the UK, has been made possible with a gift of £91.2 million from Lord David Sainsbury through Gatsby, his charitable foundation.

02/06/2026

With the warmer weather comes the opportunity to enjoy a drink outside (not today, perhaps!)

The Adam and Eve is Norwich’s oldest pub being at least 750 years old. A Saxon well still exists below the lower bar floor. Records of the pub begin in 1249 when it was a brewhouse run by monks, and used by workmen building the cathedral. The monks also gave ale from the brew house to patients at The Great Hospital.
The living quarters and the Flemish gable roof was added in the 14th and 15th centuries, giving it the distinctive shape you see today.

The pub was to play a part in the bitter battles of Kett's Rebellion in 1549. An army of insurgents led by Kett briefly took over the city, and in order to defend the city the king's troops were summoned, one of whom was Lord Sheffield. During the bloody battle, Lord Sheffield was knocked from his horse and fell into a ditch in Bishopsgate. As was etiquette for a cavalryman who had been knocked off his horse, Sheffield removed his helmet in surrender expecting to be captured and then ransomed. However the peasants who had revolted were not used to traditional customs of battle, and so - sensing an opportunity - one of the rebels struck Sheffield around the head with a cleaver. Wounded, Sheffield was allegedly taken to the Adam and Eve pub, but later died from his injuries. A plaque commemorating Lord Sheffield’s demise is at the junction of Bishopgate and St Mattin-at-Palace Plain.

Kett’s Rebellion is explored on C.J.Sansom’s last Shardlake novel, Tombland. You can explore Shardlake’s Norwich with this downloadable trail from the Norwich Society.
https://www.thenorwichsociety.org.uk/explore-norwich/shardlakes-norwich

You can download a self-guided riverside trail from the Norwich Society’s website
https://www.thenorwichsociety.org.uk/explore-norwich/bridges-of-norwich

26/05/2026

The next Norwich Society talk is by the ever popular Frances and Michael Holmes

A Market of our Times

Thu 11 Jun 2026 - 10:30 am
The Forum, NR2 1TF

Open to all - £10.00 non-members / £5.00 members
Book here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talk-a-market-of-our-times-tickets-1985439978422?aff=oddtdtcreator

Norwich Market has traded from the same site since the 11th century. It has survived because it has adapted to meet changing conditions – and change is yet again on the agenda. Frances and Michael Holmes will tell its remarkable story.’

Frances and Michael have researched and written a number of local history books. They operate as Norwich Heritage Projects and full details of their work can be found on their website www.norwich-heritage.co.uk

16/04/2026

Find out about SEVEN LOCAL LADY AUTHORS
in the next Norwich Society’s walking tour

10:30 am, Sat 25 Apr 2026
Starts outside St Julian's Church, NR1 1QT and ends in Magdalen Street.

Open to all - £14.00 non-members / £10.00 members
Book here https://www.thenorwichsociety.org.uk/events/walking-tour-seven-local-lady-authoresses-tour-guide-robert-smith

Guide, Robert Smith, will explore the lives of well-known authoresses and the impact they had and their amazing legacies. Visit places in the City related to them; hear amusing tales about their work and lives. To include Anna Sewell, Amelia Opie, Margaret Paston, Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Fry, Delia Smith and Julian of Norwich.

13/04/2026

The next Norwich Society talk is Norwich in the 1980s
Speaker: Pete Goodrum

10:30 am - Thu 23 Apr 2026
The Forum, NR2 1TF

Open to all - £10.00 non-members / £5.00 members
Book here https://www.thenorwichsociety.org.uk/events/talk-norwich-in-the-1980s-speaker-pete-goodrum

Battered by storms and bad weather, launching new flights from its airport and loving leg warmers like everyone else, Norwich fully embraced the 80s.

The Norwich Beer Festival became an annual event and The Argyle Street Alternative Republic came to an end. Ritzy’s was the place to go, and new places to eat eclipsed the Berni of the ‘70s. Our interior decor became more colourful and some of our fashion choices became more questionable.

Pete Goodrum returns to lead us through another decade of the city’s history with his customary mix of historical fact and social comment. Brace for nostalgia!

22/03/2026

Norwich Cathedral Close provides a welcome haven in the city centre and an ideal place for a walk to take in the Spring flowers. Norwich Cathedral was founded in 1096 by the first Bishop of Norwich, Bishop Herbert de Losinga. In order to create the new cathedral, priory and precinct, several existing churches and many homes were destroyed. The cathedral precinct or 'Close' is the largest to survive in England and also has the largest number of residential houses within it. These houses range from 18th century townhouses to homes converted from what remained of the 14th and 15th century monastic buildings.

The upper and lower greens provide a delightful setting for the Cathedral and Close, while the many domestic gardens offer variety and interest throughout the year.

The Close is also the home to the prestigious Norwich School. Bishop de Losinga founded the school soon after the commencement of the building of Norwich Cathedral as part of the Benedictine Priory in 1096. Horatio Nelson was a pupil for a short time. Originally for boys only, the school is now co-educational.

20/03/2026

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly0yypx426o

A business representative says it is "wonderful" to see the city recognised on the national stage.

09/03/2026

Lovely Spring display along the river near Cow Tower.

03/03/2026

The next Norwich Society talk is
The Languages of Norwich: A Concise History
Speaker: Christopher Joby

6:30 pm - Thursday 19 Mar 2026
The Forum, Millennium Plain, NR2 1TF

Open to all - £10.00 non-members / £5.00 members
Book here https://www.thenorwichsociety.org.uk/events/talk-the-languages-of-norwich-a-concise-history-speaker-christopher-joby

In the last two thousand years, many languages and language varieties have been spoken and written in Norwich and the surrounding area. In this lecture, Professor Christopher Joby takes us on a journey from the language of Boudica to the many languages spoken in Norwich today. For much of this period, English in its many forms has been the dominant language in the city. However, invaders and migrants have brought new languages to Norwich including Old Norse, Norman French, Hebrew, Dutch, and, more recently, languages as diverse as Polish and Cantonese. Professor Joby examines who spoke these languages, to whom, and with what consequences.