Attleborough – London Tavern (Two Julians)

This post is also available at www.norfolksuffolk.org.uk where our back catalogue of posts about pubs in Norfolk and Suffolk can be found  🙂

The London Tavern has been surprising and delighting the denizens of Attleborough since the 1830s. Norfolk Pubs has some history about how the landlords were playing a bit fast and loose during the World Wars, in 1916 they were failing to close their premises to soldiers and during the Second World War there were repeated breaches of blackout rules.

It would be wrong of me not to mention in passing that there was something of an absence of welcome when we entered, although we were left sufficiently entertained as the member of bar staff decided that she was going to go into detail with other customers about matters that I cannot possibly write about for fear of spoiling this blog’s PG rating. I don’t mind listening to more personal information than I could possibly know what to do with, but it meant that we were just standing waiting to be served for a few minutes which was a little sub-optimal as no-one was being served. But, the venue itself seemed inviting enough and it had attracted quite a number of characters so Julian was entirely in his element. A well run pub really should have an element of theatre about it, I was sensing that Julian was near to writing one of his theatre reviews with the amount of material being provided to us.

The vibe of the venue is perhaps evident from this review and the pub’s response:

“Got covered in dog slime from owners dog then it did a dump beside me which left there”

Got the rather elegant reply of:

“We are very sorry that you witnessed an extremely disturbing and upsetting incident in our garden approximately 9.4 meters from where you sat. We thank you for bringing the incident to our staff and customers attention and the world at large, hopefully in doing so it will help others never experience such an awful totally preventable occurrence.

However we must thank you for how you relaid the incident it was extremely useful for our new 18yr old barmaid having only been in the role for 5 days it gave her – her first opportunity to experience an irate customer and learn from it, sadly you left so abruptly she/we never got the opportunity to apologise to you in person.

It’s also unfortunate it would seem that Steve missed you by only a few moments as he went outside via one door whilst you entered by another so he also missed the opportunity to apologise to you in person. However as he was out there so quickly he was able to apologise to those customers still in the garden for your foul mouthed outburst you directed at them and thankfully turn it into a light hearted moment.

We are grateful for the constructive criticism and we will discuss her bad manners with her and actively look at ways we can prevent this type of incident happening again. We totally appreciate that you will never wish to visit again so will take this opportunity to offer you our sincere apologies.”

I think that’s a fair reply  🙂

They had one real ale, which was the Iceni Queenie from Steam Shed Brewing of Swaffham, a well kept golden ale. At the appropriate temperature and an interesting beer that I haven’t had before, so all was well there. They did brew their own beer, Taylor’s Brewery, on site but this stopped during lockdown and hasn’t yet restarted although there are plans to do so at some stage.

Julian enjoying the atmosphere, which had a considerable climate of activity to keep him absorbed in people watching. I can’t possibly go into too much detail, but Julian even got the attention of Facebook with his commentary on what he saw. What more praise could a pub want?

There wasn’t much pub activity in the centre of Attleborough on the Saturday evening that we visited, it was here and the Griffin which were open for our entertainment. I think it’s fair to say that for those want a lively and noisy atmosphere, go for this one, there’s likely always going to be something happening. The welcome could have been a bit more immediate, but we were in no hurry and the pub was kept clean and tidy. Definitely something of a community hub and the place to party, the number of customers suggests that they’re doing something right so worth popping into for anyone who happens to be passing by.