Norwich – Chambers Cocktail Company (Two Julians)

This was the seventh pub on our perambulation around Norwich, the former Lawyer pub on Wensum Street. I would note that this was the end of the formal part of our endeavours (we are very precise with our study days) and we then went to the White Lion and Artichoke who are both due a separate write-up on another day. As they often are, https://norfolkpubs.co.uk/ have been very useful at trying to unpick the history of this venue and its previous names:

1831 – 1972 : The Grapes
1972 – 1977 : Silver Dollar
1977 – 1980? : Silver Jubilee
1980 – 1996 : The Lawyer
1996 – 2004 : The Fugitive and Firkin
2004 – 2018 : The Lawyer
2018 – 2025 : Chambers Cocktail Company

If it were my choice, which I accept that it isn’t, I think I’d rather they’d stuck with their historic name of the Grapes, but more in a moment about why it felt appropriate to get rid of that. The building interior has been quite knocked about internally over the decades, but it’s known to have had an alcohol licence from the early 1830s and perhaps earlier than that. I have no idea what possessed them to change the name to the Silver Dollar, it sounds like some Las Vegas casino and I’m not sure that Wensum Street has ever really been about that. The building owners are a little different to many pubs in the city, it was effectively what would now be called free trade until 1932 when it became owned by Backs and then it was taken over by Henekeys in 1952 before returning to free trade. Then it was purchased by Ind Coope and it became owned by the De’ath family in 2004 when the Lawyer name was restored.

I’m having unusual problems with the history of this pub as it’s hardly appearing in any historic records other than as a wine vaults, a wine wholesaler or wine merchants, so I’m wondering if this really was ever much of a pub and it was more of a place where wine was sold. That would fit the name of the pub and it’s unusual lack of a brewery owner, along with the rather obvious fact that it isn’t shown as a pub on any Victorian maps. Backs and Henekeys were also wine merchants, so I don’t think that they had many drinkers of beer in here until the 1970s. I’m sure many other pub experts could have told me all that, but I’m merrily defining the history of this building as being heavily based around wine with beer being a recent addition to proceedings.

There was a member of door staff, but he proffered a friendly welcome and the atmosphere was rather quieter than the Wetherspoons over the road that we’d just come from. There’s no real ale, but there’s the beer board and I tried to order the Foghorn from Brewpoint, but they had sold out. The service was friendly and immediate, with customers being served in turn. Incidentally, the lack of real ale is a relatively new thing, in 1987 the ‘Best Pubs of Great Britain’ book reported that they had four beers which included Adnams Bitter, Courage Best Bitter and two guests.

For the second time in the evening I went for the Alpacalypse from Salt Brewery, which was still light and hoppy, being rather pleasant. Incidentally, that’s not the bubbles from the keg beer, it’s because the glass is just a little dirty (or has some soap residue or similar) and the bubbles are sticking to the side.

Oooh, craft beer. There’s no food offered here, but this drinks list is extensive.

I fear that the venue and I have rather different definitions of craft beer. And although that might sound snobbish, the majority of pubs along Wensum Street and Magdalen Street have a better range of craft beers than here, so it seems a little strange to me that they are defining themselves in this way. Incidentally though, their prices are towards the middle of the scale and aren’t over-priced, so there’s a positive.

The bar which I think I can say was frequented by a rather different audience to that of the Glass House which is opposite, but that perhaps fits in with the historic situation of it primarily selling wine rather than beer. The bar looks quite old and traditional, but it’s actually a modern reproduction which was installed here in the 1980s. It was clean and comfortable, the music was at an appropriate level and the vibe felt informal and welcoming.

The venue is focused on cocktails, although there are some clues to that from their name, and there’s an extensive list of those. The cocktail I like would be something I think I would call the Emperor’s Single Tear of Golden Ambrosia which is a craft beer served with nothing else other than a theatrical flourish, I don’t need multiple ingredients in my ideal drink. Anyway, I digress. I’m not the venue’s target demographic here as I assume they’re going for a refined audience that wants to have a more decadent experience rather than someone that is seeking craft beer or real ale served alongside some Wotsits. However, it’s evident that their model is working as they’ve been trading for seven years and it seemed reasonably busy when we were there, so they’re doing well to keep the pub going.