Norwich – King William IV (Two Julians)

The King William IV pub is located at 33 Quebec Road in the Thorpe Hamlet area of the city and was the first in our latest perambulation.

The pub is in elevated position which is why Julian used his electric bike to get there and I reminded myself that the city council needs to do more removing some of these hills which really slow down walking times. There was originally a shepherd’s cottage on this site which would have likely been used by the shepherd tending his furry flock on the nearby Mousehold Health.

The first mention of the pub was in 1834, although it was likely trading a little before that. However, it’s named after the Monarch who was King between 1830 and 1837, so I imagine that it must have opened under this name between 1830 and 1834. It was also known as the William IV Tavern and Tea Gardens, making it sound like a cafe where Norwich residents rewarded themselves after climbing up there. It was a Youngs, Crawshay & Youngs pub for most of the Victorian period, before later becoming part of the Bullards, Watney Mann and then Norwich Brewery estates. Julian and I were talking yesterday about holding political meetings in pubs and this one was used by the Liberal Party in the late nineteenth century for their meetings, so there’s a little political history here.

The naming of the venue initially seem a little unclear to me, there are references to the William IV pub and also the Mousehold Tea Gardens throughout the period between the 1830s and 1890s, but the landlord seems the same and so the name seems a little interchangeable. However, a newspaper article in 1885 notes that “the King William IV public house is better known as Mousehold Tea Gardens” which explains the situation. In that same article, there’s a rather gruesome report about the deep well that was located in the pub’s beer garden. It was noted “in the afternoon that water from the well was unfit for use” and the reason for this soon became clear, a lady called Harriet Meens had fallen into it and died. The inquest decided that it was suicide and I imagine it put people off using the water for some time.

The Norfolk News mentioned in 1886 that Robert Baldry, a Tombland auctioneer, had been instructed to sell the household furniture of the outgoing landlord of the Mousehold Tea Gardens, namely George Randall Laws. In September 1847, it was reported that John Whitlam had died at his home in the morning after he fell down his stairs. The inquest noted that he had “been jovially regaling himself the previous evening at the Mousehold Tea Gardens”, so I think we can establish what might have happened there.

I’ve already mentioned one suicide that happened at the pub, but this story is from the EDP in April 1897:

“TRAGIC AFFAIR AT THORPE – SCENE IN TELEGRAPH LANE.

About half-past ten yesterday morning a man, named Charles Hudson, aged 38, of 95, St. Leonard’s Road, Thorpe Hamlet, made a determined attempt to take his own life in the presence of his son, a lad aged twelve years. It appears that Hudson, who was in the employ of the Great Eastern Railway, had been unwell for the past few days, and his wife is also seriously ill. In consequence of the condition of his wife, he slept on Thursday night in an arm chair downstairs. Shortly after ten yesterday morning he left the house. His son, knowing that he had been queer in his mind, at once left the house to follow his father up. Hudson, after walking along St. Leonard’s Road, turned into Telegraph Lane, and when about 100 yards from his house produced a shoemaker’s knife from his pocket and commenced cutting his throat. The little fellow pluckily attempted to get the knife away from his father, but failing in his efforts at once ran off to the house of a man named Phillips, who lives close by, and informed him of what was taking place. Phillips immediately ran to the spot, and knocked the knife out of Hudson’s hand, but the unfortunate man had by that time inflicted a severe gash in his throat, and was bleeding profusely, a large pool of blood marking the spot where he had stood. Very shortly Police-constable Whall came upon the scene, and the man’s neck having been roughly bound up, James Ellis, the landlord of the King William IV, public-house was communicated with, and he immediately put his pony in a trap and drove the unfortunate man, who was unable to speak, to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. There his injuries were dressed by the medical staff, and he was placed in one of the wards. On inquiry at the Hospital we were informed that Hudson was in a very precarious condition.”

James Ellis was landlord of the pub for around 15 years at the end of the nineteenth century and bless that poor lad who did what he could.

The area in the late nineteenth century was becoming more residential. The pub is the PH in the middle of the above map, all at a time when Mousehold Heath was finding itself getting smaller and smaller.

Back to the present day and was perhaps not the best first thing to see and I don’t know what’s happened here.

The beer options were a little wider than I expected, although there was no real ale. The prices were, slightly surprisingly perhaps, towards the higher end of the scale. I was served out of turn, but a different server came along and she was helpful and efficient. In terms of the atmosphere, this was I would say the most vibrant atmosphere that we’ve encountered inside a venue, but it’s always positive to see a pub with lots of customers. I’m slightly less excited about showing game shows on a large TV behind the bar, but each to their own I guess.

There is a large beer garden and we escaped to this for a quieter al fresco drinking experience as the noise volume was a touch higher than we would have liked. Julian is a party animal at heart, but there are limits to even his earthiness.

It’s a beautiful building with some period features, although the smoking shelter doesn’t perhaps entirely blend in.

There’s a little BBQ element as well, I can imagine that this proves popular in the summer months. It’s possible to hire the entire venue for parties and they also have rooms upstairs which are quite expensive, but are well reviewed.

The beer was the Alpacalypse from Salt Brewery which I had in their Leeds taproom a couple of weeks ago. It’s light, juicy, tropical and very drinkable.

It’s an interesting venue and I think it would have been a somewhat different experience if we hadn’t visited on a Friday night. There are a couple of pool tables and a darts board, with the pub having a community feel to it. It’s probably not the place to visit for a quiet drink, but it’s obviously hitting the mark at getting trade in which is a happy experience for any pub at the moment.