Norwich – Maddermarket Theatre Bar

James, my cultural guru friend, seems to have visited every location in Norwich and he’s familiar with the Maddermarket Theatre which is all a bit decadent for me. My last theatre visit was to see the comedian Tom Rosenthal at Norwich Playhouse and I can’t recall ever going to the Maddermarket Theatre before. The theatre itself is just over 100 years old, founded in 1921 by Walter Nugent Monck. As an aside, it’s a shame that people feel the need to tag graffiti on historic buildings, it’s a tragic waste of resources to have to remove them.

We were the only customers in the bar area who weren’t seeing a performance, making it all quiet and peaceful. The performance had started just before I took this photo, it had been busier before then.

Some sort of design elements on the wall.

The bar has a range of books visible underneath the Plexiglass, or whatever it’s called.

I didn’t realise until after ordering that they had some Adnams keg beers on, I’m not sure how I missed those but it is an oddly designed Adnams beer font so that’s the excuse I’ll have to use. I went for the generic and average Camden Hells Lager, which at least wasn’t hugely over-priced which was a positive. I don’t like these fiddly little glasses which make spillages more likely, but that’s a comment on Camden Town Brewery rather than the Maddermarket.

All told, I’m not sure that the bar is worth going out of the way for, but at least they’ve made an effort with some keg beers. The surroundings are laid-back and comfortable, with no evident sign of the huge fallout there has been recently at the theatre with staff and trustees leaving. I’m not sure what evident sign I had might have expected, perhaps a little bit of theatrical fighting at the entrance or something. Anyway, it was an inviting place to sit for an hour or so, and perhaps I might go and actually see something at the Maddermarket at some point.