Norwich – Rumsey Wells (Two Julians)
This was the third pub on the latest perambulation around Norwich that Julian and I undertook last week as a service for the people of Norfolk and Suffolk (and indeed beyond) as we continue our attempts to straddle the Waveney. I confess we haven’t done much straddling lately, but never write us off as we are brave enough to return to Suffolk for brief periods at a time.
I have digressed though. The history of the pub is complex, although it has transpired that Julian once again remembered its recent past correctly (he hasn’t entirely lost it just yet), and effectively the pub was originally the building on the right. It then lost that bit on the corner which is now a shop, but which was the main bar, but then gained the relatively large building in the middle which was a hat outfitters. George Plunkett has a rather lovely photo of the front door from 1938. There’s also a photo in his archive from 1989 which shows what is now a separate shop, but the old name remained it appears for the new shop.
The historic pub bit of the building had opened as a wine and spirits shop, operated by Ward & Fisher (later Ward & Seaman), in the early 1820s and in 1829 the owners offered the lease for sale and noted the substantial cellars and premises that the wine merchants were operating from. The building became a pub in the later Victorian period which was known as the Shrub House and it was taken over by Lacons in 1896. In the 1970s, the corner section was lost to become a shop and the pub closed in 1979 for a few years. In 1984 it opened in its expanded form and was renamed the Blueberries and then became known as the Rumsey Wells between 1985 and 1989. It was then renamed again (I wish they’d stop doing this to pubs as it always sounds like they’ve having some identity crisis) to St. Andrew’s Tavern, but reverted once again to the Rumsey Wells in 2008. Hopefully they’ll just leave it like this now.
The new bit of the pub. This is the former shop area which was historically run by Herbert Rumsey Wells (1877-1937) and he was rewarded by having the pub name after him. He was by all accounts something of an eccentric hatter and his family business dated back to the early nineteenth century. Visible in the above photo, this was the Wells & Son hat shop that became part of the pub in 1984. Between 1984 and 1989, the pub was run by Colin Keatley, who went on to do great things at the Fat Cat. Back to Rumsey Wells, I mentioned that he was eccentric as I got that impression from the obituary put in the local newspaper in December 1937:
“Norwich has lost a picturesque personality by the death at his home in St. Andrew’s Street, on Wednesday, of Mr. Herbert Rumsey Wells. He was 60 years of age. With his “doggy” cap, large Inverness cape, snuffbox, and sometimes a monocle, he must have been known to many thousands of his fellow-citizens, and he was almost as well known in most of the big cities and towns of the British Isles. It was his boast that he was the most expensive cap maker in the world. He travelled the country on behalf of his firm from Land’s End to John o’Groat’s and it certainly could be said that he was his own walking advertisement.”
You’ve got to have some confidence to say that you’re the most expensive in the world…..
The pub today is operated by Adnams, which might be obvious when looking at the beer options. The service from the team member was efficient and polite, although it’s a little difficult here as they have a split bar and I know from past experience that it’s hard for them to see who is waiting next. Everything seemed well managed, although there were some uncovered sausage rolls that were looking a bit lost and vulnerable at the end of the bar, like pastry orphans awaiting adoption. For the truly forensic photo inspectors, they can spot them in the earlier photo, assuming they have the time and, frankly, the inclination for such detailed sausage roll scrutiny.
The old bit of the pub is visible behind the glass. The beer inside the glass is the Double Ghost IPA from Adnams, not a beer that I’ve heard of before, but it was rather lovely with a malty, slight toffee flavour which was balanced and smooth. The beer was well-kept and served in an appropriate branded glass, not something that’s essential but I do try and mention it positively.
The food offer here is Pieminister (which I keep calling Pieminster in error) and they had a selection of pies available at prices that weren’t unreasonable. It’s an interesting food franchise, it keeps an option open for customers, without having the huge kitchen and salary costs of a larger operation.
The venue is a rather agreeable one, although it’s not one that I visit at all regularly. The pricing was somewhere around average and the pub was clean and organised, with a slightly studenty vibe going on. I didn’t visit them on this occasion, but they have a little courtyard area available and I think there’s a basement bar which is in operation when it gets busier. Anyway, the pub had some interesting beer choices and a quirky building history, so all rather lovely.
