1. : Introduction
This page takes the form of
an annotated index to certain other pages :-
- Sections A - D of Demise of the Pubs
[listed under Main Menu 3. ]
- Section C of Renewal of the Pubs
[listed under Main Menu 4. ]
- other selected texts from Special Topics
[listed under Main Menu 5. ]
The intention is to work to a "time-line"
throughout, as closely as possible.
2. : The 19th Century
Demolitions done for the new Exchange Street
(1828 - 1832) and Prince of Wales Road (1862),
are referenced in Section A : Roads.
However, the net effect of the former was quite small;
and the latter was almost entirely positive, as regards
numbers of pubs.
The "high water-mark" of Norwich pubs
was around the mid-1870s.
Paragraphs 6 and 7 of the Pub Numbers page
trace the decline from then[1]
Paragraph 5 of Licensing Rules outlines the
"squeeze" on breweries from 1872[2] when
opening new pubs - at the expense of old ones.
These constraints only 'faded out' after 100 years or so.
Also see paragraphs 2 and 4 of Section B : Re-developments,
regarding industrial growth within the City Walls.
Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Section D : Trade relate to
the late-Victorian expansion of City housing, and
consequent loss of pubs within the City Walls -
what was left of them. (The Walls, that is).
[1] until quite recently ...sorry about the overlap !
[2] There was a Licensing Act in August 1872.
3. : Brave New World
Demolitions in connection with the tramway system
took place in the last few years of the century,
and the service opened in 1900 exactly. Luckily,
the majority of destroyed/damaged pubs was re-built.
The Compensation Act of 1904 is explained in
Paragraph 6 of Licensing Rules.
The Act resulted in approx. 139 closures prior to 1942.
Slum-clearance programs began in the early 1920s,
and pubs were far from immune.
See paragraph 3 of Section B : Re-developments.
Big changes in the heart of the City, from the
early 1930s, involved a new Fire Station, City Hall
and Memorial Gardens (the latter re WWI), plus a
greatly expanded Provision Market.
Rather bizarrely, this subject is dealt-with
under Section A
: Roads.
Licensed facilities in the Market area have
never recovered from these Municipal projects;
not to mention all the destruction of WWII,
which followed almost immediately.
The following paragraph (3.) in that Section mentions
the rape of Pockthorpe (Barrack Street), and other
ancient streets, under the slum-clearance programs
of the 1920s and 1930s.
4. : After the War
The takeover and closure of Youngs' & Crawshay's
Brewery in 1958 was a catastrophic and seminal
moment. It presaged the complete upheaval of the
brewing industry in the City.
Paradoxically, the resume - taking things to 1985 -
is at para. 4 of Renewal of the Pubs : Section C.
Slum-clearance resumed in the early 1960s,
under Clearance Orders sometimes as long
overdue as from 1938.
Paragraphs 6 and 7 of Section B
: Re-developments
relate; also Section A : Roads, paragraph 7,
re the Ber Street/ King Street area.
Paragraph 6 of Section D : Trade Conditions is,
perhaps, a little pessimistic about the 1950s.
But certainly by the early 1960s - just mentioned -
social factors were threatening the future of many pubs.
More entertainment at home was one big factor,
see Paragraph 2. of Demise of the Pubs,
Section C : Leisure Facilities.
The Bystanders' Society survey in 1961 was superbly
timed, from the point of view of current social changes,
and was held immediately prior to another local
brewery closure.
Towards the end of that decade, pubs with 'spare'
land (bowling greens etc.) were targetted for
"in-fill" housing.
See para. 4 of Leisure Facilities, mentioned above.
This phenomenon is currently being matched by
developers targetting (almost any) pubs, but especially
those with large car-parks or beer-gardens,
5. : Brewery Retrenchment
Also in the very early 1960s (yet again...)
breweries began to close their pubs at an
alarming rate; as being "uneconomic".
The later Chapman Survey, para. 2, details the closures;
mainly, but not exclusively, those in the decade
1962 - 1971.
The 'economy' factor of pubs, as alleged, cannot be
separated from the ongoing breweries-consolidation
process, and the (temporary) monopoly situation
already referred to in Renewal of the Pubs : Section C.
Moves to "rationalise" the estates of tied pubs,
prior to the Watney monopoly (1967), are detailed
on a separate page.
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6. : Traffic Problems
It was also in the 1960s - with everything else
going on - that the demands of traffic pre-occupied
the Town Planners.
The Roads Section : Section A now becomes
highly relevant.
Ad-hoc widenings and straightenings were just the tip of
the ice-berg; but several pubs were lost in the process -
see Paragraph 4.
Making St. Stephen's Street a dual-carriageway was a
project conceived in the 1950s and completed by 1963.
The (literally) connected project, the new
Inner Ring Road, entailed the destruction of far more
pubs, nearly all of which had succumbed by circa 1967.
See Paragraphs 5 and 6 re both these major schemes.
7. : Some Stability?
The Watney takeovers, and arrival of brewers
Courage and Whitbread, as outlined in para. 6
of The Norwich Breweries, led to
a period of comparative tranquility :
perhaps "the peace of the graveyard"?
There is a shortage of evidence for the period c. 1975
to 1990, mainly because Kelly's (local) Directories
ceased production after 1975.
Fortunately, we have recourse to the Chapman Survey
of 1984, already mentioned, and the 1991 Pub Guide,
surveyed in mid-1990.
8. : 1990s to date
There is a Recent Trends page, which charts
events from mid-1990 to the present time.
It contains the following sobering statement :-
The Norwich Branch of CAMRA estimate that,
in the last 20 years, up to 2007, a third of
Norwich pubs have closed.
However, events are currently moving faster than ever,
re pub closures; and that page will need frequent revision.
The changes in the Licensing Laws (so-called
"24-hour drinking") took effect in November 2005,
and the Smoking Ban in July 2007.
The combined effect of these laws
has to be considered alongside :-
- steeply rising costs of producing beer;
- increased 'overheads' for pub landlords;
- promised increases in taxation; all resulting in -
- regular price increases at the bar, confronting -
- lower disposable incomes in the last year or two.
^Top^
9. : Latest News
General economic trends in 2008 have prompted this
"pubs" site to acquire a News Bulletin;
which, sadly,
is not a blog which is suitable for readers' contributions.
Pub closures throughout 2009 continued at an alarming
rate, in Norwich and elsewhere. Yet an interesting and
important development, led - in positive fashion - by the
Authorities, took place in the Earlham area concerning
the Fiveways pub.
Insp. Russell Watkins of the Earlham, Larkman
and Marlpit Safer Neighbourhood Team said it was
important the Fiveways was kept open, after the
recent closure of the nearby Grove.
Following the Police raid in October 2009, he said :-
"The thinking was to go for total closure; but with pubs
closing at a fast rate, it was thought if we work with the
pub then hopefully we will get a responsible place
where people can go".
"It was agreed that it would be a good thing for the
pub to open, and the owner and new manager are
really keen to work with us.
All these pubs are lovely old buildings and when you
see them being boarded up the community loses a real
focal point and that, in itself, starts to affect things".
"By keeping something like that it's good and the
feedback is good - they're pleased that we're taking
an interest in their local.
The owner seems to be keen to work with us.
He is working hard there and I feel he's got some
good ideas to bring it out of the doldrums it had
reached with the previous manager".
In future the Police will be regular visitors - carrying out
'on the spot' drugs searches. Also about a dozen of the
SNT team had taken food hygiene exams - so they can
help out at community barbecues held at the pub.
"What we're planning to do is help out with
barbecues and extend that in the neighbourhood",
said Insp. Watkins.
"I'm a firm believer that good food is the way to people's hearts".
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