1. : Closed Pub
A pub which closed in July 1948 was demolished
in connection with two, adjacent projects for
dual-carriageway roads.
It was the Bull Inn,
which was on the Eastern side of
St. Stephen's Street, and was involved in the
Norwich Union re-development and major widening
of that street. It was also very close to
the large roundabout on the Inner Ring Road.
Eight pubs mentioned below were all trading until
such time as they were needed for road-widening.
2. : The Route
The 8 lost pubs directly relating to the Inner Ring Road
are now listed geographically; travelling Westwards
from St. Catherine's Plain.
- The Lame Dog
was the easternmost pub affected.
Demolished soon after November 1975,
it was the last of the pubs to perish.
Its relevance to the Ring Road was minimal at that
stage, but it would not have survived the more recent
(21st Century), and much more drastic, widenings.
- The Great Eastern,
the Bull Inn (referred to above)
and the Trumpet were all in the ambit of the large
St. Stephen's roundabout.
The original Trumpet might possibly have survived,
but the brewery seized an opportunity to re-build
on a much larger scale, in 1963.
The Great Eastern closed in May 1962
and was not replaced.
- The Volunteer Stores
was fairly near the top of
Grapes Hill and was closed in 1963 or 1964.
Much nearer the top of Grapes Hill was the
St. Giles' Gate Stores, closed in February 1965.
- The Paul Pry
was on the other (Western) side of
Grapes Hill but survived until March 1967.
Almost opposite was the Bull & Butcher,
just into Pottergate; closed in November 1963.
^Top^
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3. : End of Stage
Needless to say, the last five pubs mentioned were
also demolished, probably all of them by early-1967.
On a happier note, the schedule in para. 2 covers the
route all the way to the site of the former City Station
and the next massive roundabout on the Inner Ring Road.
No pubs were lost in Barn Road, and the
post-WWII re-built Barn Tavern survived.
The route we have covered so far has been governed
by the line of the City Walls, as indicated in the
page-title above.
The next Ring Road stage was East of the
River Wensum, by Oak Street; and the
casualties of this stretch, including the flyover,
are dealt with separately.
4. : Pub Sites
Firstly, we should mention the Grapes Hotel
(c.1950 build).
This was spared in the 1960s (along with the Tuns,
now Temple Bar), as the demolitions of the
St. Giles' Gate Stores and Volunteer Stores
took place on the opposite, Eastern flank.
There may have been small modifications to the Grapes,
at the time; but these have since been made irrelevant,
as the whole pubsite has been cleared for recent
housing redevelopment.
Secondly, there were - of course - sites of
former pubs which disappeared.
Starting, as before, from St. Catherine's Plain we have :-
- 3 pubs on Queen's Road : closed in 1879/1880
for redevelopments, along the line of the Walls :-
Earl of Leicester : Brickmakers' Arms : Golden Lion.
- The original Lame Dog in Queen's Road,
which closed in July 1870.
- By the present St. Stephen's roundabout :
Royal Victoria and EUR.
They closed in 1895 and 1925 respectively.
- By the Dereham Road intersection : The Omnibus
- destroyed in WWII.
The Fountain (also sadly destroyed in WWII) might
otherwise have just escaped the bulldozer in the late-1960s.
- By the Heigham Street junction : sites of
Rose & Thistle and Railway Stores
were both spared by widening the road
on the Eastern side.
Nevertheless the Eagle, too, was probably far
enough away from the new road to have avoided
a theoretical demolition.
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