The Honingham Buck

Like virtually all beer lovers, whenever I go away, I always like to find a decent pub or bar. After checking into your hotel, apartment or guest house, there’s something both special and exciting about going out for that first evening stroll, eager to discover what your new location has to offer, especially when it comes to discovering somewhere a bit special, where you can enjoy a few beers.

This has been my "modus operandi" every time I go away, but to make virtually certain that that first pub or bar in  new town or city is all that I wish for, I normally do a spot of research first. That way I am seldom disappointed, and it is here that publications like the Good Beer Guide, or its international equivalent, comes into its own.

So does a quick trip up to Norfolk, accompanied by one’s nearest and dearest, still qualify for such pre-planning? Answer, of course it does, perhaps even more so when time is limited and you’re attempting to squeeze in as much as possible.

Now I don’t have a current Good Beer Guide, at least in paper form, but I do have CAMRA’s inter-active Good Beer Guide App on my phone, and whilst I didn’t manage to find anything to spark my interest when I looked at home, the “Search by location” feature really came into its own once we were settled into our hotel, on the western fringes of Norwich.

The pub which came up was the Honingham Buck, an attractive looking pub in the heart of the village of Honingham, and Google Maps indicated that it was just six minutes drive from where we were staying. We went and checked it out on the drive over to see dad, primarily so I could get a few decent photos of the exterior, during the hours of daylight. The Buck is a traditional long, low building with a white-painted, rendered exterior and the sort of red pantiled roof which is so typical of this part of the country. We didn’t venture inside but, liking what we saw, took the decision to return that evening.

Now it has to be said that Mrs PBT’s isn’t much of a pub person, and reminded me of this as we walked from the car park to the entrance at the front of the pub. “I’m surprised we ever got married,” was another pearl of wisdom, as we approached the door, conveniently forgetting that opposites attract. How else would you explain over 30 years of togetherness?

Once inside, we quickly noticed that the Buck has been lovingly restored and sensitively modernised to a high standard, so that it still retains the feel of a traditional village local. There are slate floors, oak beams and stylish furniture, plus a new bar. A separate restaurant area and large garden complete the package. This work was carried out by Lacons Brewery of Great Yarmouth, when they acquired the pub in 2015; the Buck being the company’s first tied house in over 50 years.

Given the wintry weather outside, it was heartening to find a welcoming fire, blazing away in the wood-burner, but it was radiating so much heat that we chose to sit well way from it. When we arrived, there was just the one solitary drinker sat at the bar. I don’t wish to stereotype, but we couldn’t help noticing, over the course of our relatively short stay, that this customer  sounded very much like the pub bore. The barman certainly seemed glad when a party of women entered, complete with suitcases. They had booked rooms for the night, and after being shown to their accommodation, the ladies returned for a drink as well as taking the inevitable “selfies”.

We were sat in the adjoining restaurant section, but I could see through into the main bar area, where the pub bore was offering his expert opinion on log burners and the best type of wood to burn. The visitors ignored him, too wrapped up in their own conversation and sharing photos on their phones.

We had already looked at the menu online, back at the hotel, and had taken the decision not to eat at the Buck. There was anything wrong with the food offering, but it did seem a little upmarket from the pub-grub we were looking for. Also my non-pub-going wife had taken a fancy to one or two of the offerings back at Table Table, next to the Premier Inn.

As mentioned above, the Honingham Buck is a Lacons tied house, and three of the company’s cask beers were available on Saturday evening. I opted for the 4.0% ABV Legacy, a well-hopped blonde ale and one that I have enjoyed on previous visits to East Anglia. Also available was the slightly weaker Encore, a 3.8% ABV amber ale, plus a seasonal beer whose name escapes me.

We didn’t stay too long, as Mrs PBT’s was getting hungry. I made a note to return on future trips to Norfolk, and also to look into the possibility of staying the night  there.

Footnote: Lacons Brewery was founded in 1760, and was based in the seaside town of Great Yarmouth. The brewery developed into quite a sizable concern over the years, and in 1952, the directors decided to float the company on the stock market.

This attracted the attention of Whitbread, who bought Lacons for £3.2 million in 1965. Three years later, Whitbread decided to shut down the brewery, bringing to an end, over 200 years of brewing in the town. The Lacons story could have ended there, but in 2009 Mick Carver and Trevor Hourican of JV Trading, a drinks distributor based in Lowestoft, started working to secure the rights to the Lacons name and bring brewing back to Great Yarmouth.

After acquiring suitable premises in the town, Lacons was re-launched in May 2013. The beers are brewed suing the original Lacons’ yeast, a sample of which had been deposited in 1957, at the Norwich-based National Collection of Yeast Cultures, as a backup in case their own cultures got contaminated. 

Initially, the brewery concentrated on producing three new permanent beers both bottled and draught as well as introducing some seasonal beers. The company has extended the beer range to include some original Lacons recipes, in its heritage range. These beers are modern interpretations of historic recipes, dating back to the beginning of the last century.