NORWICH - c/d s&d, etc.

All city centres should be pedestrianised, and thus Norwich outs itself as a "sleeper" progressive city, once again.

Burma as in Myanmar

It seemed quite nice.

A jaunty Dr Robert comeback single came on the radio on our way home.

It was found to be the most racist town in Britain.

I returned once to see the new sports centre. I took my mother in law.

When I still lived in Ipswich I used to pop up a fair bit for gigs, and they have probably the best record shops in East Anglia (not saying much, however). The place seems to have stagnated a bit in the last 10 years, with less variety in the city centre, but overall If I was forced to live in East Anglia again I would probably have to choose Naaaridge despite their funny speaking ways, too many toes, and laughable “have a little scrimmage” song.

So, overall, dussic.

http://www.the-dot.org/node?from=45

is truly the worst blog evereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverevereverever

Destroy: Well, pretty much everything else. Dull as ditchwater town centre. Pikey/racist/wife-beating/drink-driving culture. Kaito.

I did film as a minor and remember doing an interminable seminar on silent comedy, led by a German guy (Peter something?) who had no discernable sense of humour. I also remember Higson getting very upset when all the students took the piss out 60s avantgarde cinema he loved. I did a course with Audrey Medhurst and he dissed me for wearing a Sugarcubes t-shirt. He was a sweetie, however.

I have very fond memories of Norwich:

* the Dolphin pub down near the river at the end of Old Palace Road;
* Pizza One and Pancakes Two;
* Cinema City;
* the pitch and putt course;
* Sunday lunches in pubs around the Golden Triangle.

I don't miss Fifer's Lane, however.

Liked the museum in the castle in the centre. It had a stuffed capercaillie. I had not heard of this monster grouse previously.

Bands? I know of 2 bands from Norwich - Kaito and Bearsuit. I have seen both live - liked the first, hated the latter.

Adam - your film MA pal isn't T0m L4ngl4nd5, is it?
no, it isn't. The name sounds familiar.

Higson got very upset when people walked out during Wavelength. He also gave me a fascinating private lecture on the rich tradition of Finnish "log films", epic working class family dramas that often take place primarily on logs floating down wide Scandinavian rivers.

"He had an astonishing haircut in 1990 - I think he inspired Sideshow Bob."

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Oh, and the LCR. Looking as grim and grey as I remember...

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i love these, pinefox

Daytripping in Norwich next month on the way from Edinburgh via Alton Towers on the way to Stalham to see family. Much worth seeing? Last time I was in Norwich I went to Maplin, a book shop were my bro bought a copy of The Wire, and sat in a pub for a couple of hours. Couldn't even tell you which one.

Thank you Remy Bean, I appreciate that.

One day in Norwich = lots to see, if you want it.

Cathedral + Castle are top of the proper sights charts.

Other parts of the city would mean more to individuals like me who have a Norwich past, might not to others. Castle Meadow's bus stops for instance. But still, many could be interested in

Carrow Road
The riverside walk to and from it, if still accessible
Adam & Eve pub, near river and cathedral I think
Catholic Cathedral immense at end of Earlham Road, by footbridge over rushing cars of Grapes Hill
Chapelfield Gardens, Eaton Park are nice enough if you want a park
UEA is a significant site of architecture
Sainsbury Centre at UEA ditto and has art and exhibitions
Norwich Market is venerable and local
North of the market, nowadays called 'the lanes': trad medieval streets of interesting shops
including Head in the Clouds, UK's first head shop (whatever that is really)

Pubs: tremendous. I was amazed at the range and quality of real ales here, vs any town I can think of.

Bookshops: Ellis (old and great), Bookhive (new and acclaimed).

Overall I would say that if you have any inclination at all to find a medieval English town interesting and attractive, you will like this one. If you're just not into such places at all, you might not.

(I could recommend 5 or 10 pubs in particular)

The Alexandra
Eaton Cottage
The Plough
The Reindeer
Golden Star
Wildman

10 Bells (though beer less great)
Bike Shop + Workshop are recommended, haven't been in
+ Adam & Eve

The Plough is a key place to look out for if in city centre - new, make their own good beer I think, with big garden

Alexandra is among the pick further out West

Cool cool. I'll definitely wander by Carrow road, but hopefully we'll have made automatic promotion by then, and not stuck in the playoffs (though, potential to pay crazy amounts of money for a playoff ticket...). Expect it will mostly be a day of wandering about the town - of all my childhood trips to Norwich I don't remember ever going to the cathedral - then pubs.

You're a Norwich City supporter?

Yip, born in Norwich, but never really lived there. So they're my team :)

wildman is great, but i also used to love murderer's. it's nearly as old as adam and eve, and a bit more convenient.

I think it's the first Norwich pub I ever drank in - so it has a bit of a special place for me; and I like its little hillside location. Went back there one Saturday in 2002 as I recall.

Look it up online though, and you'll see it's become a bit confusing - now has two names, and apparently a load of murderer gear, which is probably not necessary.

Think I only ever went in the Wildman once - and in those days it was two words, Wild Man!

Actually barely ever been in Adam & Eve.

Tombland pubs OK if not too crowded? Mischief, Edith Cavell I think, Lawyer used to be there, Ribs of Beef. One or two fond memories of those; but might just be average pubs now.

The fact that you can have this discussion about Norwich, though, tells you a lot about the place.

Where else compares, for quantity, number, quality, character of pubs / bars?

OK, London - or parts of it, the City for instance.
New York, ditto: maybe LE Side, Brooklyn.
Glasgow, the West End, possibly
and of course, Dublin is a special case.
And Paris is good for brasseries, wine bars.

But those are all bigger cities. Compare Norwich to Northampton, Exeter, even Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh - I reckon it would come out well ahead on pubs for its size (with quality of beer and character of pub in mind, again).

Cambridge and Oxford seem like decent alternative contenders.

So I think I'm coming here in April, which I seem to find funny since 99% of everything I know about Norwich is from Alan Partridge.

First question, has the city centre actually been pedestrianised?