Early in Covid19 lockdown Roger & I decided to walk into Norwich City centre. It was a beautiful day, we started out early as Roger has to keep out of the sun due to his very pale skin. We walked along Yarmouth Road and down to Thorpe Station. From the Complete Angler Pub we took the riverside walk. Everywhere was deserted. We waved at a couple sitting on the balcony of their townhouse and admired the gardens. Passing Pulls Ferry brought back so many memories of city living. Roger was running Fishers Freehouse in Prince of Wales road when we married in 1970 and when James was born in June 1971 the weather was great, I would push his pram along the Norwich Cathedral Close for him to watch the ducks & swans. Along past Cow Tower where James learned to walk and on to the Adam & Eve Pub. This was our first joint venture. In Autumn 1971 Geoff Fisher sold his Freehouse Fisher’s to Trumans Brewery and whilst they kept Roger on as manager and we were allowed to stay in our fabulous penthouse sadly they reduced his wages and extended his hours. We had heard that the Adam & Eve pub nearby was available as the tenants Rene & Arthur Larke were retiring. We immediately rang Watneys Brewery and asked about the tenancy. We were told the place was derelict and was not to be inhabited especially with a baby. We met with the area manager Mr Gibson. I shall never forget walking into his very grand office, Mr Gibson sat at this enormous desk, Roger plonked James in his papoose on the desk and we took a seat! We took James everywhere as he was only six months old and such a good baby. Mr Gibson explained that the pub was in a very bad state, the roof needed repairing, the pub was not on the main sewage system, no heating other that one electric fire in the public room, and a couple of electric lights. We were not deterred. We persuaded him to let us have the pub rent free for six months, Watneys would do up the pub living accommodation, and repair the roof but we must live in a caravan whilst this was being done as it was not fit for habitation. Nothing was signed it was all a gentleman’s agreement, an ingoing fee of £80 for fixtures, fittings, stock and goodwill, no rent in advance just our word. Many people both friends and family begged us not to risk the move. They thought it madness to leave a comfortable job and home with a young baby but it made us all the more determined to succeed.
We did not have the money to rent a caravan so we did actually live in one room all three of us until after the repairs were all done. This was after Joolia was born in the September 1972. Originally there were two bedrooms. One was reached through the living room at the rear of the property the other was reached from the public rooms near the front door. This bedroom had a tree growing through the roof and was spooky so we didn’t attempt to use it.
On 4th January 1972 we moved in. We packed up all our clothing and few belongings the night before, Roger still had to work the bar, close and cash up Fishers or The Griffin as it was then called. Early the next morning our furniture – just a bed and a sofa & James cot were transported to the Adam by two friends Barry & Mac whilst Roger went to court to get the liquor licence changed over from Arthur Larke to him. That left me to check the flat was clear and pack up. With the help of my best friend Carol we walked from Prince of Wales Road to the Adam & Eve with just two suitcases perched on James Pram and a few heavy bags. Roger arrived at the Adam by opening time 10.30 am and our new life began. The press arrived as we were the youngest couple in the city to take a licence at that time. We both remember that first night. Three of us huddled together after closing trying to sleep after such an exciting day – wondering what on earth we had done. The creaking started and we were spooked!!! Rene had said the place was haunted by Lord Sheffield and our minds ran wild, we soon dropped off to sleep and discovered the next day the creaking was the electric fire cooling down! The pub had no bar. It consisted of three little rooms, stone floors a few settles and tables, smelly brown cushions due to the heavy smoking in those days. Drinks were served by table service from the cellar. We were the last pub in Norwich selling beer from the wood. The toilets were outside across from the pub next to Arthur Sauls woodyard ( now a public car park). I remember Mrs Larke telling me she gave customers the key, a torch & two squares of Izal toilet paper. After a week or so our good friend Barry Howard & my Dad began to dig out the cellar to give us more standing height, dad built us a bar, we took off the cellar door, widened the staircase access put in new steps and hey presto the new cellar bar was open. However this was not as easy as it seemed. After the flagstones and first few bucket loads of soil were removed we were alarmed as human bones were discovered and the police were called in, this held up work for a while whilst the coroner ordered historians to check the age of the skeleton. Thankfully they were found to be very old, probably the remains of a medieval monk prior to 1249 when the site was a monastery cemetery, we believe he was later interred in the Norwich cathedral grounds. Meanwhile the domestic kitchen was another story. It did have a plumbed in sink, it would be fashionable today as a butlers sink, Mrs Larke kindly left me her cooker. Its was bloody useless and I burnt the first thing I ever cooked in it as it didn’t have a regulator. We ordered a new one on account from the gas board. The fitter was about to retire, he said he remembered helping put the old one in when he was an apprentice some 40 years before…..
Mum and Dad donated a little refrigerator from their shop and we got by. We had borrowed £100 from Mum & Dad to get started this helped with all the refurbishment. Mum taught me bookkeeping – at that time it was done in a thin green hard covered book called a Simplex. Wages had to be calculated on paper. Local tax office sent you a booklet with all the tax codes and calculations for you to work out, it worked pretty well. Then VAT was introduced in 1973 it was 10% and replaced purchase tax, we had just got used to decimalisation the year before so it was full on. After a month or so we had to find accommodation for Roger’s Mum & sister Sue who were homeless (Roger’s parents spilt up in September 1971) they had been living with one of Teds brothers but he was moving & they had no where to go. We had no choice but to put them in the other side of the the pub in the room with the leaking roof. It was winter so they must have been freezing and we really worried about them. It was handy though as Betty & Sue would sit in our one warm room and baby sit James so I could work at night in the bar. By this time I realised I was pregnant with Joolia. By the time the alterations to the bedroom layout started Betty & Sue were able to move into her old house in Rosebery Road .
From day one the Adam was a huge success. However that came with problems. One baby and another on the way, the only living room was directly above the cellar bar with a very low ceiling. I had to try keep the children quiet at lunch time as every little movement could be heard and almost felt by customers. James loved to race around on his fire engine too. The beer cellar was right at the back of the pub . Chilled Beer lines did not exist then and beer barrels had to be rolled through the passage past my kitchen down three steps and fitted under the bar, something I was doing right up until Joolia was born. We did not have mains sewage so every month the “honey wagon” would arrive to empty our cess pit. After a couple of months we had to have it emptied every two weeks as we were so busy. I didn’t have a washing machine so every other morning I would load up the pram with the babies to take our washing to the laundromat at the top of Silver Road. Lots of washing in those day as we didn’t have disposable nappies/diapers they were all terry towelling. I was so proud mine were so white.
Eyes raised and some Church goers complained that our new pub sign of a naked Adam & Eve was inappropriate being so near the Cathedral so had to be repainted with the addition of fig leaves on certain parts of their anatomy!!!
A couple of the best barmaids came with us from the Griffin. One of them Lynda was a great help, she would work and I would look after Tracy her daughter and visa versa. Later Lynda was spotted by Jimmy Archer on his return from a night out with his mates. He was of course immediately smitten. They were married shortly after. We made many many friends whilst in the Adam – many are still our great friends today. One day I was cooking jugged hare, Roger had been shooting with his friend Nick Bussey and brought back fresh game for me to skin and cook. A customer asked what the lovely smell was and suggested Roger should sell him his lunch. That was the start of pub food for us and I believe one of the first pubs in Norfolk to serve food. You could of course eat in hotels and we did have Chinese restaurants in Norwich then, also our favourite a lovely little Italian restaurant on Prince of Wales Road “Bon Apetite”, La Bodega in London St, where Roger and I had our first date. Another restaurant I remember was the Europa, was opposite us on Prince of Wales Road. Also the Savoy which was at the time very grand. The very first Indian opened whilst we were at Fishers, I could not believe how hot the curry were!
The next big break we had was the Watneys drayman strike in 1973. A friend brought a lorry load of beer from London for us. We were one of the only pubs in Norwich not to run out of beer. The brewery reps came in and monitored us but there was nothing they could do and even when the strike was over we still had lots of cheaper beer to sell- funny that…….
We bought our first terrace house in Wodehouse Street for £3,500 with a large deposit!
It was hard work though. Roger did every session including cellar work, stocking up, we cleaned the pub ourselves, would do the cash and carry in the afternoons when we were shut ( closed at 2.30 open again at 5.30) . We did pub food every day including Sundays. The children would sit in their high chairs in the kitchen with me. In September just before Joolia was born we were busy enough to have a cook at lunch times so I would only cook on Friday and Saturday nights. The menu would be Steak Dianne and Dover sole Meniuer, they would fly out. Soon there was no room to sit and eat and every night was packed. Sunday nights we had music. Those nights were epic. The Jerrypot Banjo Band, later called the Big Smile Band. Mick & John alias the Murphy Brothers. We inherited a Poetry reading society who met weekly. A young group of friends formed the Kings Army/ Civil War Society and they met regularly at the pub and ran reenactment battles of roundheads & cavaliers in full period costumes on the meadow by Cow Tower. A favourite crowd were the BT boys, some I remember were slightly under age but always in great spirits. We liked to raise money for charity so ran silly games like Dwile Flonking & pram races in fancy dress. We would risk serving after time as that was the norm…. lots of police CID used the pub. One day Roger told me to take the children for a walk as he had something important to do. Little did I know he had a call from the police to say the Kray brothers were in Norwich and headed our way, sure enough the brothers came in with two side kicks. Roger didn’t want me about. They were well behaved. Roger was glad when they left. We other had famous customers too. Leslie Davenport the artist lived in the Hermitage in Bishopsgate. His wife Heather would look after stars from the theatre Royal who would often use the pub. Once we had Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey in together – it was hilarious and filthy! Once walking by the river with James we had a birds eye view of the Duke of Edinburgh, along with the Lord Mayor as he travelled from Thorpe Station to the City centre by boat. James waved eagerly at everyone, this time the Duke waved back and smiled. We were lucky enough to have my sister Celia join us to help run the pub, that meant the odd day off. Other staff, Lynda, Kathy, Emma, Gill, Sue, Wendy & Judy are still our good friends today. To get a rare holiday Roger’s brother Andy and wife Juliet would do the odd week or weekend. When exciting news came through that the Norwich Crown Courts were to be built next door to us we rejoiced but it was such a long while coming we almost forgot…
Just before we moved to bigger premises and our second venture, Roger decided he has waited long enough for the brewery to build us the promised inside toilets so he took things into his own hands. A lorry driver friend who must remain nameless, backed into the old outside loos rendering them useless! Of course that was useless itself as they couldn’t be used at all. Roger soon sorted that out – we enlisted a boy scout Elsan toilet and awning. That was real fun and got loads of free publicity. There are many many stories from the Adam days… they will have to wait until another day….
Liquid Tales 