Pint Sized Blonde

The Owl Sanctuary

28/01/16

Norwich has some awesome pubs. I spend a lot of time in many of them. In my regular haunts the bar staff often know me, other regular drinkers often know me too. They greet me and we chat as if we’ve known each other for years. It is one of the many benefits of living in a place such as Norwich. A small, friendly heart of a community in the body of a Fine City. Occasionally a particular pub will be so intrinsic to a community that it is ingrained in the history of everyone that drinks there.

The Owl Sanctuary is one such pub. Formerly The Marquee, I used to work behind the bar there. I met some of my best friends there. I met (and dumped) boyfriends there, played pool there, put questionable songs on the jukebox there and threw-up after too many Jaegers there. When it was announced in early January that the pub might close, and no longer function as a pub let alone a rock venue, I realised just how much this building, and the group of tattooed reprobates it supported meant to my Norwich life.

The Owl always has local beers on tap – Lacons, Panther etc – and this evening I was drinking Ghost Ship from Adnams. With a spooky pump clip (I’m a sucker for branding) this pale ale has enough body to not be a washy IPA with a very slight bite to keep it interesting. I find I’ve had five before I’ve even noticed (and at £3 a pint it’s easy not to notice). The iconic 1979 film Warriors was playing on the TV this evening. Punters played pool while others filtered through to the back room to watch a band. A guy went out to smoke with his pet rat on his shoulder and the creepy normal guy at the bar got the brush off from the tattooed chicks. All seemed right with world.

Let’s hope it continues or there will be a lot of displaced weirdos in Norwich with nowhere to go drinking.