nunc est bibendum

I’ve discovered a new house-of-welcome-refreshment to add to my list of places to visit when in town – Nip & Growler in the High Street, King’s Lynn, Norfolk. It’s probably a micro-pub (micro-pubs being the latest craze to sweep dust away from the nation’s traditional image of what a tavern should be). I can’t be sure, though, because nobody seems to be able to tell me what makes a pub ‘micro.’ Perhaps it’s like love – impossible to define but you know when you’re in it.

It’s small, being about the size of a Jessop’s shop (which is exactly what it was before the camera retailer went out of business), yet it sells a frequently changing minimum of 12 real ales and cider brands on tap, a fair percentage of which describe themselves as ‘vegan” which presumably means they’re not clarified using fish bladders. Four glass sizes are on offer: the usual pint and half pint, and 1/3^rd pint and 2/3rds pint. Most of the brewers are either local or localish. Beers are dispensed using the key-keg system, a sort of bag-in-flagon system which pumps compressed air between the flagon and the inner bag to deflate the bag and thereby send the beer through to a waiting glass.

I like the place. It’s quirky and shabby and unpretentious. The proprietor was friendly and only too pleased to explain the way it all works. Background music was as it says in the title – in the background. King’s Lynn pubs are a bit grim generally – this is a pleasing addition to the available options for those wanting to drink decent beers in the town centre. Lots more information is on their website: http://www.nipandgrowler.uk/ including translation of the Latin epigram and what I’ve forgotten to mention.

While on the subject, another of my favourite pubs has had a makeover, The Bull at Market Deeping. It feels cleaner than it used to be now it’s decorated in chic-trendy shades. Before the work was carried out it felt like a pub; now it feels like a pub pretending to be able to combine pub and restaurant. I know which pub I’d rather be in – live long and prosper, Nip & Growler.