01603 744977 | hello@kingsheadbawburgh.co.uk
This valentines day we will be running a special menu on Friday 14th February.
Available during our lunch service 12-2 (alongside our seasonal menu), and as a standalone menu during dinner service 5:30-9.
We are already booking up fast, so we recommend reserving your table ASAP to avoid disappointment. We do require a £10 per head deposit to secure your space.
Starting from Sunday 26th May, our Sunday service times have been updated for the Spring/Summer period. This will run up to and including Sunday 8th September.
You can now visit us:
8-10 | Enjoy a delicious breakfast, booking is advised for breakfast but walk ins are welcome too.
12-3 | Our Sunday Lunch menu will run, which will include a combination of items from our seasonal main menu and also Sunday roasts will feature!
5-7:30 | Our Sunday seasonal menu will be running and there will be no roasts available.
The bar will be open from 12 to 10pm (subject to change if it is quiet).
Book online or call us on 01603 744977 to reserve your table. Take a look at a sample menu for Sunday Lunch here.
We’ve just released our Valentines menu that’ll be running the evening of Wednesday 14th February
We will be serving food 5:30 – 8:45 pm tables are booking up fast so please call us on 01603 744977 or book online now to reserve your table ASAP.
A £10pp deposit will be required to secure your table.
We are incredibly proud to announce that we’ve won ‘Pub Of The Year 2023‘ at the Norfolk Food & Drink Awards this week hosted by The Eastern Daily Press & Norfolk Magazine.
Norfolk has an amazing reputation for it’s culinary experiences across the county and we were privileged to be amongst such fantastic businesses. We were happy to have even made the final 3 let alone to win!
A massive thank you must go to our incredible team, they work extremely hard to provide the best experience to our customers, creating a home from home environment for all to enjoy.
We hope to welcome you with us soon!
2015 rolled around and proprietor Anton Wimmer finally achieved his dreams for the largest change in The Kings Head history – the addition of 6 luxury bed and breakfast rooms above the pub. The same space that housed the ‘Wattle & Daub’ restaurant became home to ‘Walstan’ the biggest suite available. The Kings Head now proudly holds 4 AA gold stars for their accommodation. Each room was named after a key figure in the history of the Kings Head and Bawburgh – a nod to the history of such a wonderful building and area.
This was our wonderful Walstan room prior and post its renovation…
Following the successful addition of accommodation to The Kings head offering, it was time to expand further. A historic building that previously housed a second pub ‘The Dickens’ or ‘The Villager’ in the village was transformed into two charming and spacious apartments in 2017. This was home to an Indian restaurant too where an elephant paraded down the street as part of the opening ceremony in the 80s. This transformation allowed us to welcome visitors from further afield to explore the wonderful sites Norfolk offers in a home from home environment.
It was relatively plain sailing from then, up until 2020 and the emergence of Covid-19! The longest period the pub had been closed under the Wimmer tenure, seven months over the course of two years were lost. Despite the uncertainty, The Kings Head team remained strong and reopened with a renewed passion and drive. Almost all of the familiar faces you’d become accustomed to over the years were back behind the bar and welcoming everyone back home. The incredibly popular ‘Alfresco Dining Area’ was put into place with the support of the local tourism board and to this day it is still used weekly and often hosts private events, corporate BBQs and of course Kings Head events too!
This brings us up until now…
– 40 years of The Kings Head
– 40 years of hard work, adapting, growing and learning
– 40 years of incredible staff, friendly faces and departed colleagues
– 40 years we simply wouldn’t change
To celebrate this achievement The Kings Head just hosted their 40th anniversary party over the bank holiday weekend in August. We welcomed over 500 of you through the door, offered an incredible BBQ and live fire cooking too, alongside an amazing raffle supported by hospitality businesses all over Norfolk.
Through this event we were able to raise £2,420 for two incredible charities! It felt a fitting way to celebrate our 40th by helping two wonderful causes.
Thank you for your support over the years – we appreciate it more than you know!
Following on from part 1 of our 40 years, here is the 90’s onwards & 00’s…
The beef crisis in 1992 meant that ostrich, alligator, kangaroo & occasionally locusts became prominent on the menu! Norfolk Life – November 1993 reviewed The Kings Head and delighted in the smoked platter… a platter constructed of smoked ostrich, alligator, green scallops, marlin, lip mussels & quails eggs – just a little bit different to todays delicacies!
The Norwich Southern Bypass (A47) was finally finished in 1992, and this couldn’t come soon enough. The construction almost caused the demise of The Kings Head when 2 of the main roads into the village closed for the duration of the works. This resulted in massively reduced footfall to the pub but luckily The Wimmer family toughed it out until the roads reopened.
The popularity of the squash courts – the original selling point of this country pub to the Wimmer family – began to dwindle and by the late 90’s they were a shadow of their former glory. They still exist now but are not utilised as squash courts, one houses our office, the others are used for storage (a treasure trove of the Kings Head history) – watch this space though, with future plans in place to transform these.
Throughout the early 2000’s the pub transitioned from serving quick, simple yet tasty dishes to increasing the number of finer dining options – as it became one of the original pioneers of gastropub dining. Back in 93 Norfolk Life stated “it was immediately apparent that this is a far more gastronomically ambitious establishment than one would expect” and the Kings Head has continued this flair. Now offering delicious seasonal food sourced as locally as possible, in a friendly and welcoming setting.
The smoking ban came into force on 1st July 2007, bringing with it a huge breath of fresh air and making the pub more family friendly. The Bowling Club that used the green opposite was disbanded and subsequently the houses that you’ll be more familiar with were built.
In 2014 the incredibly talented kitchen team were awarded two AA rosettes for their culinary excellence, a real achievement and reward for their hard work. This quality has been consistently recognised by The AA every year since, with 9 AA rosette plates now adorning the fireplace.
You can read the next part of our story here, and check out this article from 1993 and a menu from 2002 for an interesting and historic read…
We’d love to hear about the memories you have from the years gone by – these can be shared with us on our Facebook page or via email hello@kingsheadbawburgh.co.uk.
Back in 1983, the space shuttle Challenger was launched for the first time. The most popular TV show was Dallas and “Every breath you take” by The Police was THE song! The first Apple Mac(intosh) went on sale and Tetris was not even invented – with its release coming in 1984.
Obviously though, there was something more momentous that took place that year (at least there was for those residents of Bawburgh!)… The Wimmer family took over The Kings Head.
Initially starting as a sporting club, The Kings Head had four squash courts, a bowling green, petanque pitch, a sauna, sunbed and even a creche. The Deeds and Hunts bars welcomed scores of people from across Norfolk. Deeds was known as the posh bar as the deeds to the pub hung on the walls. Whilst Hunts bar had a fruit machine, arcade games crazy balloon & defender and a juke box.
Kate’s kitchen was serving home cooked classic pub food in the bars and above the bar in the eaves of the old building was the snug area with a pool table for the punters to barter over a few pints of Carling.
Pamela and Tony Wimmer were the smiling faces you would be greeted with from behind the bar and their son Anton could be seen from time to time when working in the cellar or competing on the squash court around his school studies. Once Anton had finished his schooling, following a year in Amsterdam he started his journey. His return signalled the handing over of the baton at the helm of The Kings Head in his early 20’s.
Through the 80s many changes took place, most memorably the snug was replaced with the ‘Wattle & Daub’ boutique restaurant that was housed in the wattle & daub constructed building – it certainly had oodles of character.
The big storm of the 80’s caused catastrophe at the pub when lightning struck the chimney! The chimney exploded, and all of the electrics fused. Much was irreparable including the inglenook fire, which gave rise to what is now one of the most loved features – the double sided fireplace.
The Hunts bar was soon turned into a restaurant and was redecorated with the removal of the old bench seats and wrought iron tables, creating lots more dining space. Lee Vasey and his band were regulars on a Monday night and had many dancing ‘Ceroc’ including the staff.
This is where the story began.
These photos should jog your memory of times gone past and you can read the next part of our story here.
We’d love to hear about the memories you have from the years gone by – these can be shared with us on our Facebook page or via email hello@kingsheadbawburgh.co.uk.
OUR FINAL 2023 EVENT…
PAST EVENTS…
Our big bank holiday beer festival – 26-28th August 2023!
Over the bank holiday weekend we fired up our bbq, open fire hanging grill and our pizza oven. Plus we offered up incredibly fresh and delicious seafood too including our grande platters – something to tempt everyone. All of the produce was sourced locally from within East Anglia to celebrate the great suppliers we have right here on our doorstep.
This event was in support of our main charity Cancer Research UK as well as Norwich Stroke Survivor Club and saw us offer up 20 craft beers, a variety of cocktails and gins too plus a charity drink of Charmat Rosé donated by Peter Graham Wines & Flint Vineyard!
Alongside this we ran a sponsored dip in the river too and Anton Wimmer came out on top with the most sponsorship and was dunked in the river! Sarah Mann who has been with us 35 years was close behind and opted to be dunked too for these wonderful causes!
Alongside this we had an incredible raffle with prizes from very generous suppliers and in total across the weekend we raised £2,420 for these two important charities!
Thank you for your support & here are a selection of images from the weekend…
Seaside Spectacular – 16th July
We hosted our second event of the year on Sunday 16th July and it was lovely to see so many of you there. It was a celebration of all things glorious from the seaside with incredible fresh and local seafood, doughnuts and much more!
Thank you to all that came.
Bank Holiday 8th May BBQ
Our first event of the year was a great success with over 150 of you coming to see us throughout the day. We raised £274 for Cancer Research UK through our raffle, supported by some wonderful local companies…
– Glen Lodge @ Bawburgh Golf Club
– Lacons Brewery
– Barshams Brewery
– Coors
– Peter Graham Wines
Thank you for your support.
We are pleased to announce that we are in the final 3 in the running to be crowned ‘Pub Of The Year’ in the East Of England Tourism Awards 2022-2023.
We will find out our fate at a glittering black tie event on Thursday 16th March, we are up against some incredible competition so we’ve got our fingers crossed.
A massive thank you to our team for their continued hard work and dedication throughout 2022 and to our wonderful customers too, it’s a pleasure to serve you!
We are proud to announce that we have won a 2023 Good Food Award for Gastropubs! Founded on independence and integrity, the Good Food Awards recognise those who strive for culinary excellence within their field.
With some 599,370 eating establishments within the UK, competition for the Good Food Awards was tough. With a record number of entrants and votes cast for the finalists by readers, customers and fans alike. Chosen for their food quality, service and value, the Good Food Awards are bestowed upon those with high customer ratings/votes.
Owner Anton Wimmer is incredibly pleased to have won this award, “I am very proud of the team here at The Kings Head. They work incredibly hard to ensure customers have an enjoyable visit with us. Head chef Danny Pochin took over the helm at the beginning of 2022 and the kitchen team has gone from strength to strength, this award is a testament to that. We appreciate all the votes we received from our wonderful customers – so a big thank you!”.
With 2023 marking 40 years in charge of The Kings Head for Anton Wimmer and family it is set to be a big year. There are some exciting plans in the pipeline for 2023, it is set to be an exciting year, so keep an eye on our social media for full details of celebrations to follow.
