The Crown is located a few miles from the National Trust’s Blickling Hall and North Walsham in the attractive Norfolk village of Banningham. Run by the same family since 1991, and now in the capable hands of Jeanette (Jeanie) Feneron; the pub provides a traditional atmosphere with the emphasis on good quality food and drink, which are all sourced locally wherever possible.
The pub sits opposite St Botolph’s Church where you can see the glorious hammer beam roof with 17 angels on each side, and there are many other historical sites in the area. The Banningham Crown is close to both the Weavers Way and the Bure Valley walks; this striking area is frequented by many walkers and cyclists, and there are also fishing lakes nearby giving plenty of leisure activities for the tourists.
The pub was already being used by the community for various activities. These, however, were hampered by the size of the function room and its accessibility by infirm and disabled village residents. Jeanie decided to make the function room larger to accommodate more community activities. Pub is The Hub through their Community Services Fund provided a small grant of £4,000 to help kick-start the project to enlarge the community function room. On the back of the grant provided by Pub is The Hub for the enlargement of the community function room, Jeanie was then able to raise more funds which meant she could improve disabled access within the pub and add disabled toilet facilities.
The whole project was completed on the 1stMarch 2014. The Banningham Crown now boasts a superb community function room with new toilets (including disabled) all rooms now have slightly inclined ramps, to enable the elderly and more frail customers wheelchair access to the bar, restaurant, patio and beer garden areas. All the work has been done by local builders, plumbers, electricians etc., using home-grown materials and they can all be proud of what they have achieved. The Banningham Crown is a great asset to the village and the hub of the community.
LESSONS TO LEARN
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An excellent pro-active licensee, without which none of these projects would have started.
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Working with the local community and tradesmen.
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Identifying the village’s needs which the pub now provides.
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Adding to the quality of life for local people.
PROJECT CAPITAL COSTS (EXCLUDING VAT)
Total project costs (£60,000)
PITH Community Service Fund Grant (£4,000)
Private funding (£56,000)
Live Theatre and Performance
Since 2016 the Crown has also played host to live theatrical performances courtesy of Creative Arts East through.
Pub audiences have enjoyed Can You Dig It? a musical comedy about growing your own by Xylophone Productions and Your Bard by Nicholas Collett Productions featuring William Shakespeare as he defends his reputation – a legend in the local. With a themed pub menu and very reasonable ticket prices, it beats traveling miles to the nearest town or city for the rural culture vultures. For details on future theatrical performances go to the Inn Crowd website.
For more information telephone 01423 546165 or email enquiries@pubisthehub.org.uk