Farnell Clarke, the award winning digital first accountancy group, has been a leading sponsor of the Norwich City of Ale for many years. We are very proud to be doing it again this year, supporting its triumphant return as a month-long festival of ale trails and fun in this Fine City.
Farnell Clarke looks after some fantastic pubs and restaurants across Norfolk and Suffolk and so we understand how important our pubs are to our local communities. We also know how difficult the last few COVID interrupted years have been. So, this a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our unique heritage both of local pubs and local brewers through the trails.
This year there are over 50 Norwich pubs and 26 Norfolk breweries taking part with visitors able to sample amazing beer, traditionally brewed locally. Keeping with the historic theme, and central to the festival, are the ale trails themselves. There are 7 trails to follow with between 6 – 8 pubs on each. For those who visit all the pubs on a trail, and get their brochures stamped, they can claim a limited edition City of Ale pin badge.
These badges are unique as they are based on Norwich’s seventeenth-century tokens. In the 1650s and 1660s there was not enough official money to go around. This lack of change was dealt with by the by private traders and city corporations of Norwich who made their own money (Norwich was the UK’s second city at this point in history). Over 300 different tokens were produced and issued in lieu of actual money by apothecaries, confectioners, cordwainers (shoemakers), gardeners, grocers, mercers, milliners, pin makers, weavers and woolcombers with the token names reflecting the name of the city’s trades.
The Norwich tokens were all worth a farthing in old money, the equivalent of a pound today. Circulated freely they were used to buy food staples such as bread and of course, beer. Each trail has been named after a trade followed by a Norwich token issuer who lived along a route. For example the vintner (wineseller) Richard Freeman lived at the Dove on Dove Lane which is now on the Vintner’s Trail.
Norwich is known as the Fine City, full of pubs serving Fine Ale, and so “Fine Ale” Clarke as unbeerlievably good accountants, cannot wait to enjoy another amazing festival. Running for a whole month this year, we hope you will join us in trying to finish every trail and visit all the pubs in a true celebration of what makes Norwich one of the best places in the world for beer and pubs!
You can learn more about the City of Ale and see all the trails you can follow here: https://cityofale.org.uk/
