Family-run pub undergoes major revamp ahead of reopening

Revamping the bar backsplash. Picture: Fat Cat Brewery Tap (Image: Fat Cat Brewery Tap)

Instead Norwich’s Fat Cat Brewery Tap has revealed it has undergone a major transformation, ready to welcome customers back.

Owners Mark White and Laura Hedley-White said they wanted to use the time in lockdown to give the pub a refresh.

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Inside the Fat Cat Brewery Tap, where the effects of the refurbishment can be seen. Picture: Fat Cat Brewery Tap (Image: Fat Cat Brewery Tap)

Mr White said: “We’ve been here for nine years and we just realised how much clutter we had amassed over the years.

“The thing is that the NR3 community we are in has changed so much in that time. When we first took over we inherited some of the locals so it was a slightly older clientele. Then we started having some younger people in who were buying their first home but there’s been a real shift.

“Now we’re seeing people – some of which have met in the pub – buying a house around the corner and then raising their kids there. We wanted to reflect that inside and make it a bit more welcoming to everyone – while still retaining it’s proper pub feeling and spirit.”

Mr White said he had been inundated with messages from the public who had noticed the large signs on the side of the building had been taken down.

Patrons were concerned after they saw the signs for Fat Cat Brewery Tap had been taken down. Picture: Fat Cat Brewery Tap (Image: Fat Cat Brewery Tap)

“We noticed the signs were a bit faded and when we took them down we had so many people messaging us with questions,” he said. “We decided we had to put something out there just assuring people we hadn’t packed up and sold.”

Upon reopening the pub will have smaller tables for a more intimate feel, made out of old barn doors Mr White had in his garage.

“We decided to do it now because we were closed anyway and I could do pretty much everything myself,” Mr White said. “I’ve sanded every surface in the pub. We’ve got a new bar backing and there’s a new colour scheme too.”

When the pub reopens social distancing will also be practised, with perspex screens put up and two metre stickers on the floor.

“We’re trying to make it feel as normal as possible,” he said. “We can do two metres if that’s what the government tells us to do, but it would be a more successful reopening if it was one metre.”