Norwich is a city steeped in history – it started life as an Anglo-Saxon settlement on the banks of the River Wensum.
Although the population of our fine city has grown by 9% since 2001, we are nowhere near the days of the Domesday book, when Norwich was one was one of the biggest cities in the UK. In 1086 it had a population of 6,000 – a huge number in those days. In fact, it remained the capital of the most populous county in England up until the Industrial Revolution – which brought shoe and chocolate factories in the area, but not much more, especially compared to other cities.
“St.John The Baptist, Norwich” (CC BY 2.0) by Colin-47
Although these days it’s not even in the top 100 cities for size, we don’t seem to mind at all and Norwich has not become a backwater by any means. Here are just three of the firsts our fine city has had recently – further proof that Norwich still has its finger on the pulse.
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Pay For a Pint With Bitcoin
One of the first pubs in the UK to accept bitcoin payments for pints is The White Lion on Oak Street. It’s one of four pubs owned by Individual Pubs Ltd and the boss, Stephen Early, is a former computer scientist and early adopter of the bitcoin currency. He got his first bitcoins in 2011, and in 2013, he introduced bitcoin payments in all of his pubs, including the award-winning White Lion. At the time, the four pubs were in the vanguard of UK businesses that accepted bitcoin payments.
Credit: Pixabay
A few years on and bitcoin is much more widely accepted. As well as buying things like pints and pizzas, you can also use the digital currency for all kinds of online services, such as domain name registration and iGaming. For instance, anyone wanting to see if they can boost their bitcoin wallet balance can play now on websites such as Vegas Casino, which deals only in bitcoins. Not only does it mean you’re in with a chance of winning more of the cryptocurrency, but you also have the added security that comes with bitcoin transactions compared with sharing your credit card details online.
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A Literary First
“Book” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by g_leon_h
In 2012, Norwich joined an elite grouping of cities around the world when it became England’s first UNESCO City of Literature. Celebrating the city’s heritage as a place of ideas, the title confirmed the historical power of words in our city. In order to qualify for this UNESCO status, a city has to have a combination of editorial initiatives and educational programmes, great libraries, bookshops and cultural centres, along with a lively literary event calendar. Norwich hit the mark on all counts, with events such as Brave New Reads and the three-month long City of Stories, which explored the local culture with a different theme each week. Many authors have lived and written in Norwich, including Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty, and WG Sebald.
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A Beer For Every Day of the Year
“Beer sampler” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by QuinnDombrowski
Norwich has plenty of pubs and only a few years ago, the city could still claim it had one pub for each day of the year. Sadly, some of those have now closed down, but the city now has a new brewing-based boast – it has enough different beers available for each day of the year. BrewDog, the craft brewery, serves 365 beer varieties in its Queen Street premises. There are 25 draft lines to choose from, but also a rotating range of bottled craft beers. While the concept of 365 beers in one bar may be novel, the venue has a lot of history attached to it – it’s a Grade II listed building and we’ve seen many entertainment-related uses to it throughout the years.
Norwich may have been around since the time of the Anglo-Saxons, but that doesn’t mean it can’t keep up with the times. These three firsts, the longest light tunnel in Europe – and the list goes on.
