It was a much-loved endangered species that desperately needed saving, but it was still a surprise when the Norfolk Wildlife Trust stepped in to revive it.
The nature conservation charity has become the first wildlife trust to own a pub after restoring the Pleasure Boat Inn on the edge of Hickling Broad, a national nature reserve in the Broads national park.
The waterside pub, once enjoyed by boaters and sailors, had fallen into disrepair after being closed for three years. But locals and visitors flocked to the pub after the trust reopened it over the weekend.
“I’ve never been as excited about a pub opening, ever. Things that are really special to me – this pub, beer and Hickling Broad, bosh!” said Bex Kett, the manager, who has worked in permaculture and community pubs. The Pleasure Boat was her local for a number of years. “It’s groundbreaking. It’s the first wildlife trust to own a pub. For me it’s all about getting people to connect with nature again.”
Villagers so missed their local that they would sneak into the derelict pub gardens and drink their own beers there, pretending the place was still open.
For the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the pub is a way to reach visitors to Hickling who don’t realise there is a nature reserve visitor centre a mile away at the end of a dead-end track. Boats will now run from the landing stage beside the pub to take visitors across the broad – the largest of the lakes in the national park – and on to the reserve. Such trips are often the best way to spot the elusive wildlife found around the reedbeds, including marsh harriers, cranes, bitterns spoonbills, bearded reedlings and swallowtail butterflies.
Eliot Lyne, the chief executive of the trust, said: “Investing in a popular local pub is the first step in providing new ways to introduce people to the unique landscape and wildlife of Hickling, including walking routes and wildlife boat trips from the staithe.
“In addition to taking care of this unique and vital landscape for wildlife, our long-term aim is to create even more facilities that will provide new opportunities for everyone to experience Hickling’s fantastic wildlife in an area where nature, the community and the local economy are all thriving.”
The pub is being run by Rick and Felicity Malt, who live nearby and already run two successful Broadland pubs, the White Horse Inn in Neatishead and the Lion in Thurne.
The couple will use local produce in the pub meals – initially pizzas, followed by pub classics and an à la carte local menu – alongside herbs and salad leaves grown in the kitchen garden. The beer garden features local native plants, with bug hotels to be added. New beers created in collaboration with local breweries will be wildlife-inspired.
Rick Malt said: “It was grim inside, I couldn’t believe how bad it was before the refurbishment, but the first time I saw it in nice weather I thought, my god we need this. It’s the best location ever. This isn’t big motor cruisers, it’s a different clientele, it’s sailing and kids jumping in the dyke, it’s got that old-school holiday feel.
“I’m not a tenant, I’m just a custodian. It deserves to be loved and I’ve fallen in love with it a little bit.”
Among the pub’s first customers were John Blackburn, who has been warden of the nature reserve for 27 years. “On the reserve, you are preaching to the converted. We don’t get passing trade to the existing visitor centre,” he said. “People arrive in Hickling village now and the first thing they see is a sign saying “Norfolk Wildlife Trust Hickling Broad and Marshes”. It’s our chance to get people who know nothing about us at all.”
Blackburn’s team has been helping the Malts prepare the site in a Challenge Anneka-style feat, furnishing the pub and tidying up the garden and grounds ready for opening just five days after the builders finished.
Sitting in the beer garden overlooking the broad as the sun set, Malt added: “I can’t wait to see this buzzing with a bit of jazz on a Sunday afternoon.” Accompanied by booming bitterns and trumpeting cranes, naturally.
