The Time and Tide Museum is also a must. Housed in a former herring curing factory, it still smells of fish and tells, in an engaging, family-friendly way, the colourful history of Great Yarmouth. The staff there are a hoot, and highly knowledgeable.
Eat this…
A Yarmouth bloater. I looked everywhere for one without success. This local speciality – herring cured with the guts still inside – was once exported all over Europe but is now rare. The fish counter in Yarmouth market only stocked bloaters imported from Norway, but apparently sells local ones in autumn.
Defeated, I drank to a local success story in the Blackfriars Tavern, which was recently crowned Norfolk pub of the year and Norfolk cider pub of the year. Not bad for a boozer that was shut for half a decade before Covid. “This was my lockdown project,” owner Pharez Smith tells me, while I sip cider. “Some people made sourdough; I renovated a pub.”
But don’t do this…
Britannia Pier. Unlike most piers, this one doesn’t jut out into the sea, but instead hovers above the sand. It’s basically elaborate decking. There’s a theatre on the end, which is made of corrugated steel and looks like a North American grain store.