Way back in the 1960's when I started my railway career in Norwich there was a bar, called The Refreshment Rooms, in the corner of the station closest to Thorpe Road. In addition to being a bar it had kitchens where the food for the restaurant cars was pre-cooked. I can remember the big trays of steak and kidney pies in particular being prepared and cooked.
Whilst doing my basic training I spent some time with the telecoms maintenance team at Norwich, every Friday afternoon we went to "maintain" the cable termination case in the cellar! I'm sure you can guess what that meant.
Many years later, we took over the first floor accommodation above the Refreshment Rooms - which had been staff quarters and the manager and his wife had lived there - for a mess room. We had to clear out the old furniture which included a large wardrobe. When we opened it a very large number of empty brandy bottles came tumbling out. It transpired that the manager was in the habit of taking a bottle of brandy to bed with him each night!
Out of interest, if you look at the front of the station from the Riverside Road perspective you can see that the left hand side has a flat roof and the right hand side a pitched roof. That is the result of a second world war fire bomb hitting the left hand side of the station.
