CALIFORNIA TAVERN

We have a lovely Pub for you to enjoy and it is thanks to our staff, friends and customers both ol and new that we are still here and thriving. Food is served all day throughout the summer months and there is something to suit most tastes including good vegetarian options, we also have a daily 'special' board and a children’s menu as well as a slush machine. P Don’t miss our SUNDAY CARVERY with Chef’s choice of succulent roast meats and lots of seasonal fresh vegetables to choose from, all produce is locally sourced where possible. We also offer a quorn option for those 'Veggies' amongst you. Around 1800 a migration took place along the coast of East Norfolk by people who had previously worked on the land.

These people organised themselves into beach companies’ in order to benefit from the rapidly expanding Yarmouth Herring Industry by earning a living salvaging the many vessels that had come to grief on the maize of sandbanks that lurked just below the surface of the sea. The men became known as 'beachmen' . Around 1840 a group of beachmen from Winterton moved south and established the California settlement which was so named because of Gold coins being found in the cliffs at the time of the California Gold Rush. California had the advantage of a clear view of the sandbanks from Happisburgh to Corton including the sheltered anchorage in Yarmouth where up to 1000 sailing ships would await a favourable wind.

A lookout tower was erected on the cliffs and vessels called ‘Gigs’ and ‘Yawls’ were purpose built for salvage work. In 1854 the beachmen also had a lifeboat built by the famous Yarmouth boat builders James Beeching, to enable them to carry out more hazardous work. Permission was granted from the Prince Consort to name the lifeboat ‘Prince Albert’ and under the leadership of Coxswain Solomon Brown, many notable rescues were carried out.