What next for The Birdcage in Norwich?

But since former management moved out of the historic site during lockdown, the building in the Norwich Lanes has stood empty.

But owners Greene King have confirmed the search is on with plans to reopen as soon as possible.

The Birdcage Credit: Denise Bradley (Image: Archant)

Greene King said: "The Birdcage is a great Norwich venue and we're hoping to get it back open at the earliest opportunity.

"Restrictions have been especially challenging for late night venues over the past year, but we're hopeful of finding someone to reopen the Birdcage as we know how much it is loved by customers.

"We've had a number of people express an interest and conversations are ongoing about getting it back open again."

They added that it is not unheard of to switch the pub between managed and tenanted, though there are no current plans to reopen the venue under the Greene King brand.

Any movement on getting the site reopened would be welcomed by the Norwich Lanes association, with a spokesman saying: "Its a terrible shame to see this beautiful building boarded up but in the current climate, it’s understandable too. We obviously hope new tenants are found as soon as possible but being realistic, this may take some time.

Birdcage Open Mic night performers taking on the added challenge of the X-Factor .Steve Adams (Image: Copyright Archant Norfolk 2015)

"The Birdcage played a massive part in this community and will go down in Lanes history not least for the live music, DJ nights and life-drawing classes but also for having the best pub cat around too."

The Birdcage, on Pottergate, closed in October after its lease came to an end.

A post on the venue's Instagram page read: “We have had the most epic time over the last 15 years but our lease is up now and we’d rather leave the party at this point with all those good memories than be booted out at last orders.”