The current owners of The Railway Arms are Clifton and Anne-Marie Healy who took over the pub on the 1 August 2017. There is a coach house adjacent to the pub which is in the process of being converted into en-suite bedrooms which should be more or less completed by the end of 2026 and beginning of 2027.
They have completed extensive renovations to the building and look forwards to meeting everybody who chooses to visit us!
The Railway Inn/Hotel was opened in 1867, a mere ten years after Elmham railway station had been built a couple of hundred yards further west along Station Road. Designed to provide refreshment and accommodation for the anticipated hordes of rail travellers, the pub was opened with great fanfare on December 20th. It was originally called The Railway Tavern and was erected by Mr T W Merrison of Worthing Mills. The taven was built to support the railway transfer station situated just a two minute walk from The Railway Arms and was locally known as ‘the slip’ as the railway workers would slip in and out for a quick drink.
Initially tied to Morgan’s brewery of Norwich, thanks to various take-overs, it passed through the ownership of Steward & Patteson, Watney Mann and Brent Walker before eventually emerging into the sunlight as a freehouse. Other changes over the years include the pub’s name which, while keeping the ‘Railway’ part, has variously had the suffix of ‘Hotel’, ‘Inn’ and ‘Tavern’. It was also more recently known simply as ‘The Railway’ and, since 2017, as ‘The Railway Arms’.
Finally, perhaps at some time in the future, it will once more be able to offer refreshment to those arriving by train should the hoped for Norfolk Orbital Railway ever come to fruition.
