The property was acquired last year by Iain Wilson, whose Holt-based company also runs enterprises including Byford’s and the King’s Head in Holt, The Pigs in Edgefield, part of the Assembly House in Norwich and the Sponge cakes business.
 
The Dial House restaurant will initially be open seven days a week from 9 am – 5 pm and on Friday and Saturday evenings from 5 – 8.30 pm. It will offer “casual” dining – meals, drinks and snacks – in two ground-floor rooms: the Aga Room and the Garden Room, which will also feature al fresco dining.
 
The restaurant will accommodate around 50 diners inside and up to another 40 outside, depending on the weather; private dining in the former beer cellar will also be available, as will several seats in the kitchen itself.
 
A compact daily seasonal menu will be offered alongside a bakery, afternoon tea and a cake trolley; fried food such as chips and fizzy soft drinks are unlikely to feature. And the new toilets promise to be a talking point (they certainly won’t be “bog standard”).
 
Meanwhile, Lambert & Tribe is the name of the new interiors retail business that will utilise the remaining ground floor space of the Grade II listed building.
 
Open seven days a week  from 10 am – 4 pm, Lambert & Tribe will feature antiques and “objets d’art”, furniture and soft furnishings, Aga ranges, Fired Earth tiles, wood-burning stoves from Clearview Stoves, and cast-iron radiators; interior design projects will also be undertaken.
 
Both the restaurant and retail business are currently recruiting staff.
 
Ahead of the official opening, the Dial House will open exclusively from 24-28 September for “Norfolk Passport” holders, who will be offered a 50% discount on purchases (booking requests via email to info@thedialhouse.org.uk). Passport to Our Norfolk is a loyalty scheme that offers discounts at a number of Norfolk businesses.
 
Around 500 people attended an Open House at the Dial House on Saturday 9 August. As well as viewing the progress of the main building, they were shown around some of the proposed housing development at the rear of the property.
 
The latest plans envisage 17 houses comprising both redeveloped and new-build properties ranging from two to five bedrooms that are scheduled to be completed by mid-2016.
 
A show house is planned to be open in December/January, while up to 11 “posh” bed-and-breakfast rooms could be available on the first floor of the main building some time in 2017.
 
www.thedialhouse.org.uk (website goes live on 1 September)
www.lambertandtribe.co.uk
 
See our earlier news stories:

• Dial House open house invitation and restaurant opening offer
• Dial House clear-out continues, new logo developed
• The Dial House reveals plans to open in July
• ‘Dial House’ cafe and shop planned to open in July
• Byfords completes purchase of the Old Brewery House
• Byfords to purchase Reepham’s Old Brewery House Hotel