Nelson Walker

Four Great Yarmouth shops—EU Plus Mini Market, Romanesc & Baltic Market, Your Store and VIP Vape Shop—were ordered to close for three months after enforcement raids uncovered nearly 11,000 illicit cigarettes and other illegal tobacco products. Trading Standards, Norfolk Constabulary, HM Revenue and Customs and Great Yarmouth Borough Council reported repeated seizures, test purchases and concealed stock at the premises. A fifth shop, Countryside Grocer, remains closed under an immediate notice pending a court hearing.

Queensway Inns has acquired the former Beefeater restaurant at the Premier Inn on Great Yarmouth’s South Beach Parade and plans to reopen it as The Dunes. The opening follows Whitbread’s decision to close its 106 Beefeater restaurants and phase out Brewers Fayre as part of a five-year strategy to cut costs and refocus on Premier Inn hotels. Queensway Inns has bought 53 affected sites and could take on around 900 employees, while Whitbread expects significant job losses and plans to sell properties and convert some restaurant locations into hotel rooms.

Police are continuing to investigate after a silver Mercedes carrying two men crashed into The Corner Shop on Nelson Road North in Great Yarmouth on July 9. The occupants fled, no one was injured, and no arrests had been made more than a month later. The collision damaged the shopfront, shutters, door and interior stock, while manager Sayandan Kumaraswamy was trapped inside the building until the vehicle was removed.

Reece Cunningham, a 20-year-old shift manager from Middleton, died after his black Kia Rio left Setch Road near King’s Lynn and overturned at about 3am on August 7. Norfolk Coroner’s Court recorded a provisional cause of death of multiple injuries caused by a road traffic collision. The inquest has been adjourned while police investigations continue, with a full inquest provisionally scheduled for June 14, 2027.

Beccles Town Council has agreed to allocate 25 spaces at the Quay car park for Warren Lodge School staff, aiming to reduce traffic and parking problems on St Benedict’s Road. The council also announced the opening of new play equipment at Waveney Meadow and an upcoming councillor surgery at Beccles Library.