Norwich puts Alan Partridge on the map with city trail

David Smith, tourism support officer, with the goodie bag from the official Alan Partridge Walk, a tour of his favourite Norwich sights. Picture: Denise Bradley (Image: Archant)

We are standing outside The Forum at the beginning of the Visit Norwich Alpha Norwich walking tour, designed to capitalise on the excitement surrounding the launch of Alan Partridge's first foray into film and the love felt for creator Steve Coogan's comic creation in the city where Alan got his big break.

'I went to the premiere of the film in Anglia Square and I thought it was great – Alan calls Alpha Papa his 'love letter to Norwich' and I think we've really entered into the spirit of things here,' Jude adds.

'We can laugh at ourselves, we're not stuck up. When Alan says less-than-complimentary things about the city we don't take offence, we see it for what it is. Norwich has a good sense of humour.'

Jude acknowledges that The Forum is a building which divides opinion but adds that City Hall in Norwich wasn't universally popular either when it was built in the 1930s ('Hitler liked it, though – but I'm not sure if that's the best recommendation').

'In Alpha Papa, Alan is dragged through The Forum in a hostage situation. He'd also appreciate the library, because he admits to being a bit of a bibliophile: he's got over 100 books – just a few less than our library, which is the best-used in the country,' Jude says.

'The Forum also houses Radio Norfolk, which we hope isn't about to be taken over by a major organisation like Radio Norwich was.'

We walk to the city's war memorial outside City Hall (the customer centre was used as a set for a police station in the film) and Jude explains that the original memorial was in front of the Guildhall and was the only monument in Britain which dramatically emitted smoke and flames.

'Alan had a very healthy disrespect for health and safety and took great exception to being told that naked flames weren't allowed on a garage forecourt when he'd planned to hold a barbecue there,' she says.

'On a personal note, seeing the memorial with flames and smoke is definitely on my bucket list.'

Past Norwich Market, where Alan once ran a stall and advised people to blag themselves a free lunch by going from trader to trader and asking for samples, along Gentleman's Walk and into the Royal Arcade, we end up outside The Colman's Mustard Shop.

'Alan was invited to make a presentation at the Colman's Mustard Bravery Awards and tried to impress Karen Colman by eating a large spoonful of mustard. It didn't work,' Jude tells me.

We walk along the Back of the Inns, taking in Norwich Castle and London Street which Alan disapproved of due to its pedestrianisation ('he thought it was detrimental to traders, that you had to have access to Dixons at all times') and towards Bridewell Alley.

Jude, who moved from Kent to Norfolk around 30 years ago and who has been a registered Blue Badge Guide for Norfolk for 12 years, doesn't miss a trick when it comes to Partridge references.

She points out that The Forum was built on a former coaching site where turkeys were transported from Norwich to London, noting that Alan had repeatedly tried to ingratiate himself with Bernard Matthews ('he is tantalisingly close to producing the 10p turkey,' Alan told North Norfolk Digital listeners).

She muses that Alan would have loved the quaint old practice of pelting Guildhall prisoners in the stocks with rotting fruit, vegetables and fish from the market ('he liked a bit of rough justice') and wonders if his love of Toblerone would have led him to indulge at Caley's Cocoa Café.

On Gentleman's Walk, once a place where the well-heeled would promenade in their finery, she says she can picture Alan in his safari suit, proudly strutting through the city while at the Cathedral, she suggests Alan's close friendship with Bill Oddie might have led the pair to study the peregrine falcons in their nest box on the spire.

I begin to think that Jude knows more about Alan Partridge than Steve Coogan.

Passing the Bridewell ('it used to house what Alan would have called 'sub-human hoodlums and miscreants'') we walk to Elm Hill, which provides the wow factor on many of Visit Norwich's walking tours, of which this hour-and-a-half-long Alpha Norwich tour is one from a very long list.

'Alan would have been delighted that cars are still allowed to use Elm Hill although I'm not sure he would have been so keen to go behind Elm Hill to look at the Wensum,' says Jude. 'He was advertising a break on the Broads when some angry farmers dropped a dead cow on to him from a bridge. The commercial ended with him in A&E.'

Artfully bridging the gap between film locations and Norwich's own star landmarks, Jude admits it's difficult to walk past wonderful buildings and locations without mentioning them – regardless of whether they have a link to Mr Partridge.

'I've always been fascinated by history,' she admits.

'When I was a child, my friends would be bringing home Enid Blyton books and I'd be lugging back these great tomes about Egyptology and mythology. My mum used to say to my dad, 'George, there's something wrong with that child. She doesn't belong in this century'.'

At Norwich Cathedral, Jude wonders if Alan considered sending son Fernando to The Norwich School although discounts it on the basis that as it now accepts girls, he'd have had to fork out to send daughter Denise, too ('and I'm not sure he's really into equality. Especially if it costs').

She also points out that the DJ used to power-jog through the Cathedral's cloisters and suggests that statues of Julian of Norwich, St Benedict, Sir Thomas Erpingham and Nelson could one day be joined by a permanent memorial to Alan Partridge ('maybe the Cathedral could buy his gorilla').

We end the tour with Jude as enthusiastic and effervescent as when we began almost two hours previously – she loves taking people on tours of Norwich, she says, and has relished the opportunity to add a new string to her bow.

'If Alpha Papa is Alan Partridge's love letter to Norwich, then this tour is our love letter to Alan Partridge,' she says, beaming. Back of the net.

Five Alpha Norwich tours are running from Friday to Sunday, costing £6 per person (including an I Love Norwich bag, a pot of Colman's mustard and a bag of Kettle Chips). Book through Norwich Tourist Information Centre, 01603 213999 or www.visitnorwich.co.uk. The tour can be booked privately thereafter, costing £48 for groups of up to 20 people.