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Location
King Street is located between the Ber Street escarpment and the River Wensum, which it is adjacent to. The street runs from the location of Conesford Gate (also knows as Consiford Gate or King Street Gate) on the southern side of the city walls to the city centre. The gate, which formed the main southern entrance into the walled city, was considered a particularly vulnerable spot for an attack on the city.

History
King Street perhaps lies on the route of a former Roman Britain road and was one of the city's most important roads in medieval times and has been host to riverside industries such as fishing since Saxon times. A 1973 excavation on King Street revealed the earliest road surface to be thirteenth century although evidence of pre-Norman conquest buildings exists in King Street in the form of two timber-framed structures in between King Street and Rose Lane. Both buildings were uncovered in a 1992 excavation, one of which was found to have reused Roman bricks, perhaps from the Venta Icenorum site in Caistor St Edmund. These buildings were used as workshops and excavations in 2001 uncovered evidence of two more buildings perhaps used for antler work, with evidence of another workshop uncovered behind Dragon Hall in 1997. Some evidence of eleventh-century timber-framed buildings has also been found on King Street. The antler-working on King Street contributed to Norwich's strong trading economy, with links to Scandinavia, the Low Countries and the Rhineland. Further evidence of industry on King Street has been found in the form of clenchbolts at the Dragon Hall site, which were used in boat building or repairing. This was part of a larger network of industries which existed along the river.

By the early twelfth century, development along King Street had shifted the area from a suburb to part of the "urban core", with buildings extending south to St Olaf's parish, where 1997 excavations found a lined well or cesspit. Debris from a twelfth-century stone house and the remains of a thirteenth-century stone house were found in 1998 excavations behind Dragon Hall and another stone building was excavated opposite in 2000. This is despite most of the buildings of the period still being constructed of wood, with evidence of Norman timber structures being found on King Street in 1999. Stone buildings were particularly concentrated in St Julian's parish. Development extended along the length of the street by the thirteenth century while Brian Ayers describes the waterfront as "thriving"; at least three staithes existed, St Julian's in 1275, Frankestathe in 1290 and St Olaf's in the fourteenth century. King Street was connected to the river by a lane just north of Dragon Hall, which was lined with timber and stone buildings and a warehouse, which provide evidence that supports the idea that the area imported and smoked fish in peat-fired hearths. A fish-house uncovered at the Dragon Hall site was the first such building to be discovered in Norwich. The growth in trade around the river resulted in the construction of Bishop Bridge and New Bridge around the 1250s, bringing the number of bridges in the city up to five. Aside from the lane north of Dragon Hall, additional lanes ran from King Street to the river while private quays emphasised the importance of the river to those in the area. Despite this, merchants and artisans preferred locations further upstream with easier access to the market for their goods and a relative lack of commercial pressure made both ecclesiastical and secular development attractive. Property on the west side of the street was owned by the likes of John le Breton and Elizabeth de Ingham.

In 1322, Conesford was listed as the lowest-paying leet in the city, which is attributed to the prevalence of religious institutions (which did not pay tax) and lack of commercial use. However, investment was made in the area in the form of the purchase of two staithes by the city for common use and around this time a limeworks was in operation in the St Peter Southgate parish, which would later extend north to St Julian's parish. A quarry site, between King Street and Ber Street, has resulted in steep slopes on the escarpment. In the fifteenth century, the city also made investments into buildings belonging to the merchant class with disposable income. This included the construction of Dragon Hall while Jurnet's House was refurbished and an undercroft built. Trade continued to be relevant along the river, with Dragon Hall serving as a location for the sale of cloth. Fishermen and keelmen were established towards the southern end of the street in the sixteenth or seventeenth century while the poor mainly lived on the western side.

By the seventeenth century, the gentry presence to the south of the street had ended, but continued in St Peter Parmentergate's parish to the north. Meanwhile, in St Julian's parish, worsted weaving became the predominant occupation, with the number of weavers outnumbering all other occupations combined by 1761. However, like elsewhere in the city in the eighteenth century, their numbers began to decline, with trade returning to the river in the form of watermen, who likely settled in the former parish of St Edward which had been incorporated into St Julian's. It was also around this time that brewing grew in the area, a major occupation which continued into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. King Street was also host to timber yards and an ironworks in the nineteenth century, while yarn spinning and flour milling occurred to the southern end.

The Colman family had King Street moved slightly to the west so that the drive to their house could be sheltered from the road.

The Old Brewery
The Old Brewery was founded in 1563 as the Consiford Brewery at a site on King Street by John Barnard. By 1660, it was owned by the Thompson family who sold it and 54 pubs to brothers John and Walter Morgan in about 1844, who later renamed it to Morgan & Co. The brewery expanded; by 1887 it controlled 188 pubs, with 106 owned and 82 leased, took over the Lady Bridge Brewery in King's Lynn, and by 1904 controlled some 600 pubs. In 1942, the Old Brewery suffered bomb damage and production was moved to the King's Lynn site until the brewery on King Street was rebuilt and began production again in 1950. However, in 1961, the company entered into liquidation and the brewery was sold to Watney Mann (East Anglia) Ltd. while the 400–premise estate was shared between Steward & Patteson and Bullards. Under Watney Mann, the brewery was renovated and modernised. The company also acquired the pubs of Steward & Patteson and Bullards, resulting in the ownership of about 95% of the pubs in the city, and by 1970, the brewery was the only remaining in the city. This monopoly led to a reduced quality of beer as the brewery attempted to cut costs, despite the introduction of the less perishable keg beer. The brewery renamed itself to Norwich Brewery Company, but by 1985, a shift of preference from beer to lager resulted in the closure of the site for brewing and it moved to an administrative, commercial and distribution function. By 2005, however, the site had been demolished.

Crown Brewery
Established in the early nineteenth century by John Youngs, the Crown Brewery brewed on King Street and was operating over 70 pubs by 1845. The brewery expanded in 1865 with the purchase of adjacent land which included Jurnet's House, which became part of the brewery tap and also contained offices. The brewery pioneered the modernisation of its pubs by removing spittoons and covering brick floors with carpet and rugs. It won seven first prize medals at the London Brewers' Exhibition between 1923 and 1937 and by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, it controlled 250 pubs. However, in 1958, the brewery was taken over by Bullards and the site was sold to the Norfolk education Committee in 1961 before many of the buildings were destroyed in 1965. The site is now home to the Wensum Lodge Adult Education Centre and the stables are home to a conference hall. Along with Bullards, Steward & Patteson, and the Old Brewery, the Crown Brewery was a member of the 'Big Four' breweries of Norwich.

Austin Friars and Howard House
The Austin Friars were present in Norwich by the 1280s and were in possession of tenements in Conesford. By the middle of the fourteenth century, they occupied a monastic house between Nether Conesford and St Ann's Lane off King Street. The site of the friary had to be infilled to provide a level building surface. The parish church St Michael's of Conesford, which was built by 1186-1210, was demolished by the friars to make way for "conventional buildings" and a new church on the site. A chantry chapel was then established to serve the churchyard. A library was built in 1457 and a hospital in 1492 but the house was suppressed in 1538, lived in by John Godsalve before being demolished in 1547. In 1538, the friary was the largest Austin friary by membership. Six tenements belonging to the friary came into the possession of the Duke of Norfolk.