Norwich Theatre has officially completed its first-ever honey harvest, yielding 35 litres of fresh honey from its rooftop hives. This is a major milestone for Norwich Theatre’s sustainability and biodiversity initiatives, with the harvest heading straight to the kitchen of its on-site restaurant, Prelude.
Norwich Theatre has two national hives on the roof of Stage Two; each hive can have an average of 35,000 bees in the height of summer.
While a theatre roof might seem an unusual place for beehives, the elevated location provides a safe, sheltered environment for the bees, naturally protected from pests. The hives also benefit from close proximity to Chapelfield Gardens and Norwich Theatre’s Green Wall on Norwich Theatre Royal’s Fly Tower. The Green Wall was designed specifically to support local pollinators.
The project is managed by three fully trained staff volunteers, Lucinda Bray, Jen Dewsbury and Cati Majtényi, with guidance and mentorship from local beekeeping expert Stewart Spinks of the Norfolk Honey Company, who led the team through a bespoke training day for the extraction process.
Cati Majtényi, one of Norwich Theatre’s volunteer beekeepers, said: “Seeing the honey go directly onto Prelude’s plates is the bee’s knees. It has always been our intention to make the honey available at our restaurant, and now it is a reality. Our Head Chef, Duncan, already has something sweet and delicious in mind for the menu.”
The project has given the staff a renewed appreciation for urban biodiversity “I’m even more in awe of them [bees] and more generally how nature works”, added Cati.
Norwich Theatre plans to expand its volunteer team and continue developing pollinator-friendly planting projects across its venues.
Visitors to Prelude can look forward to tasting the rooftop harvest on the menu soon.
