The parish of St John Maddermarket within the city of Norwich occupies a tiny area immediately west of the main commercial centres of the city, namely the market, castle and city hall. St John Maddermarket is one of many churches that line the former route of the Roman Road through the centre of the city which generally follows the line of today's King Street and St Benedict's Street. Like most Norwich parishes St John Maddermarket covered an area of just a couple of city blocks being squeezed between St Andrew and St Gregory. Whilst the parish carried its fair share of Norwich's typical weavers and wool combers, St John Maddermarket was a relatively well-to-do area of the Victorian city populated by both artisans and up and coming middle-class and clerical workers. Despite its small size St John Maddermarket parish would have been rather stuffed with as many as 800 parishioners squeezed into its tiny acreage, today it is much more lightly populated and dominated by Norwich's restaurant and shopping scene.

St John's church has been declared redundant for worship and after a spell as a Greek Orthodox church is no longer used for services. The church sits tightly squeezed into the space between the city's Pottergate and Charing Cross accompanied by commercial premises and the city's iconic ancient Elizabethan theatre named for the church. The church is a product of the 15th century, largely Perpendicular in style, and is missing its chancel which was demolished in the 16th century, Pevsner believes the chancel once sat above the street of St John Maddermarket as a cover over the way. Even today one walks through the passage cut through the tower's base. Documentary evidence dates the roofing to 1452, a date which seems consistent with the majority of the church's styling. Like most churches the Victorian era saw some change, a restoration of 1864 being followed by emergency repairs in 1876 following a nearby gas explosion. Like most city churches it is better to park in one of the city's many car parks and approach on foot, the enclosed urban setting, however, does make the church something of a challenge to adequate photograph.