| Pub | Comments | Location |
|---|---|---|
| CAMBRIDGE | ||
| Alexandra Arms | Good ale in this pleasant compact multi-roomed corner house on a back street.
Last visited May 2021. |
Gwydir Street / Milford Street |
| Architect | Rather fun contemporary styling, including the nowadays-inevitable retro-industrial lighting, in this Everards house. Sadly, on my visit the quality of the real ale was poor.
Last visited June 2019. |
Castle Street |
| Bath House | This standard tourist-oriented pub has pleasant antiquey decor with some very old looking, possibly genuine, beams. The real ale, from Greene King and guests, is spot on.
Last visited August 2014. |
Bene't Street |
| Blue Moon | Plain, but pleasant nonetheless, decor in this pub concentrating on live music. No real ale when I visited but a broad range of interesting craft.
Last visited May 2021. |
Norfolk Street / Staffordshire Street |
| Baron of Beef | Five hand-pumps, four were off and the fifth ran out half way down my pint. I made my excuses and left.
Last visited December 2018. |
Bridge Street |
| Brook | A pleasant Greene King chain pub. Knocked through into one room but retaining two distinct areas around the three sided counter. The real ales, from a limited range, always seem to be of excellent quality. Real fire.
Last visited December 2019. |
Brookfields / Perne Road |
| Calverley's Brewery | Very limited opening hours for this brewery tap, a couple of small rooms attached to the brewery. Included in their excellent beers is a wonderful Cherry Sour. Food is available from the pizza truck outside.
Last visited December 2017. |
Hooper Street |
| Cambridge Blue | Plain pleasant decor with lots of beer memorabilia in this extended multi-area pub with a wide range of high quality real ales - Some pumps have two clips, one for the pump and one for a beer or cider from the tap-room. They've also got plenty of imported bottles if you'd prefer. The food is excellent.
Last visited May 2021. |
Gwydir Street |
| Cambridge Brew House | A range of their own brews and guests is offered in this pleasant bar/restaurant with quirky modern decor including exposed cable trays. The tiny brewery can be seen in one corner - is that really all the kit they need to make these excellent beers?
Last visited December 2018. |
King Street |
| Castle | Small rooms with bare wooden floor and old wooden furniture set the tone in this splendid Adnam's pub serving excellent ales. (The food looks good as well.) It was totally deserted when I visited early on a Tuesday. Eventually the door creaked and someone came in, but it was only the postman. More recently, I visited on a Sunday afternoon, and once again it was surprisingly quiet.
Last visited June 2019. |
Castle Street |
| Castle | Restrained contemporary decor, wood floor etc. in this rather nice up market cafe bar. The menu looks good but not cheap and I paid a startling £3 for a pint of real ale, amazingly right next door to the much cheaper Wetherspoon's.
Last visited October 2008. |
St. Andrew's Street / Downing Street |
| Champion of the Thames | A compact two roomed friendly boozer serving excellent real ale from Greene King and guests, and tasty bar snacks. For a more substantial meal you can order from a nearby take-away. The interior has many Victorian features and is on CAMRA's national inventory.
Last visited August 2018. |
King Street |
| Clarendon Arms | A traditional back street boozer serving a few real ales of excellent quality. Quiet but ticking over with friendly regulars. The food looks good and is popular.
Last visited August 2018. |
Clarendon Street |
| Devonshire Arms | A wide range of fine real ales from Milton Brewery and guests is available in this excellent two roomed pub which has a small front bar with the serving counter and a larger back room. I can highly recommend the food as well.
Last visited December 2016. |
Devonshire Road |
| Eagle | A large multi-roomed city centre pub, famous for being the place where Watson and Crick first announced their discovery of the structure of DNA, and for a ceiling covered in graffiti by WWII airmen. Decent beer from Greene King.
Last visited May 2008. |
Bene't Street |
| Earl Of Beaconsfield | A small selection of real ales on sale in one nicely done out room. Friendly dogs!
Last visited August 2016. |
Mill Road / Great Eastern Street |
| Elm Tree | On offer in this wonderful small one-room pub is a wide range of quality real ales, both "common" and unusual, and if that's not enough there's a massive menu of Belgian bottled beers, including my personal favourite - Rochfort 10.
Last visited December 2016. |
Eden Street / Elm Street |
| Flying Pig | An excellent range of quality real ale, and the food - Burgers, sarnies, baked potatoes etc. - looks good, in a pleasant pub popular with local workers at lunchtime.
Last visited May 2015. |
Hills Road |
| Fort St George | Good food and real ale in a comfortable pub by the river which was surprisingly quiet on a Thursday lunchtime. Recently visited by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Last visited May 2016. |
Midsummer Common |
| Free Press | This tiny little back-street gem serves excellent real ale. Beautiful old plain dark wood decor and wooden benches. Very quiet on a Thursday afternoon, in fact very quiet both times I've been in.
Last visited December 2016. |
Prospect Row |
| Geldart | A good choice of quality real ales in this street corner pub. The menu looks good, and the specials included zebra when I was there!
Last visited December 2017. |
Fair Street |
| Green Dragon | A Greene King chain dining pub with a very pleasant antiquey interior and a large beer garden across the road by the river. Quality real ales are served.
Last visited April 2018. |
Water Street, Chesterton |
| Haymakers | This is a member of the small chain of pubs owned by the nearby Milton Brewery, and like all the others it's a great pub serving quality real ales.
Last visited April 2018. |
Chesterton High Street / Union Lane |
| Hopbine | A good choice of unusual ales in this large open pub with a parquet floor and comfortable old furniture. The menu looks good, and good value (for Cambridge).
Last visited September 2013. |
Fair Street |
| Kingston Arms | Eleven or more hand pumps in this plain comfortable street-corner local knocked through into one room. The food looks good and is very popular.
Last visited December 2017. |
Kingston Street |
| Live and Let Live | Eight hand pumps for guest ales and a real cider, plus a selection of Belgian bottles. Dark wood floor and panelling, bare brick walls and 'rustic' furniture create a pleasant interior. Quiet and friendly on a midweek lunchtime visit.
Last visited December 2017. |
Mawson Road |
| Maypole | A pleasant multi-roomed pub hidden on a back alley, but well worth searching out. Don't panic at the lack of decent beer when you go in, the eight handpumps are all in the other bar! Very quiet on a Tuesday lunchtime or a Wednesday afternoon. The excellent real ales are expensive, even for Cambridge.
Last visited December 2018. |
Portugal Place |
| Mill | This small pub would be a licence to print money if it was four times bigger, located just by where all the vistors go for their punt ride. As it is it's crowded with tourists, some of whom apparently have never been in a pub before, and very busy, but the staff still manage to provide friendly cheerful and quick service and excellent real ales.
Last visited May 2016. |
Mill Lane |
| Mitre | Very much a tourist trap, but they've got a wide range of real ales, both common and less well known ones. The decor is rather well done, fake traditional. The food, concentrating on pies, looks good but they were having lots of trouble with a brand new menu on the day I visited. Part of the Nicholson's chain.
Last visited September 2010. |
Bridge Street |
| Old Ticket Office | The rather quirky decor is too green in this bar serving excellent real and craft ales. The menu looks good, and good value considering the location, and I must say the sausage rolls and scotch eggs on the counter look very tempting.
Last visited January 2020. |
Station Square |
| Pickerel Inn | Excellent ale is served in this pleasant pub. There's a small front room with wooden floor, bare brick walls and ceiling beams. Situated just outside the main tourist area this is a good place for a nice quiet drink. The menu looks good.
Last visited December 2018. |
Magdalene Street |
| Pint Shop | A very modern pub with a dining room upstairs. The menu is somewhat eccentric, or perhaps I'm just behind the times. Cask ale fans shouldn't be concerned as they go in, the hand pumps are hidden away on a tiny counter in a back room, and if you do find them, there's no pump clips! - Just choose your cask ale from the list on the wall which offers a wide selection of beers from about ten keg fonts (Also without labels) and six hand pumps. They've got beers from all over the place, but I chose a pint of Nero Stout from the Milton Brewery just a few miles away, and it was excellent. Displaying prices as 4.2 when they mean £4.20 is, in my opinion, an ugly affectation. Last visited August 2014. |
Bene't Street / Peas Hill |
| Punter | A rather fine traditional-ish multiroomed pub concentrating on the food market, but serving quality real ale to drinkers. The House Ale is brewed by Oakham and tastes like Citra - Superb!
Last visited June 2019. |
Northampton Street / Pound Hill |
| Queen Edith | The traditional-looking building was in fact new in 2015, built in the car park of the previous Queen Edith pub which, unlike the current incarnation, was a bit of a dump when I visited it many years ago. Inside the new building is a two-sided pub with pleasant slightly understated decor. They serve wonderful beers from the owners, Milton Brewery, and guests. The food, from a fairly small menu of pub classics, is also excellent.
Surprisingly, this great pub always seems to be very quiet when I visit, usually in the afternoon, and more than once I have been the only customer. I am slightly worried by this, but it seems to manage to carry on successfully so I guess they are busier at other times. Last visited June 2021. |
Wulfstan Way / Queen Edith's Way |
| Red Lion | A nice multi-room interior with some rustic bare-brick decor, serving quality real ales from Greene King. The menu looks good. Too much swearing from the regulars!
Last visited November 2019. |
Mill End Road / Forest Road, Cherry Hinton |
| Robin Hood and Little John | A popular pub concentrating on food sales but nevertheless serving good ale, from Greene King and guests. The decor is in the standard modern chain pub style, but seems better than most. The food is very good, but can be slow at busy times.
Last visited November 2019. |
Fulbourn Road / High Street, Cherry Hinton |
| Saint Radegund "The Rad" | This tiny gem of a pub seems to have eluded me on previous visits to the area, probably because it's only open in the evening, except on Saturday. The smallest pub in Cambridge according to the sign, although it's no Nutshell or Lakeside Inn. Quality real ales are served, for a remarkable two pounds a pint. The pleasant traditional decor features plenty of sporting memorabilia, a lot for the pub's bumps team.
Reported closed in October 2019. Last visited August 2018. |
King Street / Jesus Lane |
| Salisbury Arms | Wells and Youngs beers and Adnams Broadside were on handpump when I visited this large multi-area pub with (fake I suspect) antiquey decor, wood and tiled floor. The food looks good.
Last visited August 2016. |
Tenison Road |
| Station Tavern | New construction in the ground floor of the Ibis Hotel at the station. Young's beers and guests on hand pump, the one I had was excellent. I was surprised to see they only do snack food, until I spotted the other menu of up-market versions of standard pub meals. The food is expensive and of mediocre quality, while the staff are, in contrast, friendly and efficient. The decor is mainly modern (naked air ducts etc.) but with some nice traditional touches such as the carved wood bar front.
Last visited August 2018. |
Station Square |
| Tram Depot | A rather fine old building (It was indeed a tram depot.) gutted and converted into a very pleasant large open food-led pub. The pizzas look good. Run by Everard's, they provide a good choice of their own and guest ales.
Last visited May 2015. |
East Road / Dover Street |
| Unicorn | This plain open knocked-through boozer is probably full of youngsters on a Friday night, but it was totally empty when I visited on a Saturday lunchtime. Nonetheless, my pint of Greene King IPA was in excellent nick. Now closed.
Last visited December 2008. |
High Street / Mill End Road, Cherry Hinton |
| Unicorn | Ancient-looking beams in a pleasant multi-room interior, with very comfy sofas! Excellent ale.
Last visited May 2009. |
Church Lane, Trumpington |
| Wetherspoon's Regal | Standard Wetherspoon's fare with perhaps a wider then usual selection of ales, in a former cinema and at one time claimed to be the largest pub in the country. On a sunny day it's a bit dark when you first go in. Always busy.
Last visited December 2019. |
Regent Street / Downing Street |
| White Swan | A very pleasant two roomed street corner boozer. The menu looks good, and good value.
Last visited August 2016. |
Mill Road / Kingston Street |
| ELY | ||
| Cutter | This marina-side pub is definitely aimed at diners, but my choice from the small range of standard real ales was in excellent nick. It was very busy at 1330 on a Saturday but I managed to find a table to sit at. There are multiple rooms plus a terrace facing the water. The posher restaurant side has a similar menu but with waitress service. The food looks good but it's expensive.
Last visited August 2017. |
Annesdale / Victoria Street |
| Minster Tavern | A pleasant partly knocked through pub aiming at diners, but serving quality ales as well. The front half has genuine-looking beams, the rear has more modern bare brick decor. The menu looks good (standard pub fare) and the food and drink prices are reasonable.
Last visited August 2017. |
Minster Place / High Street |
| Prince Albert | A plain very well cared for street corner local, quiet at 1145 on a Saturday, but suddenly busy by 12. There are two rooms plus large restaurant area at rear. Everyone else in the place seemed to be local, and known to the bar staff.
Last visited August 2017. |
Silver Street / Church Lane |
| GRANTCHESTER | ||
| Red Lion | Outside, a thatched roof, and a nice knocked through interior with wood beams and panelling in this large pub mainly aimed at the food market. The menu looks good but not cheap. Service was a bit slow when I visited, mainly due to interminable queries about food orders, but the real ale was worth waiting for.
Last visited May 2009. |
Westgate / Bourges Boulevard |
| Rupert Brooke | Good beer and excellent up-market food both in the bar and the restaurant. The ancient wooden beams are purely decorative, I think.
Last visited September 2010. |
High Street / Broadway |
| MARCH | ||
| Wetherspoon's Hippodrome | An excellent conversion from a former cinema, retaining the original layout of a large entrance lobby leading to the auditorium which is complete with a screen at the far end and a balcony.
Last visited May 2016. |
Dartford Road / Darthill Road |
| PETERBOROUGH | ||
| Brewery Tap | An enormous building with industrial-style decor done very well. Excellent ales from Oakham, and the Thai food smells good. The leather sofas are very comfortable. There are some brewing vessels for experimental one-off brews, but this is not their main brewing location. Don't panic if you approach from the station and it looks closed, the entrance is round the other side.
Last visited February 2020. |
Westgate / Bourges Boulevard |
| Bumble Inn | A pleasant comfortable micro-pub in a former shop, serving excellent ales including personal favourite Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild when I was there. Deserted on a Sunday afternoon.
Last visited January 2020. |
Westgate / Lincoln Road |
| Ostrich | A traditional boozer, knocked through into one room divided by the servery. An excellent range of real ales are served.
Last visited January 2020. |
North Street |
| Wetherspoon's College Arms | A large open pleasant 'Spoons.
Last visited May 2016. |
Broadway / Cattle Market Road |
| Wetherspoon's Draper's Arms | Smaller than most 'Spoons, or so it seems until you find the large room at the back. The decor is traditional dark wood panelling, and some leaded glass on the booths.
Last visited September 2019. |
Cowgate |
| Wortley Almshouses | A plain multi-roomed boozer serving cheap ale including a mediocre pint of Sam Smith's.
Last visited December 2006. |
Westgate |
| SAINT IVES | ||
| Royal Oak | The ancient interior is well preserved and well kept, as are the selection of real ales and ciders, and the food is good. The date on the front of the building is 1502.
Last visited March 2013. |
Crown Street / Bridge Street |
| STAPLEFORD | ||
| Rose | Mainly a restaurant serving excellent food, but they have an area for drinkers as well. A small range of good quality real ales is served.
Last visited September 2013. |
London Road |
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