Cambridge is infamous for its
abysmal night life, but as for
pubs, it favours rather better. Here are a few that spring to mind:
The Cambridge Blue:
A
very nice pub indeed, but located as it is on Gwydir Street it's hard to
encourage people to go there as it is
a long way from anywhere else (well, it's near good
curry on Mill Road, but that too is a long way from anywhere else).
The Cambridge Blue is a free house, and as such has an unusual and varied selection of ales from local breweries (some quite good). The pub also serves Hoegaarden and Kettle chips which is a Good Thing.
Oh yes, and it has a complete ban on smoking and mobile telephony. A Good Thing too.
The Mill:
Probably the
best pub in the area (it's situated at the end of Mill lane). Quite small, and certainly expensive, but a superbly preserved
traditional English pub.
The place really comes into its own in
May Week, when you can get a drink there and take it out on to Laundress Green and lie around in the sun getting
pissed (
not angry).
The Anchor:
A quite large pub situated on Silver Street opposite
Queens'. It has two floors and two
bars, and opens out on to a terrace on the Mill pond (nice in summer, but causes the lower level of the pub to get flooded when the level of the
Cam rises high enough). On the whole a
nice place, well decorated, but quite
expensive.
Owned by Whitbred.
The Eagle:
The Eagle in on Bene't Street, a
short distance from The Bath House. A pleasant pub, which appeals more to
old people and
tourists than to
students. It has two bars, one of which is the vaguely famous
air force bar whose ceiling is covered with the signatures of
American service men who were in the area during
World War II. It also has a
no smoking room, which is a reilef, but is quite
small.
Owned by Greene King and Corpus Christi.
The Bath House:
The Bath House, which used to be the Bath Ale House is located on Ben'et Street. The change of name occured when the pub was renovated, and became a
pub of death. Before renovation, it was a dingy but homely place for a quick drink, situated ideally to catch everyone coming out from lectures in the arts school. It was here that
Ernest Rutherford and his colleagues came to drink immediately after they had first
split the
atom.
These days, it's a brightly coloured thronging with teenagers drinking alchopops.
It's a Hogshead pub.
The Regal:
Situated on Regent Street, it was recently opened following the conversion of the old ABC cinema (at a cost of £3m). It is the
largest pub in the
United Kingdom, and gets quite
rowdy at times. Because of this, they
ID everyone who enters on Friday and Saturday nights, which
takes the piss.
The Regal is a Wetherspoon's pub and consequentially sells dirt cheap drinks. It sits below the Arts Picture House, and is a good place to go for a quick bite to eat before or after a film.
Not a pub of death, but looks like one.
After they shut, a trip to
one of the vans is in order.
If you wan to find any of these places, have a look at http://www.cammap.com/ 'the world's most interactive online map' (hmmm).