Our eldest son came back from University at Sheffield over Easter. At times I feel more time gets spent planning his journeys back and forth up the A1/M18 than he spends in lectures. No, he still hasn’t discovered Sheffield’s pubs. No rush.
On the Friday night before he returned to the city of Ruskin, the Rutland and relish, we popped on the train to Cambridge for tea.
Now that Mrs RM is a confirmed craftie, I felt obliged to take her to the Craft Central that is Calverley Brewery Tasting Tap. Awesome pours, pizza carts, those irksome young people, and it’s next to railway sidings. More of that later.
The awesome pizza people were still setting up, so we popped round the corner to the Geldart, yet another of the Mill Road circuit’s regular Beer Guide entries.
I really ought to go in all the Cambridge GBG entries each year, if only to brief BRAPA on comic potential ahead of his summer visit. I’d pop in the Geldart more, but it’s one of those new-style places that opens from 5pm, and I like my lunchtime pint.
It’s a pleasingly traditional (if slightly upmarket) corner pub, with public to the left, and to the right one of those “hot rocks” dining operations that I always avoid because I know there’ll be an industrial injury.
It’s also famous for the music, both live and in the form of memorabilia.
While hardly BBB heaven, it’s certainly one for fans of Proper Breweries.
Actually five seemed plenty, but there was also (I think) Bradfield, Hobsons and Jennings. Exotica !
The Geldart proves that;
- You can get a pub in the Beer Guide offering well-known brands
- Folk will still drink real ale that comes out of hand pumps
- Citra is still regarded as unusual and exotic by many drinkers
Citra is also just about the most reliable pint I come across in Beer Guide country, hitting the heights more often than any other beer. This one, and the Ghost Ship, were cool, foamy and tasty (NBSS 3.5/4). We’d have stayed for another.
We sat in the corner of a bustling public bar and enjoyed beer, 1930s swing, and some crisps decanted into wooden bowls. James drank a lemonade.
“Excuse me, is your son eighteen. We’re adults only in this bar ?” asked the young barmaid.
James showed his student card, all was well. I have to tell you, we were asked so sweetly and sensitively I felt there was hope for the future of humanity. No drama, no parents complaining to the local newspaper about landlords.
Long live the adult pub.
retiredmartin 
You can’t beat a pint of Citra, but then I would say that.
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“one of those “hot rocks” dining operations”
Is that where they bring your food on a heated bit of stone? I thought that was Mongolian but could be wrong.
““Excuse me, is your son eighteen. We’re adults only in this bar ?” asked the young barmaid.”
Ah, that explains the title. At first I thought it was a pub with exotic dancing. 😉
And I didn’t realise they do adult pubs over there. I thought anyone was allowed in regardless of age?
Cheers
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I think the original concept in the ’90s here was Mongolian; I imagine this is more akin to a barbecue. Never actually eaten there. Quite popular in Birmingham, it seems.
Lots of legislation about the age at which you can drink, but Landlord free to exclude children from their establishment. Plenty of pubs say No children or even No Under 21s.
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Thanks Martin. Was not aware of the under 21 thingy.
Cheers
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My dream is that Simon gets refused entry to his last Beer Guide pub because he looks too young in a pub with a no Under 21s policy in Maidenhead.
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Great post Martin and glad to see you’re back home safely after your Dorset foray…(which I’ve just caught up with).
Love the ‘in the glass’ froth photo – intrepid camera work…we’ll be expecting you to do a ‘sister’ post where you explain the behind the scene’s camera trickery – like David Attenborough on Blue Planet…
That has to be one of the most worrying titles of recent times – but I’ve recovered now and relieved it all worked out well in the end. Similar to Russ, any worrying parallels with adult magazines etc were quickly banished from my mind!
Is that man in the checked shirt cooking doing his steak-on-a-hot-rock thing? Has he just dropped the rock in his lap? The woman on the right looks horrified and clearly concerned about his future fatherhood potential…
Cook it yourself on a hot rock – what a great idea – saves the pub having to pay a cook. Wonder if the pub would have any liability when customers ‘drop the rock’ or give themselves food poisoning with raw meat – I suppose they’d sue in the former case because the rock was too hot, and the latter, because the rock wasn’t hot enough – minefield…;)
I remember going to a posh New Forest restaurant a while back (not really my scene to be honest being of proud Yorkshire working class heritage) and the menu was like a meccano set, where you had to order everything separately, meat, every item of veg, potatoes etc – bit like a build your own meal. I thought the whole point of posh restaurants and chefs was that they use their skills to design a quality meal… oh well that’s trendy for you…
🙂
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How can we trust a blog site that advocates going A1 and M18 to Sheffs. from Cambs? One wonders whether the writer’s beer tastes are similarly; easy, convenient, least trouble, don’t mind going the long way for the easy hit? Whatever happened to the A57?
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“crisps decanted into wooden bowls” –Love how you phrased this. In my experience, the simple act of putting crisps into wooden bowls has an amazing effect of doubling or tripling their cost to the consumer. 😉
The name “Citra” gets me imagining some sort of citrusy tasting beer; is that the case?
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I guess Citra is citrusy, it just tastes like Citra to me 😉
And on the first point 👏
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At first taste, Citra tastes very citrusy but halfway down the first pint you don’t really notice that anymore. Citra is the only beer that I would choose over Carling if they are both on in the same pub. (I’m a lager drinker, but I’m slowly moving to the ‘dark’ side!)
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Any pub with Lola and Johnny B Goode available on the jukebox as well as serving Tribute and Citra can’t be anything but excellent. Never can a band have sounded so crap as the Spencer Davis Group and been so good! Sounds like a skiffle band from Stevenage but a top notch band
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Jimmy Reed middle right on the display, one of the most underrated Chicago bluesmen.
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No dogs, no children. Pros only.
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Its one of those pubs that is perfectly fine, but given that you have to walk past either the Kingston, the Blue, the Blue Moon (depending upon angle of approach) to get there…. why would you keep walking?
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