First of all, some advice for aspiring pub bloggers. If you’re creating a post on your mobile phone in Tesco Costa waiting for the RAC, don’t sit on your phone and publish before you’ve actually wrote anything. If he reads this blog, thanks to the hipster helper from RAC for fixing my AYGO.
After some trad Old in Cambridge‘s newest contender, I couldn’t resist a Mild in one of the old stalwarts. Dick and Dave still have this one to look forward to, as well as the exceptional beauty of the Kite (though it was better before the Grafton Centre).
New Landlords, only the third in my memory, but the Free Press looks unscathed.
If I come back in a week’s time and there’s a help-yourself coloured vodka machine in the snug I’ll look daft, but for now the interior looks as stained by Cambridge life as ever, and the XX Mild survives (top).
Roger Protz’s famed article on no-smoking pubs is still yellowing in the outside Gents.
Simon had the XX here on his last Cambridge caper, and so did I. What a great head.
If there’s a better pub than this to waste an afternoon drinking Mild and reading the paper than the Free Press, it’s called the Royal Oak.
Quite a chilled pint, but thrillingly tart (I read that in BRAPA’s beer tasting notes) and drinking a lot stronger that its 3%. A great start to the new regime.
It tasted even better outside in the sun. I’m sure there’s science to that.
Oddly, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy an afternoon pint here on Tuesday a few years ago. Sadly, few other idlers and “homeworkers” were taking up the bonus opening hours implemented recently.
And if 3% Mild isn’t enough, there’s 10% Belgian beers at the end of that lane.
retiredmartin 
Very evocative post – I’m looking forward to the Cambridge away trip immensely!
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I doubt Cambridge United are ! Would be delighted to show you to the best Doom Bar in town on 16 Feb.
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That would be brilliant!
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“Who’s that ?”
No idea, but that lawn looks pretty easy to mow. 🙂
“to waste an afternoon drinking Mild and reading the paper than the Free Press,”
For a second I misread that as reading a paper from the free press. I thought free press was a dying breed. 😉
“I’m sure there’s science to that.”
Anecdotally I enjoy a bit more beer on a sunny day myself. 🙂
“And if 3% Mild isn’t enough, there’s 10% Belgian beers at the end of that lane.”
I’d prefer the 3% in the afternoon and save the 10% for nearer to bedtime.
Cheers
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Or a nice 3%/10% mix. NB The pub is named after a publication of that name that lasted for one issue !
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You are doing a fine job showing off the beauty of Cambridge and the pubs. If I recall, BRAPA loved this one as well. Love the look of this pub.
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Simon liked it more than I thought, he found weird locals there late at night. Earlier in the day it’s more student/ young prof/academic. A great pub, I actually spent one New Year’s Eve here back in the days when GK IPA was my only beer !
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Oddly enough, I’m developing a soft spot for GK IPA, having given up on trying unheard-of brews, which, as often as not, appear to turn the inside of my mouth into cork.
A few pubs offer the former, for the too-oft-bitten souls such as me, I assume, but it’s a relief to see it, whenever I don’t recognise the rest.
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We do look forward to that pub. I hope that Mild is on, but I will not hold my breath.
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I’m sure it’s permanent (unless demand tales off). Would love to you all back on a proper Cambridge visit. Elm Tree the place with Belgian beers also a must-see in Cambridge.
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I would be up for a guided tour of some of Cambridge’s finest pubs. Keep me posted if you’ve anything planned along those lines, particularly between Christmas and New Year when I will be making a visit Norfolk.
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Mrs RM and I are anti-Christmas, as you may have guessed, so I expect she’s looking at ways to escape Cambridge as we speak. Let me know by e-mail when you have a date and we’ll see if we can meet up. Would be great.
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We do need to give Cambridge more attention. Won’t make it between Xmas and New Year, so have fun if you do.
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Unfortunately I remember the John Sims of the Three Fishes, Shrewsbury in that article about no smoking pubs.
“You people” he bellowed when I politely asked for my pint to be topped up.
I don’t think he was there long.
It’s always the very nearby Loggerheads for me now.
Anyone up for a Proper Day Out in Shrewsbury sometime next year ?
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Yes, back in the day, I found the Three Fishes a bit miserable and stopped off at the Loggerhrads instead.
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Yes to a Day Out in Salop.
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I’ve been drinking quite a bit of mild recently?
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Looks like a terrific boozer…never really got into mild…I need recommendations!
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I love that photo that’s captioned “How to do a pub”– every color in it is the sort of color I want to see in a pub.
I hope you can forgive me for misspelling the word “colour.” 😉
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Only Russ is permitted to rule on spelling.
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