This little crawl was turning into an advert for Cambridge’s Proper Pubs, and for not walking more than a dozen steps between pints.
Mind, neither Mrs RM or me have ever been able to resist the charms of the Elm Tree, with its cheery service, strong Belgians, breweriana and BBBs.
What’s this ? What’s this !
One of the locals had provided the classic 1990s pump clip, which would surely add 0.5 to the NBSS score. Yes, I made sure Andrew had the first pint, too.
“Oooh, suplhur” I said. A real joy, and the first pint of Pedi I’ve had in Cambridge since the Empress had it on for her Old Boys.
Keep it on, Elm Tree, please.
Time for one more before Evensong or punting or buying olives or whatever Cambridge tourists do these days.
Time for the Champion.
Always in our hearts and now back in the Guide with its cutting-edge beer range.
Pub Curmudgeon liked this a lot, I think.
The left-hand room was unusually quiet, so we turned right.
Having swiched from localish beers to Pedi, I went full northern with a pint of Unicorn I can only describe as nectar.
Four pints in four hours, all of them NBSS 3.5 or better. I may have had the best of the bunch in each pub; I always do except when Mrs RM is with me.
And that was on a quiet Monday lunchtime. Cambridge’s reputation for good beer is intact.
retiredmartin 
“Oooh, suplhur” I said. A real joy
Yes. I often drink Pedigree and think that over the last few weeks it’s tasted the best ever.
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You’d have loved the Pedi. And the Unicorn. You must visit.
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Yes,
It’s towards the end of the year now with the nights drawing in and only staying not far away in Manchester and Liverpool but next spring when I start thinking of going further afield again I shouldn’t forget Cambridge.
I won’t have done badly this year though with 27 nights away being by far the most in about thirty years.
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I have to say I have had some good examples of Pedi this year when otten in the past it’s been disappointing. Going to Uttoxeter helps, of course.
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T’other Mudgie,
I’ve drunk two gallons of Pedigree since the beginning of last month but that’s easily done where I live.
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I’ve just ordered 72 pints of cider from a small farm in Somerset after tasting it in Bristol last weekend.
Even with shipping it still works out at half the price of the bottles of Irish craft cider available in my Irish local and is much,much tastier.
Mind you I’l have to drink it all at home …
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P P-T,
During the 1980s I’d sometimes come home from Bristol with a polypin of Wilkins proper cider, appropriately from Mudgely, that worked out at 16p a pint.
My daughter has just brought me plenty of bottles Westvleteren 12 back from Belgium.
I probably won’t be doing anything much tomorrow other than attending a piss up in the Titanic Brewery.
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Agree with that. Maybe it’s having a revival…had a cracker in the new Inn in Woodville yesterday…nectar
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I do like seeing those older Pedigree pump clips. In my experience, pubs that use them, with a sympathetic nod to the heritage of the beer, always serve a top notch pint of Pedigree.
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The Landlady had ditched the new one in favour of one the local had in his collection.
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Good on her! I get the impression that at least a few pubs with a focus on their beer may have eschewed the modern design clip provided by Marston’s for something more traditional.
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Looks like a great pub. After hearing only bad things about the Cambridge pub scene for some time, it is nice to see that it still can be a great pub city.
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Cambridge has lost a lot of community boozers this century, and the new pubs are very middle class diner, but the centre retains the classic pubs.
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Haven’t been in the Champ since 1979 and its6nit changed much, although it was a GK tenancy when I was last there.
The Elm Tree, from memory, was one of 4 Charles Wells pubs in the city.
Happy days!
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Yes, I remember the Elm Tree as Charles Wells as well as the Ancient Druids and the Wrestlers.
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Nothing much changes!
The Champ still GK, though takes guests like Unicorn. And Elm Tree a Charles Wells/Banks & Taylor of Shefford pub.
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That’s as nice a set of four pubs as you’ve written up in any city. Really makes one want to go to Cambridge.
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Where are all these proper Cambridge boozers coming from? I thought they’d all disappeared…they look terrific 👍 Mudgie on the Unicorn and Pedigree too?
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No. Mudgie went for the cucumber sour DIPAs in the back room.
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I suspected as much…only available in thirds?
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Strictly tasters only 😊
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🍻🍻
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Nah, I stuck to the local beers – Greene King XX, Banks & Taylor Shefford Best Bitter and Greene King Abbot Ale 😀
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Ha 😉🍻🍻 I thought as much!!
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#SavingTinyBreweries
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Shefford Best Bitter ?
Not a blend of our favourites from Wolverhampton and Keighley ?
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I love that the old Pedigree pump clip includes a sentence telling you where the yeast came from. Half the people reading that know about the yeast and what it signifies, while everyone else just nods knowingly and says, “Damned fine beer, this.” 😉
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I’d never even noticed the sentence about the yeast 😕
It’s a design classic, isn’t it?
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