July 2023. Milton. Cambridgeshire.
I don’t want you to think I’m trying to get Dad round All The Pubs In Cambridgeshire or anything, but he’s certainly been to more more this year than he had the last 70, even if it is only keeping the local pineapple juice industry alive.
Tuesday saw us dot around the Huntingdonshire hinterland, staring at faded signs indicating once great castles in Swavesey,
finding ‘owt open in Over, and being spotted by a friend in Fen Drayton, before opting for an early lunch in Milton’s Lion & Lamb.
I showed Dad my first house (£41,950, 1987), and noted the lack of a blue plaque.
The Lion & Lamb, two minutes walk, was my closest pub back then but I never went in because a) I didn’t drink and b) it was a rather plain place compared to the Waggon & Horses run by a member of the Monster Raving Loony Party.
I’m convinced, though no-one seems willing to corroborate this, that the Lion used to house a ramshackle building housing a junior library in the ’70s where I borrowed a copy of The Iron Man in 1974.
The literal pub sign has only had one makeover since then, and is a welcome change from the Greene King monstrosities round here.
It’s possibly the smartest of Milton’s quartet, and always seemed the most expensive till the Jolly Brewers went gastro.
Mum and Dad’s house looks a bit like this, and it’s easy to entertain Dad with a few old beams,
a giant fireplace,
and an old photo of the pub.
Dad spent five minutes closely scrutinising those faces before concluding that none of them were relatives, which given the family is teetotal isn’t that surprising.
Dizzy Blonde, Doom Bar or Boltmaker your choice, I like the Tim Taylor test.
It wasn’t great, but not quite returnable, not for a half.
We were first in on the dot of noon so had our ham, egg and chips and squid within 10 minutes, before a huge group of IT workers from the Science Park came in.
Those IT workers are what keeps Cambridge lunch trade above water (see: The Wrestlers), and half of them were on the cask, too.
I heard one of them raise an issue, and as we left I noted that Boltmaker pump clip turned round.
But that’s a minor gripe. The new landlady was an absolute gem, and whether you’re 88, 58 or 28 it’s the quality of the welcome that matters as much as the NBSS.
retiredmartin 
In most of the country the “used to be a library” would be followed by “it’s a Spoons now”, but I’m guessing in deepest ruralshire it would be “it’s a Brunning and Price now”.
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A lovely post Martin, and it’s good that you’re able to spend time with your dad, especially when it involves taking him round a few local pubs.
You mentioned your family were teetotal, and whilst mine weren’t complete abstainers, neither of my parents drank much, and they certainly weren’t pub goers either.
I was the black sheep of the family, when it came to beer and pubs, although both my sisters followed suit, but with wine, rather than beer.
After mum passed away, and before dad had to move into a care home, I used to enjoy talking him to a few local pubs, on visits to Norfolk. Dad was on the orange juice, by then, but it was nice to spend some time with him, before the Alzheimer’s really took hold.
Moments to cherish, I always think.
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Beautifully put, Paul.
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An interesting read. I don’t know much (anything) about the pubs of Milton, despite living in Histon for several years.
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Well if you lived in Histon then the Red Lion and King Bill were all you needed!
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So true, and the pubs of Cambridge…
There were (are?) a lot of good village pubs around Cambridge.
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Not much has changed in 30 years, apart from the smoking ban ! Perhaps a bit less Greene King and Wells.
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Good news that there’s less Greene King, I still avoid them having just been in too many and had no options.
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