THE FREE PRESS

May 2024. Cambridge.

Sad to read via Phil Rodgers that one of Cambridge’s many legendary landlords has died.

Lovely people, and particularly helpful when I took a crying James (he had an undiagnosed hernia) to the Cambridge Blue as a babe in arms after they moved there in 2000.

I reckon Chris and Debbie Lloyd were in charge of the Free Press in the late ’80s, when an un-tubby un-retired Martin made regular post-work trips to the heart of Cambridge’s Kite district (RIP) for pints of a beer apparently called “Ipper” and the rabbits in the garden.

Yes, there was a time when going for a pint with colleagues after work was NOT discriminatory and illegal.

And there was a time when Greene King IPA was a go-to beer for CAMRAs. Possibly even in North Notts.

But then it went and won “Best Beer In The World” or whatever it’s called in 2004 and it became fashionable to hate it as it was suddenly ubiquitous. Nowadays it’s actually a rare sight, even on the bar of Greene King pubs, and may even start to regain some sympathetic affection. Like Bass.

I guess that, along with the Champion of the Thames, there’s no better place to drink IPA, and it’s still a gorgeous pub with the slightly refined air of the Cambridge undergraduate gown mixed with a bit of local townie. Across from me a boy hangs on every word of his girlfriend, whose every sentence starts “I was just, like“.

One of these days I’ll actually read those adverts on the wall,

but now I just admired the lacings, the highpoint of a decent pint (NBSS 3+); cool, tasty if a bit flabby (says he).

Not a patch on the final barrel of IPA served by Chris and Debbie in early 2000. Now, that was nectar.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

22 thoughts on “THE FREE PRESS”

  1. It’s ages since I’ve been in the Free Press but I hope to get to Cambridge later this year.

    My Greene King IPA eleven days ago was excellent. My Greene King IPA five days ago was only just drinkable. Neither pub was far from home. It’s all about turnover.

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  2. Sad news about the passing of the Free Press’s former landlord. I enjoyed the brief visit that Matthew and I made to the pub, back in May 2022, in fact that whole area had a nice feel to it – definitely more town, than gown.

    I like those vintage Greene King, ceramic pump clips. You don’t see them very often these days, perhaps someone should start a campaign to re-instate them.

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    2. Paul, not to mention the vintage “Greene King Fine Suffolk Ales” Doulton Lambeth ceramic wall plaques adjacent to the pub’s front door.

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      1. Paul, I’ve got a few photos of those ceramic wall plaques at home.

        They must date back at least to the 70’s, as one of those photos is of the Flowerpot in Bedford, a pub I spent quite a bit of time in, during the latter half of that decade.

        Let me know when you’re planning on visiting Cambridge, as thanks to Thameslink, it’s really easy to get to from Tonbridge.

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    3. Paul,

      They’re even older than us having been designed by Kruger Gray in 1933 and can read “Fine Suffolk Ales”, “Fine Cambridge Ales” referring back to the Panton Brewery of Bailey & Tebbutt taken over by Greene King in 1925, “Ales” or “Fine Ales”.

      Yes, I’ll let you know if or when I’ve booked a Cambridge trip, though very unlikely before the autumn now.

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    1. Yes, lacings hide the inadequacy of a badly kept pint just like when I were a lad lace curtains hid the improperly kept interiors of many a house.

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  4. Fabulous pub, as was/ is the Champ. The pubs, along with the long gone, much lamented Cambridge Arms that introduced me to cask beer in the late 70s.

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    3. I’m surprised you approve of Leeds Pale, though. It’s a rather bland beer on the whole, is it not?

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  6. Since Tolly fell by the wayside GK had no (local) competition. We would always choose a GK pub over Tolly in those days but GK just went downhill and their beers became the new Tolly.

    Adnams was in a different league and remains so.

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    1. Agree though Adnams cask sales seen to dropped dramatically and I rarely come across the standard bitter these days around the country since they started putting marketing effort into their keg beers (and Ghost Ship).

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      1. Yes Martin, investigating a possible trip to East Anglia I find Southwold Bitter to have been replaced by Ghost Ship in many pubs. An ordinary Bitter hasn’t been replaced by a citrussy beer in Bathams, Holdens or Donnington beers so is it really the marketing that has made that happen with Adnams ?

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    1. And always has been. In general I think the quality of real ale is better than I ever remember it (certainly Bass is), but I would love to revisit the Greene King IPA of the Free Press in the late ’80s/90s and I’m sure you’d be surprised by it.

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