(OVER)DUE A DEUCHARS. THE SIX BELLS, COVENT GARDEN, CAMBRIDGE

December 2024. Cambridge.

Yes, another Covent Garden, this one tucked away between Fenners and the GBG pubs off Mill Road.

Keep walking past the Six Bells and you’ll end up at that pub CAMRA used to run and the Live & Let Live, so why would a plain looking backstreet Greene King pub detain you from Sainsbury’s Local’s crisp section ?

Well, frankly, there aren’t that many plain Greene King locals (NOT counting the Free Press) left; perhaps the Grapes is your best bet.

And the Six Bells, which probably had a single year and a Try Also in the Guide, is remarkably cosy.

“A real community pub which attracts locals, students, knitters, pub quizzers, art, book, music & poetry buffs as well as pool and darts players” says What Pub, and I take a pint of Deuchars to a room where Spaniards are holding forth on politics. It’s why you go to pubs.

That and bench seating.

But definitely not the beer. Why Deuchars ? Why not ?

20 years ago in Glasgow and Edinburgh it was your cask of choice, and I won’t comment on whether it’s Greene King/Belhaven or turnover that’s killed it (see also : Bombardier at Marston’s).

But that’s not the Six Bells fault; presentations is immaculate,

and actually improved as Dolly Parton’s definitive version of “I Will Always Love You” came on.

That’s an experiment I encourage you to try at home.

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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.

5 thoughts on “(OVER)DUE A DEUCHARS. THE SIX BELLS, COVENT GARDEN, CAMBRIDGE”

  1. I love/loved Deuchars. It used to be everywhere, but I last had it in 2018, in the Nova Scotia, Bristol, and it doesn’t seem to be on there anymore either according to Boak & Bailey’s last post.

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    1. It was everywhere, the Rebus effect kept its profile up, and almost disappeared.

      One of my Top 10 pints was a Caledonian Edinburgh Castle (aka 80/) in the Bon Accord in Glasgow; never see that either.

      Production moved from Edinburgh to Belhaven, I think.

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    2. Rhys,
      I’ve only had three pints of Deuchars IPA this year, in Edinburgh at ‘Diggers’ and H P Mathers and in Stafford’s Bear and Pheasant.
      I remember it being a special beer when first brewed but pale well hopped 4½% tends to be the norm for cask beers nowadays.

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      1. You’re fortunate to have it nearby, even if it was just as a guest. It had a pleasant distinctive taste which appealed a lot as I was just starting to appreciate cask. The branding is very attractive too.

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      2. An alternative to the rare-down-here Deuchars in Stafford’s Bear and Pheasant was Abbot, so it’s a pub that can easily get Greene King, and so Belhaven brewed, beers.

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