BARRY WOM AND THE CASTLE INN

January 2025. Cambridge.

I’ve read a few disparaging comments about the Cambridge pub scene recently, and although I’ve never been the biggest advocate for my home town I’m delighted to tell you that beer quality, at least, is holding up in Mill Road and the Kite quarter.

Perhaps the charismatic landlords of yore have gone, though. Terry at the St. Radegund (RIP), Nick at the Blue, and John Halsey at the Castle.

Actually, I’m not sure John aka Barry Wom of the Rutles, from whom the Beatles nicked their best ideas, was that idiosyncratic; he just ran a superb allrounder, an Adnams flagship.

Pic: Frozen Pictures.

That line-up represented exotica in 2007; John retired a decade ago and you might wonder how so little has changed in 18 years.

The Castle seemed to drop out the GBG when John left, but you can’t do much wrong with the Southwold, surely ?

Indeed, you can’t, even in a quiet pub in January.

The chap at the bar hands over a twenty for a pint of Nene Valley (Adnams in miniature).

“Haven’t got the 50p have you, please ?” says the barman.

“No”. Well, that told him.

Ever helpful, I’ve got my twenty pence change ready when my time comes.

£5.20 for a pint of Bitter might seem a lot if you live in Stafford or Sheffield (and some folk do, apparently), but the cask was never cheap at the Castle. £3.60 a pint when the house burger cost the same as the beer. Now that burger is £14, but at least it’s got Stilton on it. I resist,

On the surface, it’s a little changed public house, bench seating, little fuss, welcoming Town and Gown.

But my notes say “Is this tastefully modernised, or has the character been ruined like that Wells lot do ?“.

And then I find out that, indeed, Wells have taken it on from Adnams.

It’s still pleasant, the Southwold is rich and cool, am NBSS 3+ if not, as I first think, a 3.5. Wonder what Paul Mudge made of it ?

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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.

25 thoughts on “BARRY WOM AND THE CASTLE INN”

  1. “£5.20 for a pint of Bitter might seem a lot if you live in Stafford”. Yes, Southwold Bitter was only £5 and Broadside £5.20 last September. Both were drinking well four months ago. It’s not a bad pub if one stops for a second pint. I only had two or more pints in 91 other pubs last year.

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      1. Yes, two pints is nearly always better than one.
        I didn’t think any pub last year was worth just a half, but a couple of dozen times in hindsight avoiding the pub would have been better than my pint.

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      2. I probably wouldn’t have recommended those two McMullen pubs, the Wells Salisbury or the Elgoods in Milton, Paul, but was very glad you tried them and did return to the latter two myself recently.

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      3. Yes Martin, it was only early autumn that I thought, as something of a fiftieth anniversary tour, of drinking beer from all 32 of the 88 Regional (Independent) Brewers that have survived since 1974 and I’m pleased I did, especially as I was already three-quarters of the way there and the other quarter didn’t take much planning or effort.

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    2. On our future crawl I like the idea of two in a pub that appeals to us. I do think it gives a place a very different feel when you stay a bit longer. Most of us don’t have 4000 more pubs to get to like the GBG tickers do…

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      4. I’m quite curious what you more experienced pubbers think of the Chichester beer quality. I thought it pretty average in general. I also thought the best beer was in a non-guide pub. The Park Tavern seemed to have really high levels of beer turnover when we were there. The beer was quite good. The Bell Inn we only made it to once. Only one visit may have been a mistake since it seemed quite good.

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      5. I’m genuinely not sure what to say about Chichester, Dave, which makes it an ideal contender for an extended revisit.

        The beer and food in the Hole in the Wall was good a few years back, but it was the villages in the Downs just north that really impressed.

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      6. Hole in the Wall was one of our favorite pubs in Chichester. It seemed like it was changing ownership when we were there. Not sure though. I also like Badger so I liked the Fountain. The staff there was amazing. Young people who were quite different and were willing to chat when they saw we were going to come back multiple times. Chichester Inn is a sleeper that needs more visits. You made an interesting comment on the area that the best pubs seemed to be in the Itchenor area. We’ll be staying in that area and following up on that comment. South Downs we missed completely. Need to rectify that miss.

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      7. Just looking at my own blog for inspiration. Can’t remember Park or Bell; last pub in those northern suburbs (Rainbow) closed soon after.

        Itchenor certainly had one good pub, but it’s villages like Compton and the Deans that stick in the mind. Sort of.

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    2. Why did Adnams sell the pub? Or have they kept the freehold and leased it?
      Re pricing, when I was bar president at Jesus our Adnams was priced at a premium over Charles Wells (understandably) so we got 24p per pint for it.

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      1. I’m not surprised Adnams sold their Bridge House on Tower Bridge Road ( now the Raven ), by far the worst of their, albeit not many, houses I’ve known over 51 years.
        I did well in their Cambridge pub and three Norwich ones last year though.

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  3. Twas £5.80 for Southwold bitter in the Adnams pubs local to me before Christmas, I haven’t ventured back in the New Year yet to see if we’ve hit £6 yet. Their burgers are £17 with cheese.

    It’s harder to stay for 2 regardless of the beer quality at those prices.

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  4. Ah, Barry Wom! I had the good fortune to see The Rutles at, of all places, The Wilfred Noyce community centre right here in Godalming, back in 2018. It is said that you only play the Wilf twice in your career…

    Fantastic gig. Neil Innes was an absolute genius as well as being one of the nicest blokes in showbiz. A sad loss when he passed away.

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  5. Tremendous photos of the interior of the Castle. Well done!

    Every shot looks like it could have been painted by Vermeer. Is that available as a filter option?

    The beer is not so much Vermeer as Adams, and looks absolutely gorgeous.

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  6. Adams? What sort of weird autocorrect have they installed on my new phone. When I type Adnams I expect it to stay Adnams.

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