Sunday 8 October 2017

Cambridge Crawl 17th June 1989

This was my first ever visit to Cambridge and first time i had ever done a pub in Cambridgeshire,so i was well looking forward to going on this pub crawl which was a Nottingham Camra crawl.
These always started from the Newmarket pub in the middle of Nottingham and there was usually a good lively crowd on the bus,no posh people and it always got more rowdy on the way back.
Most of these Nottingham Camra pub crawls were after a Forest home game,but this was what they called a mid summer crawl and it was always to Cambridge.
After what seemed like a long bus journey we were finally getting close to Cambridge and for some reason unknown to me entering it from the South,i think this now may have been something to with pubs on the outskirts of the city being in the GBG.

1: Green Man
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A very nice looking pub that looked like a Chef & Brewer steak house from its signage outside.
I was not too bothered as to what it was like i went straight in as i was gasping for a drink.
There were three real ales on the bar and after looking at them it seemed to be a Whitbread tied house,i had a drink of Pedigree,which went down well,the other real ales were Whitbread Wethereds and Whitbread Flowers Bitter.
The pub was quite smart inside and comfortable.
Some of my Forest mates are sat outside the pub.

It was a short walk up the road to the next pub.

2: The Volunteer
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A unsigned Whitbread tied house with three real ales on.
I had a drink of Whitbread Castle Eden Bitter,which was a very nice drink,the other Whitbread beers were Wethereds and Pedigree which was a Marstons brewed beer but Whitbread had a large stake in the brewery.
Another decent pub and comfortable inside.

We had to get back on the bus and get into the middle of Cambridge,where i would go off and do pubs others did not want to do,but i always bumped into friends while doing my own thing.
Another one of my Forest mates posing outside the pub.

3: Jolly Waterman
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

A corner pub that i think was situated just off the City Centre to the North,this is where the bus parked up and where we would stagger back onto it.
A Tolly Cobbold tied house,so i was well pleased.
There were a couple of rooms inside that i noticed,but i was after a drink of Tolly Cobbold Bitter,to be honest not the best of independent brewery bitters i have had,but it was a Tolly Cobbold tied house,i walked out well pleased.

I was now going to walk into the middle of Cambridge and try to find either Tolly Cobbold,Greene King or Charles Wells tied houses. 
It was not long before i noticed two pubs next to each other,i would give The Mitre a miss as i wanted to do independent brewery tied houses.

4: Baron of Beef
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

I thought this was a great name for a pub.
A pretty standard pub once inside,but it was a Greene King tied house,but there were no real ales on the bar,i had to have a drink of keg Greene King IPA,which was pretty poor.

Never mind i had plenty more pubs to do and in much nicer areas of the city centre.

5: The Maypole
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

You don't get nice areas like this in my home city of Nottingham,so it was great to see a nice looking pub that was a Tolly Cobbold tied house.
It was packed outside with what looked like much posher people than me,but i was not bothered and the pub was a bit quieter inside,probably because everybody was outside.
I noted that the drink of Tolly Cobbold Bitter was top notch in this pub.

The pubs seemed to be thick on the ground in this area,so it was not long before i was in my next pub.

6: Cambridge Arms
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
Not one of the best looking pubs i have been in,but it was a Greene King tied house,so i was well pleased.
The pub was packed inside with the bright young people of Cambridge,but i was only 28 at the time,so not that old.
The Greene King IPA went down well.

Another short walk and i was outside my next pub,which did look a bit out of place with it being a modern building.

7: Kings Arms
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
Another Tolly Cobbold tied house so i was well pleased.
It seemed decent enough to me inside and the Tolly Cobbold Bitter was decent enough.

8: Champion of the Thames
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
I liked the look of this pub from the outside and was not dissapointed once inside.
A Greene King tied house,which pleased me,i had a drink of Greene King IPA,which went down well.

A short walk and i was in my next pub.

9: The Clarendon Arms
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

Another decent looking end of terrace back street pub.
A Greene King tied house and quite nice inside,i had a decent drink of Greene King IPA here.

It was another short walk to my next pub which would probably be one of the best pubs of the day.

10: Man on the Moon
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
Not the best of looking pubs,but i do not mind going into grim estate pubs so was not too bothered about going into this pub.
Another Tolly Cobbold tied house and a decent drink of Tolly Cobbold bitter on the bar.
What made this pub good was the live music that was being played,i really enjoyed my time in this pub,one i could have stayed in for longer if not on a pub crawl.

It was starting to get dark and i was just walking round trying to find pubs,i ended up on a busy road for my next pub.

11: Five Bells

A Tolly Cobbold tied house so i was well pleased.
The Tolly Cobbold Bitter was a nice drink here.
A shame that i never managed to get a photo of this pub.

I carried on walking along this busy road until i found another pub,it was not long before i found my next pub.

12: Rose and Crown 
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

A corner pub situated on a busy road.
This was another Greene King tied house that was comfortable inside,i had a drink of Greene King IPA which went down well.

I walked further along the busy road until i got to my next pub which was not that far.

13: Seven Stars
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

I liked the look of this pub from the outside.
It was another Greene King tied house,which i was well pleased to do.
It was decent enough inside and fairly busy,i had a drink of Greene King IPA,which was a decent drink.

I now had to walk off the main road and back into the back streets to do pubs i had took photos of earlier on my pub crawl,but not gone in them.

14: Free Press
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

A decent looking back street pub that was another Greene King tied house.
The pub was quite nice inside and the Greene King IPA went down well.

After a short walk i was in my next pub.

15: The Cricketers
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

A pretty plain looking back street pub that was nicer inside,it was a Greene King tied house,so i was pleased,the Greene King IPA went down well.

Another very short walk and i was in my next pub.

16: The Elm Tree
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

A Charles Wells tied house so i was well pleased,set well into the back streets,the pub did not look that good from the outside but was better once inside,the Charles Wells Eagle bitter went down well.

I only had time for one more pub before closing time.
It was only a short walk to it so no problems in getting in before last orders.

17: The Hopbine
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

A decent looking pub that was busy outside,once inside it was quite a nice pub and a Greene King tied house.
I ended up having a pint of Greene King IPA which went down well.

This was an evening pub crawl and i was well pleased to get 17 pubs done,only one keg house and all at the time independent brewery tied houses.

I thought Cambridge was a great city and the weather was really nice, i did visit it again with my wife and on my own in years to come.
I hope Martin likes this post about pubs that he has visited over the years.

 

13 comments:

  1. Really enjoyed this Alan, thanks for posting. I've put the link to it on my Twitter account, noting you only managed 17 pubs (joking, not bad for an evening).

    A lot of Tolly and Greene King there, and I'm a bit surprised Notts CAMRA missed out the freehouses on Mill Road we're famous for.

    Good to see all those photos.

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  2. I suppose that they were not Free houses at the time or not in the GBG,Martin,
    I did Mill Road a few years later but it was a bit of a nightmare with most Charles Wells tied houses being done up,i was not that bothered about Free houses at the time,far more interested in doing brewery tied houses.
    Pleased you liked seeing the old photos of Cambridge pubs that you have been in many times.

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  3. Brings a tear to the eye as I remember nmany of these pubs as shown in Slan's photos from my time in Cambridge in the late 70s and again in the mid 80s.
    Those in the old Kite area have been long culled, and in many cases are little missed.
    From memory the Mill Road pubs were still mainly tied at that time..
    The Cambridge Arms was my 70s local, run by an ex policeman from Plymouth and considerably more basic than its more recent incarnations.

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  4. Thanks for reading my blog,Malcolm.
    Pleased that you liked looking at the old photos.
    Where is the Kite area,Malcolm.

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  5. Nice stroll down memory lane. I too liked the look of the Seven Stars, and The Volunteer looked pretty nice as well.

    Cheers

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  6. It is nice to have a Canadian read my blog, Rustovich

    Cheers Alan

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  7. I've never drunk in any of them, but they are great pictures and a good reminder of what has been lost (I assume that about half of them don't exist any more!).
    Also, a great collection of old cars in the various pictures.

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    1. Surprisingly, only 3 of those closed, though several changed name and form.

      I started pubgoing around this time. I thought that pubs like the Salisbury, Dewdrop/Cambridge Blue and Live & let Live would have been on most lists to do then. I suspect time was tight !

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  8. Mention of Tolly Cobbold bitter and Wethereds takes me back, both fantastic pints.

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  9. That looked like a tremendous crawl... some top looking boozers Alan 👍 if you've got any posts on old Brum pubs I'd love to see it

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  10. Wonderful seeing these photos. I arrived in Cambridge in 93 so remember the Rose & Crown, Five Bells, Seven Stars and Volunteer, all since closed (in fact, only the Rose & Crown is even occupied, the others stand empty).

    The most surprising photos for me were the Hopbine, which is still a good pub but not quite so handsome in its current terracotta paint job and no longer has that sign which appears to show oast houses, and the Cricketers - the bricked up corner door in your photo has been the main entrance since I’ve known it!

    I enjoyed reading this, but your 17 Cambridge pubs in a day puts my efforts to shame I bet you even took a carry-out to the bus.

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  11. Thanks for reading my blog Pintsandpubs,i know you know a lot about pubs in Cambridge.
    I did a pub with my Wife on the 20th June 1998 called The Cow & Calf,there does not seem to be any photos of it on Pubs Galore,but i have a nice photo of it with my wife stood outside and the drink of i think Cambridge Black or something like that was really nice.
    What happened to that pub as it was busy in the on the night we went in it while on a Nottingham Camra pub crawl.

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    1. I never visited the Cow & Calf, but I wish I had - I've heard some tales about the landlord, and the pub cats! The cats were even mentioned in the Good Beer Guide entry, which listed the pub as "one of the city's true free houses".

      You obviously visited just in time - in 1999 the City Council, then owners of the pub, put it up for sale to the highest bidder, and although other interested parties wanted to continue to run it as a pub, it was bought by a property developer and demolished in 2000, now replaced by flats.

      I'd be interested to see your photograph - I give guided tours of the area's pubs and have a photo of the Cow & Calf I show people; some fondly recount their experiences of drinking there, but most people have no idea the block of flats is on the site of a former classic pub.

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