Cambridge Pubs

[Rambuchan]

I'm using the smug smilie for this thread as I'm really chuffed to live in a town with such a rich array of pubs. They have played a significant role in the development of this historic town of Cambridge and there are heaps of them to choose from. I worked out the other day that there are at least 5 pubs within a 500 metre radius from my front door.

Here are just a few interesting facts about pubs in Cambridge:

Historically, Cambridge has been well served with pubs. In 1597 there were 80 ale houses, although this was reduced to 50 because too much corn was being used for ale instead of bread! By 1749 the number had risen to 156 inns and pubs, serving a population of 10000. Today, the 110 pubs serve a population of around 125000, an average of 1136 people per pub.

http://www.cambridge-pubs.co.uk/

Now have a look at the pubs on a map from the same website as that quote was taken from. You'll see they have come up with the fantastic idea of arranging the pubs into a London Underground style map. You can click on the pub name to find out more.

If you live in or visit Cambridge, let me recommend a pub crawl down the blue line. They are all close together, quite varied and all lead to the marketplace, where you can fill your beery belly.

So for the sake of discussion:

- Does your home town have a big pub / bar presence?
- Is that good for the place in your opinion?
- Is there much interesting local history attached to any in particular?
- If you know Cambridge, can you suggest any names for the different 'pub lines'? I reckon they've only gone half the distance with this otherwise brilliant map. Shying away from giving the lines names was an error imho.

 

[Riffraff]

hmm nice town it is - Cambridge. Wanted to study there, but kinda lost my nerves in the interview.

Anyway i stayed in munich, which has got loads of pubs pretty concentrated on few districts. Dont think the pub/population is anywhere near the one of Cambridge.

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

Do any of these pubs serve "Man-Drinks" or are we talking Babysham on Ice given that I imagine the main source of business for these pub will be the Southern Poofter

(Deliberately no Quotation Marks around Southern Poofter, I've been listening to Jack Straw )

In answer to your question, Wigan has one long street where all the pubs are located. The majority are new so there is no real history. There is one pub which claims to have housed Bonnie Prince Charlie once but I am uncertain as to whether this is true or not.

In Cheshire, where I actually live, there are multitudes of pubs which originate years ago. One has a 'cut-out' on the wall to show its 'Wattle&Dawb' structure.

EDIT: It is very possible I am confusing Wigan with Warrington. Oliver Cromwell stayed there and planned parts of the civil war. The most History you are going to get in Wigan is people drinking Kronenbourg 1664

 

[nonconformist]

Lucky git.

Around here, all the pubs closed and were knocked down to be turned into flats

There's one pub in this village, and about six in the nearest town.
Oxford's got hundreds.
Sadly, a lot oft hem are crap, serving lukewarm, watered down beer, and no atmosphere.

 

[HawkeyeGS]

all hail the almighty ale

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Heh, in order to cater for the quite big student population Aberdeen has a remarkably large amount of pubs. One street has around 8, most of which are right next/opposite to each other. And they're all the same generic stuff. And I think at least two are part of a Soviet revival plot, judging by their choice of themes

 

[thetrooper]

- Does your home town have a big pub / bar presence?

Yes indeed. Fredrikstad is dormant in the winter, but the summer influx to our wide coastline is spectacular.

- Is that good for the place in your opinion?

Is "tourism" good? Of course, but there are drawbacks - vandalism and drunkenness. Our hospital is quite busy at that time of the year.

- Is there much interesting local history attached to any in particular?

Not like your pubs I'm afraid. But the so-called "old-city" (the old part of our city, not a pub in particular) is quite rich in history.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

You only go drinking in pubs in Colchester if you're a squaddy or you're under 21 (think of Blur's "Boys and Girls" track pennned by ex-Colchestrian Damon Albarn and you'll get the idea) or you want to meet under-21s or fight with squaddies. I fit into none of these categories....

Central London (where I used to work) was very good for pubs (as long as you have the ££££s). Despite the beer, I was very fond of The Old Cheshire Cheese, being a pub previously frequented by Dickens and Johnson (and, as far as I can tell, the decor hadn't changed since they were last in...)

Canary Wharf is lousy for pubs. Would be grateful for any recommendations in the area.

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

No pubs in this neck of the woods. Although I have heard there are a few ex-pat pubs not too far away. I'll have to scout them out in time for the world cup so that I can catch the games at ungodly hours of the morning.

In the meantime I'll have to get by on Izakaya's and sushi bars. I'd love to say some of them had history in them but unfortunately not many buildings around here are older than 61 years.

 

[Rambuchan]

You only go drinking in pubs in Colchester if you're a squaddy or you're under 21 (think of Blur's "Boys and Girls" track pennned by ex-Colchestrian Damon Albarn and you'll get the idea) or you want to meet under-21s or fight with squaddies. I fit into none of these categories....

This is one BIG reason I moved out of Hertfordshire and into Cambridge.

Central London (where I used to work) was very good for pubs (as long as you have the ££££s). Despite the beer, I was very fond of The Old Cheshire Cheese, being a pub previously frequented by Dickens and Johnson (and, as far as I can tell, the decor hadn't changed since they were last in...)

Canary Wharf is lousy for pubs. Would be grateful for any recommendations in the area.

There are heaps of excellent historical pubs all over London and I used to frequent them a lot when I lived there. I'm going to share just one of those with you, so as not to detract from its greatness.

The Prospect of Whitby.

This pub is in the Docklands area, just off The Highway, which is the road that runs from Tower Bridge to Stratford and beyond, eastwards. Afaik, this is the oldest pub in London. You can sit there and sip excellent cask ales whilst watching the 400 odd year old hangman's noose swinging in the breeze outside. Yup, right outside this pub is a gallows where they used to hang assorted crims, loonies, immigrants, lepers etc. It still stands today but is not in use. This pub also sits on a lovely mariner (a la St Catherine's Docks), overlooking those banal but luxurious Docklands dormitory apartments. The food is pretty good, at least it was when I was last there and you often get old East End farts blowing their trombones in wheezey jazzy ways. Well worth a pint at The Prospect of Whitby.

There are so many more to recommend of course.

Do any of these pubs serve "Man-Drinks" or are we talking Babysham on Ice given that I imagine the main source of business for these pub will be the Southern Poofter

(Deliberately no Quotation Marks around Southern Poofter, I've been listening to Jack Straw )

You northern bastads have absolutely no idea. Is it any wonder that the commercial hub of Britain is in the south east? I mean sheesh, now that you don't have your mines and cotton mills to keep you occupied, all your northerners are good for is keeping the A&E departments busy on a Friday and Saturday night. And anyway, you wouldn't know a man drink if it flexed its muscles, called you a beatch, scratched its arse, swung its manhood in your face and then pissed against the wall. Source.

In answer to your question, Wigan has one long street where all the pubs are located. The majority are new so there is no real history. There is one pub which claims to have housed Bonnie Prince Charlie once but I am uncertain as to whether this is true or not.

In Cheshire, where I actually live, there are multitudes of pubs which originate years ago. One has a 'cut-out' on the wall to show its 'Wattle&Dawb' structure.

EDIT: It is very possible I am confusing Wigan with Warrington. Oliver Cromwell stayed there and planned parts of the civil war. The most History you are going to get in Wigan is people drinking Kronenbourg 1664

Funny 1664 gag but do you really think the world is interested in anything north of Peterboro'? Like I say, absolutely no idea.

 

[bigfatron]

You only go drinking in pubs in Colchester if you're a squaddy or you're under 21 (think of Blur's "Boys and Girls" track pennned by ex-Colchestrian Damon Albarn and you'll get the idea) or you want to meet under-21s or fight with squaddies. I fit into none of these categories....

Central London (where I used to work) was very good for pubs (as long as you have the ££££s). Despite the beer, I was very fond of The Old Cheshire Cheese, being a pub previously frequented by Dickens and Johnson (and, as far as I can tell, the decor hadn't changed since they were last in...)

Canary Wharf is lousy for pubs. Would be grateful for any recommendations in the area.

Ha ha, SC10 meeting room 3! given away - I know where you are.... ;-)
And you're right, there are no good pubs on the Wharf :-(

 

[Hotpoint]

So for the sake of discussion:

- Does your home town have a big pub / bar presence?

I live in Portsmouth. Does having two hundred Pubs on an Island of maybe 10 square miles count as a big presence? Portsea Island has a population of about 150,000 so that's approximately one pub per 750 people.

- Is that good for the place in your opinion?

The number used to be considerably higher (highest pub density in the UK by far apparently) so I'd vote for a return to the good old days.

- Is there much interesting local history attached to any in particular?

There is a long tradition, since sailing ship days, of drunken sailors leaving Portsmouth full of Rum and Beer to fight foreigners so in general terms yes

Just a link I found http://www.thejetsetter.co.uk/architecture.html

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Only 5!?!?!?! In my hometown there were bars withing stumbling distance of each other (for those that were drunk bar hoppers).

In one little area alone, there were 4 bars right next to each other, 2 across the street to the west, 3 to the north, and I think another 2 to the south. All of which are generally jammed full of people, shoulder to shoulder (in the evening of course). All of which less than 100 yards apart.

1 meter = 1.0936133 yards (a meter is about 40 inches for Americans that don't know)

Which is probably not that hard to believe since the majority of people in Wisconsin are of Polish, German, and Scandanavian descent.

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

You northern bastads have absolutely no idea. Is it any wonder that the commercial hub of Britain is in the south east? I mean sheesh, now that you don't have your mines and cotton mills to keep you occupied, all your northerners are good for is keeping the A&E departments busy on a Friday and Saturday night.

Anyone who believes the 'Eton' myth should realise that The British Empire was built upon those coalfields. <Stands proudly with hands on hips>

And anyway, you wouldn't know a man drink if it flexed its muscles, called you a beatch, scratched its arse, swung its manhood in your face and then pissed against the wall. Source.

Not true. We have Tetleys brewed up here (unless I'm confusing it with the tea) whilst the only contribution to the high rate of teenage pregnancy the South has made is the invention of the "snowball". You won't catch a Real Lancashire Lad drinking 'Shreks'

Funny 1664 gag but do you really think the world is interested in anything north of Peterboro'?

I don't even know where Peterborough is since it's too close to France for me to care

Like I say, absolutely no idea.

Right, that's it! I'll meet you at the end of the M6 for a good old fashioned punch up. I've had my Stella so I'm not scared [Insert appropriate smiley here]

 

[Sparta]

That was the best Northern/Southern exchange I've witnessed since Lock-Stock, a favorite of mine. Nicely done, guys - thanks for the laugh.

On-topic, the town I'm in currently has an excessive number of pubs, largely clustered on one street. However, although they may be heavy in number, they're definitely pretty light on culture (think lots of collegiate knuckleheads and bars that cater to them).

The tiny, unincorporated town I was born and raised in (technically outside of ) couldn't even really support one tiny store, but of course had two bars ....

 

[downtown]

My hometown had only 1 tiny bar, which I thought was unusual, it being a college town and all (wait...i take that back. There were a few on the campus of the local university, but none of the locals went there, because most of us hate the kids at the school...rich kids who come here and cause trouble). Even though I'm a non-drinker, I enjoyed going there, because they had affordible and tasty food, and it was the only place in my entire county to see live music. I spent many a night in my high school days with a 4 piece blues band rocking upstairs for some druken patrons...or listening to one myself.

DC has some nice bars though, in the Adams Morgan neighborhood and U Street, if you're a fan of Jazz and Blues music. I've had trouble getting into some of them, since they are 21+. A lot of them are very old, so there's loads of history there. Adams Morgan is a real fun part of DC, if any of you folks will be in the area soon

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Ha ha, SC10 meeting room 3! given away - I know where you are.... ;-)

I don't think you do.... You'd be surprised how many companies around here use the same format / method for booking meeting rooms in Outlook...

(I think I'm the other side of the road from where you think I am - I'll IM you...)

 

[ComradeDavo]

Bath is very good for pubs. It's known for being a student town, thus alcohol consumption is at high levels. It's good for the place, because it makes it feel more lively, plus students are better than the chavs who would fill the pubs otherwise. Personally, I only really go to the main 'rock/alternative' pub (The Hobgoblin), because I know everyone there, DJ there sometimes and it always has good ale. I probably go to the pub about 2/3 times a week on average. The only downside about the pubs in Bath are that prices are pretty high, apart from Weatherspoons, but thats not really my favourite place to go.

You only go drinking in pubs in Colchester if you're a squaddy or you're under 21 (think of Blur's "Boys and Girls" track pennned by ex-Colchestrian Damon Albarn and you'll get the idea) or you want to meet under-21s or fight with squaddies. I fit into none of these categories....

That sounds terriable
I'm really not found of 'squaddys'. I know a couple who are ok, but gennerally I find they walk around in pubs like they own the place.

 

[downtown]

what is a squaddy?

 

[ComradeDavo]

what is a squaddy?

A Soldier.