The Back Streets Of Cambridge....

A first visit for several years to one of the country's finest cities gave me the chance to visit some old favourites from back then, plus the opportunity to try out a couple of previously unknown places. Here's what I found in this, my first blog featuring the city....

I was in Cambridge the other week for the first time in several years.

It had been a fairly late decision to go, but the opening day fixtures for the 2025-26 football season had thrown up a visit to Braintree Town for Halifax Town had given us the opportunity for an overnight stop there. With the journey by train involving going into London, changing stations, and then taking an infrequent slow train to the Essex town, I had volunteered to drive as that seemed the more practical option. With the route taking us past Cambridge, we decided to stay there on the way back after the football. And why were we going to this city known for its university colleges and tech companies? Well, it happens to be one of the best places for beer drinkers in the country, with an amazing array of wonderful pubs.

It was another warm and sunny day when we left Halifax just after 9. We'd met for breakfast at the Shay Cafe, in the shadow of the Shay Stadium itself, where a brand new hybrid pitch is due to be unveiled in the next few days. It is just shy of 200 miles from Halifax to Braintree, and we made good progress on the way down on what is a pretty straightforward route - M62, A1, A14, M11, A120, and finally on to Cressing Road, off which Braintree's rather understated ground is situated. It had taken us just over 4 hours to drive there, and we got parked up a few minutes walk away from the ground. There are three pubs - one a Wetherspoons - listed in the Good Beer Guide in the town, but with none being close by we settled on a Greene King pub just across the road which at least had a pair of hand pumps and a pleasant enough beer garden in which to enjoy the sun. 

We headed to the tree-lined ground which doesn't have a lot of cover compared to most National League stadia, although that wasn't too much of a problem today, and unusually for this level, there is no segregation between fans, so we were free to go wherever we wanted. First up though it was a trip to the food van, where the cheeseburger was better than average, probably 7 out of 10, and then we made our way to behind the goal at the far end of the ground. The teams came out, Town with plenty of new faces and a new manager. Would these changes herald a change to a run of poor form we'd experienced at the end of last season, culminating in a complete sh!tsh*w in the play offs at Oldham? Well no. Braintree, in their orange shirts, with veteran striker John Akinde bossing the pitch, ran out 3-0 winners. It was a disappointing performance which gifted the home side all 3 goals which took away from some decent approach play at times. But Town were poor up front, and they need to sort that and the defensive/goalkeeping errors out or a long season beckons. At least the weather was good though, and we had a night in Cambridge to look forward to!

Action from Braintree Town v Halifax Town

We made good time getting to Cambridge after the game, and soon we were driving through the tree-lined streets towards out Travelodge, which was situated near the railway station on a retail park off Hills Road. After checking in, bag drop-off, and a quick turnaround, we were out heading towards the Mill Road around 10 minutes walk away where there is a cluster of great pubs, many of which I had visited before, although with it by now being mid-evening and the fact we needed to eat, our time was somewhat limited.

We left the retail park and the modern apartments behind as we got closer to Mill Road and entered an area of older terraced residential properties. Shortly afterwards we came to the first pub, the Devonshire Arms, which is one of 3 pubs in Cambridge run by the locally-based Milton Brewery, who have grown steadily since being founded in 1999. The pub, with its deep red painted brick exterior, is a lot bigger than its rather modest frontage suggests. Inside it is quite light and airy, with a mixture of wooden booths and larger tables spread over two rooms. The bar is to the left of the first room, and serves a total of 8 beers on hand pump, all of which seemed to be from Milton, with a couple of beers on tap too, the names of which are inspired by Greek and Roman Classical literature. I went for a pint of the 4.6% Minerva, a golden ale brewed with a mix of US, New Zealand, and British hops. It was in fine form, well-rounded and refreshing, and a solid start to the evening's proceedings (NBSS 3.5). The pub has a good reputation for its large selection of real, mainly local, ciders, and is currently both the 2025 Cambridge and Cambridgeshire Cider Pub of the Year. The food here features a number of Caribbean dishes, and whilst we were tempted by the delicious-looking plates passing our table, we decided to hang on for a bit. All in all, a friendly and welcoming pub that is well worth a visit.

The Devonshire Arms

One of the great things about Cambridge is the number of quality pubs situated in this predominantly residential area. Indeed, I picked up a leaflet which listed 15 pubs in the immediate area and there are others that where I have been in the past such as the Cambridge Free Press and the Champion of the Thames which were not included that are not very far away from here, and that's without going into the city centre proper! 

We crossed over the Mill Road, walked past the White Swan which is more of a traditional sports bar on the corner of Kingston Street, and shortly afterwards we came to our next pub, the Kingston Arms (opening image). Their advert in the local CAMRA magazine describes it as "the city local with Draught Bass, Tring Side Pocket, Ossett White Rat plus up to five changing guest beers." Two dark cask beers are always available, one which is usually Bateman's Dark Mild, plus draught German beers, 4 real ciders, and craft beers. However the advert's reference to pub food left me guessing with its rather abrupt ending: "our handcrafted Pork Pies are probably..." Err...yes, probably what? The best in the country? Best enjoyed with a pint of our finest beer? Best avoided?! Who knows?

The Kingston Arms is a wonderful pub, welcoming, and the kind of place you would be happy to call your local if you were mysteriously abducted by aliens and then dropped back to Earth, on the face of it rather inconveniently (depending where you live of course), in Cambridge. The pub was a regular calling point a few years ago when we used to play against Cambridge United and other local-ish teams and we would stay in the city. The pub did though fall on hard times in the intervening years: under previous ownership it became a Mediterranean restaurant, which didn't work out, but since reverting to being a proper pub it has got its mojo back. The pub was busy when we walked in, with a mix of locals, visitors, and the pub bore detaining one of the bar staff, but we got served quickly and efficiently and retired to the rather pleasant beer garden outside, complete with a slightly rusty old triangular waste bin advertising R.White's Lemonade. I'd ordered a pint of the Side Pocket and it was a decent drink (NBSS 3) without being sensational. The pub though is a wonderful place to enjoy a pint in a very friendly atmosphere.

The beer garden at the Kingston Arms (photo from CAMRA Experience)

Next up, it was a short walk to the third pub of the evening, which was situated on the rather Welsh-sounding Gwydir Street. This was the Cambridge Blue, which was another regular port of call on previous visits. It is an award-winning real ale house with up to 12 beers available on hand pump and consequently attracts a steady stream of custom from both locals and visitors. It is essentially a single-room pub but the capacity is significantly increased by a large extension at the back which leads out to a pleasant garden with further seating. The bar had a mixture of beers from microbreweries on hand pump, and as I am always keen to try beers from the local area or nearby when I am travelling, I went for a pint of the 4.1% bitter from Nene Valley, who have brewed an extensive range of beers at their brewery in Oundle, Northamptonshire, since they started out in 2011. The beer was well-balanced, with some floral notes, with a biscuit malt flavour and some fruit balanced by a bitter finish (NBSS 3). The pub was the busiest of the evening and we took our drinks out to the extension, which was packed at first, but a table emptied and we had somewhere to lean to finish our drinks. Another fine pub that is well worth seeking out.

The Cambridge Blue

We resumed our wander, turning left as we came out of the Cambridge Blue, and on the corner with Milford Street we came to the Alexandra Arms, which was a new one to me that is listed in the 2025 Good Beer Guide, and is generally referred to colloquially as "the Alex". It is a former traditional back street corner pub that has been painted outside in an attractive shade of mid-grey, whilst inside it has been refurbished and given a pleasant modern look with much light wood and wooden floorboards resulting in a light and airy feel. It is actually a Greene King pub, but it is able to sell other beers which makes it more interesting. From the 5 cask beers on offer we all went for pints of Sun Siren from Colchester Brewery, whose beers I had not tried before.

This was a 4.2% blonde ale brewed with Centennial and Cascade hops and was a very pleasant and refreshing beer which went down well on this still warm evening, and was probably the best beer of the evening (NBSS 3.5). It featured  a distinctive and attractive pub clip illustrated by one of a number of local artists used by the brewery, which was established in 2011. Our thoughts turned to food, and with burgers being the main event here, the boys both went for double burger action on the day by ordering a burger which had prawns with it, which they rated highly, whilst I went for a salmon nicoise salad, which was excellent. Another enjoyable place to call, probably helped by being quieter than where we had been earlier.

The Alexandra, aka the Alex

Duly fed, we had time to visit one more pub for the evening. A short walk away, on the corner of Sleaford Street and Ainsworth Street, we came to the Geldart, which was another pub that I had not visited on previous trips. It is a large two-roomed affair with a musical and film theme running through the pub, and was quite busy when we walked in. The musical theme is maintained with regular gigs, a traditional jukebox, and a landlord called Elvis! We went in to the room on the left and pondered the beer selection on the bar. It was rather more conventional and mainstream than elsewhere we had been, and I went for a pint of Oakham Citra, which whilst you can see it all over the place, is at least brewed fairly locally, down the road in Peterborough, the brewery having originally started in 1993 in the Rutland town from which it takes its name. It was not the best beer of the evening, but it was not bad and I rated it a solid 3 on the National Beer Scoring System scale. The tables were all taken in this room, so we maintained a position at the bar, where you could take in the theatre of the place where the staff were doing a great job. It just after 11 and we were starting to think of heading back to the hotel when one of the boys spotted a Japanese whiskey on the bar back, so that led to two whiskies and another half of Citra (for me). I turned around and spotted a familiar face, and did a double-take, as she did the same. "What are you doing here?" we both asked. It was my musician friend Chantel, who does at least live in Cambridge these days, having moved down from Bradford a few years ago, so I explained we had stopped in the city for the night on our way back from Essex. We grabbed a by-now empty table, and signalled the boys to come and join us. It turns out the Geldart is Chantel's local, being only a few minutes cycle ride from the flat she shares with her musician boyfriend, Jamie. He had gone on a pub crawl around London with a couple of friends, and she had come to meet him here when he arrived off the train. Which led to more whiskies and beers as we also waited, and sure enough the lads arrived, in a pretty reasonable state considering they had visited around 10 pubs. So we had a final drink with Jamie and Chantel before we left. It had been a lovely and unexpected finale to a excellent evening.

The Geldart, Cambridge....

So much later than we planned we headed back to the hotel. However, even though it was only a short distance, by now in my mind the maze of streets had become a labyrinth, and so I suggested to the boys to get an Uber. One duly arrived, and we soon got dropped off. "It's the wrong Travelodge" said my brother as it dawned on us that it did not look like where we had left a few hours ago. We had gone to Newmarket Road instead of Cambridge Leisure Park! My bad. So I requested another one, which did at least come quickly, and soon we were back to where we needed to be.

So a slightly frustrating diversion, the football earlier had been disappointing, but overall it had been a top day, great to bump into Chantel and Jamie, and a real pleasure to re-visit some of the wonderful pubs to be found in the back streets of Cambridge....

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