A visit to a town in a part of the country I love, but not somewhere I had visited before. But in what was only a stop of a few hours, I found a thriving, bustling place with plenty of history, oh, and a few pubs. Welcome to Penrith....
Much as I like visiting places like Manchester, Newcastle, and even London these days, I always like to mix things up in terms of where I go when visiting places for this blog. And so on the basis I had written plenty about the above this year, I needed to go somewhere different. The fact the National League season had concluded (bar the promotion final) and the teams relegated to and promoted in to were either known or at least on the cards already gave me a few options for football/blog tie-ins for next season - subject to the usual mid-winter/mid-week no-nos. Cumbria was a place I hadn't been to for over a year, but with Carlisle now down in the National League for another season the option for that city remained, and if the fixtures don't work out I'll probably go anyway. But meanwhile, what about Penrith I thought? Three Good Beer Guide pubs and no doubt more to see, so why not go there?
And so the following morning I caught the train from Halifax over to Preston, and from there up to the market town of Penrith, a journey which took about two and a half hours in total. Both trains had been relatively quiet, the first not dominated as sometimes by Blackpool-bound boisterousness. The second was positively chilled as I shared a table and chatted with a couple of friendly lasses from Whitehaven who were on their way home after enjoying the Tame Impala gig at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester the evening before, with our journey passing through some beautiful scenery as we headed north.
And so we duly arrived at Penrith, emerging from the station where there was a McDonalds to the left and the remains of a castle directly in front across a busy road. I reckon I've served my time in Macky Ds from when the kids were young, so I ventured across the road to investigate the remains of the castle, which is generally assumed to owe its origin to Ralph Neville. the 1st Earl of Westmorland who acquired the Manor of Penrith in 1396. It was built at a time when marauding Scots from across the border were a regular issue in these parts. The castle, with a tower resembling the so-called Pele tower, which were designed to offer protection during short and sudden sieges, was built in the dark local red sandstone that was also used for some of the older buildings in the town. The castle is certainly worth a short visit to look at what remains, and it doesn't cost anything either. Meanwhile, whilst wandering around the castle grounds, I was sure I could see a couple of pubs nearby....
I headed in that direction, and soon discovered that one of them was listed in the Good Beer Guide, so I made a beeline there. This was the Agricultural Inn, a solid-looking pub and hotel built out of the local red sandstone like the castle across the way. It was built in 1870 and despite being opened out internally in the 1990's it still retains a number of interesting features and is rated one star by CAMRA for having a pub interior of special national historic interest. These include one of the finest surviving Victorian shuttered and panelled bar serveries in the country with working sash screens which reach right up to the ceiling. It is two-sided, of three bays length, two bays on the return, and has a curved bay at the corner. The five main bays have lower sliding screens with the corner bay and upper ones having fixed glazed panels. The bar-back fitting is mainly old with some wood and modern colourful stained glass.
On the bar were 4 hand pumps, all featuring local beers from the northern part of Cumbria. Two were from the Carlisle Brewing Co, whose beers I'd never tried before, one from Tirril, which I'd had before, and one from Jennings, whose beers I'd not tried since their recent revival following the closure of the original company by the accountants at Carlsberg Marstons. I went for a pint of Citadel, a 3.8% hoppy pale from Carlisle, who started brewing in a building at the back of the Spinners Arms in Carlisle in 2013, but have since graduated to a 10-barrel plant on an industrial estate in the city. The friendly lass behind the bar, who had a Scottish accent like several people I came across over the course of the day, gave me a card which she'd stamped so that when I've got 9 stamps I can claim a free pint. I found a table to the left of the bar, behind which there was a raised area with additional seating, many of the tables with reserved signs. There was an area to the front of the bar, with further seating in a bay behind a hallway with stairs to the gents and accommodation. My beer was pleasant enough, if a little undistinguished, with malt and fruit flavours and a slightly bitter finish (NBSS 3).
I was quite hungry by now and plenty of people were eating, although it certainly wasn't a foodie pub. So I went for a fish finger butty and chips, ordering a pint of Jennings Cocker Hoop at the same time. It was good to see them back, brewing at the same site in Cockermouth following their rescue by a local couple in 2025. Unfortunately, the pint which the lass did say was the first she'd pulled today and she spent a while on it, refused to clear and so I returned it to the bar, getting another one. Whilst it cleared eventually, it was unfortunately rather tired (NBSS 2.5). My food came and was duly scoffed as, with a limited amount of time, I had to make a move. Whilst the beer had been nothing special here, the service had been friendly and welcoming, the food was fine, and I liked the atmosphere of this historic pub.
I was on Castlegate and the two other Good Beer Guide-listed pubs were just off it a short distance away. I carried on down the road to the town centre, which was a few minutes walk away at the bottom of a gentle slope. With plenty of shops varying from local to national chains, Penrith is something of a local hub despite its fairly modest population of around 17,000. As well as being on the West Coast mainline, it is just off the M6, 3 miles outside the Lake District National Park and about 17 miles south of Carlisle. From here the A66 heads towards Keswick, the main centre for the Northern Lakes, and onwards to the Cumbrian coast and towns like Whitehaven and Workington. The town lies in the Eden Valley, just north of the River Eamont.
The town's strategic position on vital north–south and east–west communications routes led to the Romans establishing two forts nearby. The area meanwhile had been settled since the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with such as a couple of nearby stone circles and archaeological finds confirming this. I was later settled by Celts as part of the ancient area of Hen Ogledd and subsequently by Angles, Danes, and Vikings. In 1092 it was taken over by the Normans but its proximity to the Scottish border meant it frequently changed hands between the English and Scots. Following one Scottish raid in 1345, a wall was built around the town, and a few years later the castle was built. Edward IV of England later granted the castle and Penrith manors to Richard of Gloucester, the future Richard III. He used Penrith as a base against the Scots and to promote Yorkist loyalty in the area. Tradition has it that Richard stayed in what is now Dockray Hall during building work on the castle. Penrith was caught up in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, another consequence of the town's situation on a major travel route. The 1745 incursion saw Prince Charles Edward Stuart (aka Bonnie Prince Charlie) staying at the George in Devonshire Street on November 21st during the Jacobite army's route south through England. Aside from its rich history, the town had been granted a market in 1233. The town developed depending mostly upon agriculture, especially cattle rearing and droving, lacking the resources to become an industrial hub. Its transport links and proximity to the Lake District, the Eden valley, the North Pennines, and to centres such as Carlisle came to encourage tourism and later commuting. As a result, the hospitality and retailing sectors became important, whilst the town centre today is home to many independent shops and businesses, with my walk around the town revealing a large number of pubs for a place of its size.
The next pub on my list was on King Street, just off Castlegate. This was the Fell Bar, run by the brewery of the same name, and visiting here means I have now visited all 6 of the Cumbrian brewery's bars, having visited their latest opening in Stockport the other week. The one here in Penrith is based in a former shop which had been opened as a bar in 2012, and was acquired by Fell a few years later. It is a small and intimate place with seating on three floors. The downstairs bar was busy when I walked in, all seats were taken and it was standing room only. From the 4 beers available on hand pump I went for a pint of Ghyll, the brewery's 3.4% session pale, its low strength belying a beer with plenty of flavour. It was fresh and in excellent condition (NBSS 3.5), the best pint of the day so far. I later got myself a half of the 4.1% Session IPA from the keg selections, and as a table emptied, I parked myself on a seat by the window for a few minutes as I sipped my SIPA. The Fell Bar was another excellent place and well worth a visit.
I retraced my steps and then cut down a narrow street with lots of little shops and with various yards and similarly narrow lanes leading off it on my way to the third pub of the day. I emerged on to the edge of a square, where across the road was the historic white-walled Dockray Hall, with a wall to the front and an imposing entrance giving it an air of importance as befits a building with a distinguished history.
Dockray Hall is a Grade I-listed 16th-century inn with many original features including three large stone fireplaces. There are three cosy rooms all with flagged floors, beamed ceilings, and wood-panelled walls. As I mentioned earlier, King Richard III is said to have stayed here during his exploits in the area and apparently there used to be a tunnel between the hall and the nearby castle. For years the pub was known as the Gloucester Arms reflecting the king's former title. From the kitchen good food using locally-sourced produce is available all week, whilst on the bar with a range of three beers on hand pump, Loweswater Gold from Cumbrian Brewery is a regular. And that was one I went for, it's a favourite on my visits to the Lakes, and it proved to be just about the best beer of the day, its fruity beginnings giving way to a dry bitter finish (NBSS 3.5).
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| Dockray Hall, Penrith |
I had about 40 minutes to go before the train so I made my way back up towards the station, where I'd planned earlier to call in the eponymous hotel across the road. However on the way there I came across another pub that I'd walked past but not noticed earlier called the Old Victoria, so having seen its name mentioned in a local CAMRA mag I'd picked up at the Agriculural I decided to pop in and have a quick half. I walked in to an area with a pool table with a couple of lads playing on it, with the bar beyond with a single hand pump offering Loweswater Gold. I ordered a half from the lady behind the bar and went and sat on a table at the far side of the bar. Whilst food seemed to be a part of the offer here, it came over very much as a local's pub. My beer was OK (NBSS 3), but I didn't take long to drink it. A pleasant enough place, but I couldn't linger any longer and so I was on my way.
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| The Old Victoria |
It was about a minute's walk to the Station Hotel, a large imposing building occupying the end of Castlegate. I walked up a couple of steps, and turned right into the bar where a large TV was showing the rugby league challenge cup semi-final between St Helens and Wigan. A group of lads were sat with pints of lager noisily planning their night out before they got the train to Carlisle. On the bar were two hand pumps with a railway-themed pump clip, one serving Station Hotel Bitter and one serving Station Hotel Cider, which I always find irritating as you never know what you are really drinking. That said, my half of bitter was pleasant enough, quite malty with a dry finish (NBSS 3). The bar itself was friendly enough, and it is close enough to the station for a quick drink on arrival in or pre-departing the town.
It had been an excellent, if rather short, visit to Penrith where I'd discovered a town with a lot more about it than I'd realised, and as I'd only scraped the surface in terms of exploring the town and discovering charms I can certainly justify a return visit here at some point in the future, And after all, I have to work towards that free pint at the Agricultural....
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