The Cricketers, Chelmsford

The Cricketers was the first of a number of pubs we visited along Moulsham Street. A dog-friendly pub, we recognised the dog next to the bar as one we'd seen earlier in the Queen's Head. Indeed, we then recognised the landlord! It's a 2-room pub, with wooden floors that can make it quite loud. Sport was being shown on the TV and children are also allowed in. Greene King Abbot & Bishop Nick Ridley's Rite are the 2 regular beers. The guest beer was Skinner's Betty Stogs.

Stuck out of the way a little on the fringes of the city centre, this is a smartly refurbished pub that was doing a good trade on my Saturday afternoon visit. You enter into the front bar which has scuffed floorboards, long banquette seating options under the front windows and what appeared to be brand new tables and chairs through the centre of the room. An L-shaped servery opposite the front door runs towards the rear, down the left hand side, and has a brick counter front, matching the partitioning wall to the left which is adorned with a large plain mirror. This wall screens a nice area with button backed lounge seating and a pool table. There is also a nice decorative ironwork feature depicting a cricket bat and wickets, which is a great stylistic touch and nod to the pub’s name. A TV screen was showing a live rugby league fixture and there was a long list of upcoming football matches due to be shown here detailed on a nearby board. A corridor lined with all sorts of cricket related photos, posters and the like runs down the right hand side of the pub and emerges into a surprisingly large back room. Here you’ll find plenty more standard seating, a separate bar, a collection of board games and access to the rear beer garden. Pop music played throughout my visit and I noticed some specials boards on the walls listing pies at £8.50, although I didn’t see an actual menu, nor did I see anyone eating. There were four handpulls in operation when I arrived, dispensing Bishop Nick Ridley’s Rite and Heresy, Greene King Abbot Ale and Mighty Oak Captain Bob. The latter set me back a reasonable £3.60 and was in fairly good shape – perhaps a little too warm if I’m being picky. The bar staff were friendly and pretty efficient in the face of quite a busy bar area. I thought this was quite a nice pub with a good atmosphere generated by plenty of presumably happy regulars. The place was nicely presented without having completely lost its character and cricket fans will doubtless find plenty of interest from all the memorabilia on display. I thought this place worked well as part of a crawl without really standing out from the pack and would suggest it is well worth a look in passing