The Maypole, Cambridge

Not the most attractive looking pub or alluring interior, however the beer lineup as described by Steve below goes a long way toward levelling things up, Well worth it's place on a pub crawl.

Not sure how I have missed this one on my previous visits to Cambridge over the years, but I can see why it has a good reputation and is a winner of local Camra awards Efficiently run by the friendly family members of several generations with an excellent choice of mostly local breweries from the row of eight handpumps on the counter of the plain-ish public bar at the front, including Old Brown Mouse from Three Blind Mice (£2.65, half). The rear lounge bar has café-style furniture in different shades of green to go with the lighter green paintwork. Covered courtyard seating and rather distracting building works on the other side of the alley.

Difficult one to give a rating to for me as I wasn’t that enamoured by the pub itself. The outside vista is pretty unimpressive (for the reasons given below), with the exception of the outside wall mural by the bike racks that depicts the inside of the public bar on the outside. And inside the main public bar gives the feeling of a bland estate pub room, even despite the impressive Maypole mural on the far wall and the large beer chalk board on another. And then the separate lounge bar round the back reminded me more of a media company works canteen with its gaudy coloured seating all set for dining. The one bit of the pub I did like was ironically the covered outside section with its grey tables and chairs seating, which I can imagine is a good spot for a pint on a late evening when all the assorted fairy lights are in use. What I was very enamoured with however was the impressive drinks offerings and the congenial landlord, who was just about everything you could want in a “mine host”. On the beer front the bar supports 8 ale pumps and some 12 craft keg taps, and behind the serving bar was one of the most impressive selections of available gins I have ever seen. The available ales for our visit were New River Brewery Blind Poet Porter, Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild, Old Brown Mouse Best Bitter from the Three Blind Mice Brewery, Nene Valley Brewing Chestnut Bitter, Tydd Steam Piston Bob best Bitter, Grain Brewing Oak light Bitter and Oakham’s Citra and Mompessons Gold Amber Ale. So, a good selection of different beer styles handily arranged from dark to golden as you go from right to left on the pumps. This was my first visit here so not sure if that was a permanent thing or I was just lucky, but it was a bloody convenient way of presenting a decent line up. As mentioned below this free house is family run and the current landlord has taken over the running from his father (of Italian origin, hence the slant of the food menu) and is already grooming his son and daughter for succession. A very good host who informed us that our next pub (The Champion of the Thames) had just been awarded the local CAMRA branch POTY award. I struggled to score this one but think I should overcome my dislike of the pub interior itself and give it the 8 it’s drinks selection and congenial family ownership probably deserves.

The Maypole isn’t in the most attractive building, and the adjacent building site also detracts from the aesthetics, however a mural of the bar counter on the front exterior wall informs passers-by of what to expect inside. The interior is L-shaped with a bright and airy front seating area that is faced by the curved bar counter across the rear. A door to the right of the bar counter leads to a rear seating area where the counter runs up the left hand wall. I counted nine hand pumps on the rear bar and eight on the front bar. Available were New River Brewery’s Blind Poet, Mighty Oak Brewery’s Oscar Wilde, Nene Valley Brewery’s Nene Valley Bitter, Tydd Steam Brewery’s Piston Bob, Grain Brewery’s Oak, Oakham’s Citra and Mompesson’s Gold, Three Blind Mice Brewery’s Old Brown Mouse and Weston’s Old Rosie Cider. A craft keg range was also available, as was a pizza menu which sat well with the Mediterranean atmosphere and background music. Up the side of the building is a surprisingly large covered decked area for alfresco eating and drinking. I thought the service was extremely friendly and the Piston Bob was very good. I’d have no hesitation revisiting here.

Variously known as the Plume of Feathers, this place dates back to the mid-19th century, demolished in the late ‘30s, the frankly rather unappealing current structure is a modern estate-style rebuild of c.1957 for Tollemache – ‘Tolly’ – Cobbold and now family run by the same family since 1982, Don Castiglione presiding over the bar with daughter, both providing a friendly welcome. There were eight cask options, my New River Blind Poet, more-than-London priced at £2.75 a half and decent enough. Worth including on a crawl, but with a very modern grey interior it’s a bit too dour to warrant a prolonged stay.

As variously mentioned before, a peculiar (in a good way) backstreet pub with a rather out-of-place 1960s sort of interior, totally redeemed by the splendid selection of beers from the excellent range of cask, through some crafty keg to a long list of Belgian bottles. The third generation Italian family owners do a great job in keeping this a destination pub. The food incidentally is great and authentic, if a little pricey.