Red Lion, Wisbech

An Elgood's house (along with most pubs in Wisbech) but this riverside pub is upmarket and has the feel of a lounge bar.Various inglenooks in the main room are used to house furniture and other item including a sofa in the main fireplace.The tables are dining type,apart from some small tables opposite the bar and bar stools.It's all quite traditional.Food is served from a pub grub style menu while there is a seperate restaurant on the first floor.I was in for a beer but the only real ale was Elgood Cambridge (New barrel,well kept ,NBSS 3.5) while their Black Dog mild was on keg. This building sits well with the fine Georgian architecture of the surrounding area ,and I was surprised how much Cambridge went down my neck.One of the better Wisbech pubs.

The Red Lion is nicely situated in the impressive historic centre of Wisbech on North Brink overlooking the river Nene. The front door leads you into a corridor which runs to the back of the pub where there is a small but comfortable patio area and a large, gravelled parking area. Turn left and you are into the one room downstairs area with the far end, the left of the pub as you face it, being full of tables. Most of these were being used by diners on my Friday lunchtime visit and there is also a restaurant area upstairs. Around the bar, to the right of the pub there is plenty of drinking space with high stools around the bar and a shelved corner area giving more quaffing space. The whole works and it feels like a traditional boozer that does a decent line in food. The menu is decent pub grub and my bowl of whitebait was substantial and tasty. It's a friendly place and the barmaid welcomed customers with a friendly smile and either 'the usual?' or advice on which beer to try. The chefs and waitresses, all female, were all chatty and good natured. The Red Lion's an Elgood's boozer and the beer on was all from their range: Cambridge Bitter, Black Dog and Easy Spider. The latter was drinkable but didn't seem to be in great shape - it should be as the pub is only just down the river from the brewery. I liked the Red Lion and it is the only GBG listed pub in Wisbech but I'm not a huge fan of Elgood's beers at the best of times which takes the shine off a little for me.

This 2013 Good Beer Guide pub is Elgoods and not far from the brewery which is not currently open to visitors (May to September). Although 3 of their beers had pump clips showing, only 2 beers were available so we had the Cambridge bitter which was clear enough. Appeared to be a popular pub and food menu looked good. There is an outside seating area at the rear of the pub.