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The Lamplighter, Northampton
Northampton
NN1 3JS
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Lamplighter
This is a nice backstreet boozer, just a short walk from the town centre, with a reputation for good cask ale. The pub has a roughly square, open-plan room with the servery to the left and plenty of seating elsewhere. The bar has a nice dark wood counter with a matching mirrored bar back and some of the more impressive, yet not too obtrusive, Halloween decorations I think I’ve ever seen in a pub. The room is bare boarded, but with a few large rugs to help dampen down the noise, plus a small raised carpeted area to the front right, which has seating options but looks like it might also double as a stage for live music. Tables and chairs fill the centre of the room, whilst some high tables and stools have been squeezed into the front left corner, next to the bar. There are a couple of nice old tiled fireplaces to the front and rear, various brewery mirrors on the walls and a nice lincrusta ceiling, all of which add character, and the room benefited from muted lighting, which lent a cosy atmosphere to an otherwise open space. A patio garden could be seen to the rear, with a sizable covered section to one side, whilst a reasonable selection of indie tunes played in the background.
There were three cask ales on the bar when I arrived - Phipps Ratcliffe’s Celebrated Stout, NVB Pulping On Your Stereo and Vale VPA. I ordered a pint of the latter, only for it to splutter out its death rattle, but the friendly barman suggested I wait a minute for him to pull through a replacement, Brewster’s Hophead, which he then poured me a lovely fresh pint of.
I liked this place and thought it covered a lot of bases pretty well, serving a mixed crowd of punters, offering comfortable seating in a well presented space and serving good quality beer with friendly and helpful service. I do wonder if I would’ve found the place a little less warm and cosy feeling had I come during daylight hours, as it’s ultimately just an open-plan square room, but on this visit, it worked well and I’d be more than happy to return.
On 29th December 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Lamplighter
Nice use of a back street pub, it is opened up downstairs, looks like for live music so does lose a little character, but there is an upstairs room as well.
On 20th October 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Lamplighter
A backstreet corner pub opened out into one large room and maybe loses a little character it once may have once had.The pub boasts 8 handpumps with seven ales on during my visit , Vale, Great Oakley,Nobbys and Oakham were the breweries represented, Oakham Citra was in good shape.
A decent pub well worth a look.
On 6th May 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1875 recommendations about 1848 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Lamplighter
A backstreet gem for the ale drinker. In an area that doesn’t initially look promising, this pub sits quite happily on a street corner and presumably was nothing out of the ordinary a few years back. The main room has unfortunately been stripped and opened-out a bit too much, though there is a nice traditional lounge room available under the stairs (which nobody was using, sadly). Also a large walled beer garden to the rear. The clientèle were mainly young professionals (I get the feeling Northampton is soon to become the next boom-time London commuter town) and students from the nearby Uni. Music nights advertised but TV sport is a no-no. 8 pumps - 7 ales, 1 cider and a well-stocked fridge. Unfortunately my first choice of Oakham came out cloudy and was taken off after I got past the initial barmaid who was fairly clueless and demurred to the more experienced barman. The replacement of Dark Star Hophead was in excellent shape. It doesn’t quite hold the charm to make it an unmissable pub but it’s certainly well-worth the walk out to sample if you have a few hours to spare. 7.5
On 13th August 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5107 recommendations about 5090 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Lamplighter
This is a corner pub in an old terraced street just to the North of the main town centre. Inside it's a single wooden floored room with low tables and chairs. There is a smaller room at the rear that looked like a dining room. There is also what looked like a paved patio to the far right where a few people were sitting in the warm May sunshine.
Although there were six hand pumps only three beers were available but this was because their May beer festival was on and they had a metal rack with fifteen casks on it. for the record the bar had two festival ales and Oakham JHB. I went for the Nene Valley Big Bang Theory from the hand pump as there was no cooling arrangements for the beer other than an ineffective ceiling fan and the weather was quite warm. Sadly this was served in one of those horrible dimple jugs and I didn't have time to ask for anything different. It was a very good well kept pint but the price was £4.25 for a 5.3% beer. This is a back street Midlands pub with a derelict warehouse at one end not London. The two Northampton Spoons have the rock bottom price of £1.89 for a standard guest so someone is on the make here. To be fair the other festival ales were more reasonable at around £3.50 plus or minus 20p but it's still the same sort of price as my part of London.
Apart from the prices and the jug it was a reasonable place but I doubt that I would return.
On 25th May 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Lamplighter
A Victorian corner terrace pub, that's only five minutes walk from the bus station. We called in here on a Tuesday afternoon around 3 and there were a couple of drinkers at the bar and four students ordering coffees. The young barman was very slow making the coffees and apologised for keeping us waiting, which was good customer relations. As I stood patiently, I thought to myself, isn't a good thing this young crowd are calling in for a coffee and a chat, as they are using the pub and keeping the doors open.
You can see from the ceiling divides, that this was once a multi-roomed pub. The pub has kept it's traditional image, with heavily embossed ceiling papers and Lincrusta (putty paper) up to dado height and painted in a heritage green colour.
There were six handpumps with four in use. We went for the Frog Island Natterjack, which was good. A decent pub, well worth a visit. Also stays open all day during the week, from 12.
On 2nd March 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Lamplighter
Well described below so I won't bother except to say that there's a large walled beer garden and to the rear is a small snug with leather chairs. There's also an upstairs room that I didn't visit. Lots of pictures of old Northampton around the walls. Quite foody on my visit on a Thursday, early evening. 6 handpumps with 5 on serving an ever changing selection of guest ales. I thought this was a very comfortable pub and would happily have stayed a while, but time constraints meant that I had to move on, but not before I had an extra half as a new beer had just come on. Probably my favourite pub in Northampton.
On 30th July 2014
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Thuck Phat left this review about The Lamplighter
The Lamplighter is a nicely refurbished street corner pub, Victorian I'd guess, which is between the old cinema and the Mounts so very close to the town centre but tucked away from its massed hordes.
Inside, the refurbishment is tasteful with many original features such as fireplaces and beams left in but the main room has clearly been made larger than originally. On our visit it was very busy so didn't feel as though the large space lacked atmosphere, quite the reverse and I suspect that the retaining of original features and clever way that this has been done means that it works well even with fewer people in.
The young hipster bar staff offered a friendly welcome but weren't especially knowledgable on the ale front. The bar itself matches the staff being equipped with up to date coffee machines and a variety of interesting snacks. It almost feels gastro but the only food I saw advertisied was for roast Sunday lunches.
Beer: the four on were Digfield Barnwell Bitter, Newby Wyke Kingston Topaz, Vale VPA and Arbor Triple Hop Series #17. An eclectic selection which I'd guess changes regularly.
If the Olde England is too challenging to your ideas of what a pub is or simply too far from the town centre then the Lamplighter is a very good alternative.
On 25th March 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 679 recommendations about 678 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Lamplighter
A street corner local which has had a substantial refurb creating a very welcoming interior.The main tap room is open plan with traditional furniture and the bar to one side ,while to the rear of the building is a discrete back snug,comfortable and relaxed.Upstairs there is a smart lounge with interesting detail in the plasterwork.Serious money has been spend doing up the interior.
At the bar there are four handpumps for ale,with an interesting selection on my trip,the Newby Wyke Kingston Topaz was very good,and the 2014 GBG entry is full deserved.The other two handpumps were serving real cider and a perry.The friendly young bar staff were verging on hipsters,while the crowd in were a younger bunch than many GBG listed pubs.
There was a charity works pub quiz in progress but when the questions turned to the topic about the company itself (Who is the head of HR?),it all began feeling like quiz night at Wernham Hoggs.However this did not detract from my visit ,and I can see myself coming back to this very solid pub,thankfully located well away from the nighttime economy of the town centre.
On 6th March 2014
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2730 recommendations about 2730 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roy Collins left this review about The Lamplighter
A large busy city centre pub with a good range of real ales. There was also a beer festival outside in the garden with a good section of Xmas ales.
On 19th December 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 124 recommendations about 121 pubs]