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Disappointment of the week with Bucking Fastard
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Detail Pages
The Cambridge, WC2
WC2
WC2H 0DP
Pub Type
Nicholsons (Mitchells & Butlers)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Cambridge
Hard to believe I’d never been in here before, though I would agree with the reviews below with regard to description, especially Moby’s analogy to drinking in large bay window. The furniture is tall or conventional and of course, there’s much smoky blue paint. The real item of interest is the panelled ceiling which recalls the one in the White Horse, Hampstead, which is made from enamelled panels; perhaps these are too?
A very charming barmaid served me up a decent half of Ghost Ship for a terrible £2.65, the other options being Pride, Doom, Nicholson’s Pale Ale and Rosie Pig cider.
This place is ok for a swift post-theatre one for the road, but otherwise is in an area where there are few decent pubs, this being just another example of the formulaic theme to be found in tourist hotspots.
On 29th October 2021
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Cambridge
A busy Nicholson's pub prominently located on Cambridge Circus with one fairly large room downstairs and the usual dining room upstairs. Pretty typical of its type, however it is worth visiting just for the superb ceiling. The beer range is pretty good too, with on this visit Purity Mad Goose, Dorset Frosted Jack, and Sharp's Rising Tide alongside the usual London Pride, Doom Bar and house ale.
On 17th March 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Cambridge
The third and final pub on my mini tour of Nicholson’s pubs in Soho, this is another fairly compact pub handy for Leicester Square. The pub has a simple, small main bar area with some heavy duty floorboards and a swish bar counter running along the back wall. The bar back has a lot of dark wood and some nice cut glass panes in the centre and at either end. Some copper-topped high tables with bar stools stand directly opposite the bar with regular tables and chairs to the front and right. The front left corner has a long, sweeping button backed banquette and chairs on the far side of a chunky dividing screen. The walls have been painted in quite nice dark shades with a few beer signs and advertisements on display as well as plenty of black and white photos of the local area. The ceiling is probably the pub’s highlight, with some amazing ceramic panels set into it which depict a bowl of fruit. As per most central London Nicholson’s pubs, signs pointed upstairs to a dining room and as per most visits to central London Nicholson’s pubs, I didn’t bother to go and check it out. Reggae music played quite quietly throughout my visit and the pub was notably much less bust than the two other Nicholson’s pubs I visited earlier in the evening, perhaps because the theatres were now open and the post-work crowd had thinned out.
The ale range here was much the same as the other two Nicholson’s pubs I’d visited this evening, with the selection comprising of Fullers London Pride, Sharps Doom bar, Rudgate Guilty Pleasures, Hook Norton Hooky and Hobson’s Champion Mild with two more pumps out of action. A pleasant barmaid served me a pretty good drop of the Champion Mild which slipped down very well after a poor pint in the previous pub.
This pub won me over a little with its beer quality and I thought the ceiling was worth a quick drink to admire in its own right, but I felt there was something a bit lacking here which I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Once again, this is a marginally above average Soho pub with nothing to make me consider it above, or rule it out in favour of, the many competitors in the area.
On 24th July 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Cambridge
I personally found this pub rather nondescript and rather bland, you generally know what you get from a Nicholsons pub but in this case it was slightly less, not a very large bar area given the external dimensions of the pub, I found it akin to sitting in a rather large bay window. My beer of choice was Skinners Cornish Trawler which was in OK condition , but I did wince at paying £2.05 for a half of OK'ish 3.8% beer,don't think I would bother again even if passing by.
On 13th August 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1871 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Peter Rydings left this review about The Cambridge
Nicholson,s pub can not go far wrong another one we call in when down here a good watching people place when sat out side
On 6th August 2014
- rating: 10
[User has posted 948 recommendations about 917 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Cambridge
Nice little Nicolsons pub with interesting painted ceiling panels that have probably lost a lot of their original colour.7 handpumps with 5 beers on.My Stewarts -zymic was ice cold but not nice cold.Tastless beer so not impressed.
On 25th January 2014
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Cambridge
I quite liked our visit to this typical theatreland pub. The service was good and the pub had a good and jolly atmosphere. The ceiling also added some interest with lots of the original copper painted panels. There were six ales to choose from on our visit. We went for the Exmoor ale, which was in good shape.
On 7th January 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Cambridge
One's first impression is that it is a very small bar for a Nicholsons, especially when they've got seven handpumps in operation. However, there is a much larger dining room/seating area upstairs (which also features another three handpumps). Quite a lot of interesting decor in both rooms, especially the unusual green tiles on the ceiling of the ground-floor bar. Beer-wise, there are usually several decent guest ales (such as Thwaites 13 Guns on my latest visit) in addition to usual suspects such as Landlord, Pride and Doom Bar. One of the better pubs in the area.
On 28th October 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Cambridge
I have been to this pub once before over 35 years ago when it was an Ind Coope house that did a fair pint of their recently introduced Burton Ale. It's now part of the Nicholsons pub chain. It's a lot smaller than I remember with bare floorboards, a few tables and chairs and a ceiling with some old decorative tiles. On the bar there were seven handpumps serving Truman's US Pale, London Pride, Adnam's Lighthouse, Nicholson / St Austell Pale, Old Rosie cider and Leed's Gathering Storm doubled up. I went for the Truman's beer (£3.98) which was in good condition. Four quid a pint is expensive, but I wouldn't mind betting there are plenty of pubs in this area charging more. Cashing in a voucher from London Drinker for a free pint of Chevalier Outlier Lager made the cost more bearable.
I was here before midday so it wasn't busy, but as it is so small and given the location I would think it gets packed at times.
On 28th September 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Cambridge
Small rather average Nicholsons house, set out in their usual way, worn tables, leather seats, fruit decorated tiled ceiling, pipped pop music. There just seemed to be something missing here.
7 real ales of good quality, though the service was rather unfriendly.
On 1st October 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]