The Orange Tree, Baldock

An excellent locals' pub in a residential area just out of town. It just about qualifies as a multi-roomer with lots of different spaces scattered round the central bar, all with a nicely homespun sort of feel. Good and friendly too, with knowledgeable staff. The icing on the cake is the beer range (not to mention the 'proper' ciders): Anarchy Blond Star, Acorn Barnsley Bitter, Buntingford Princess, Titanic Plum Porter, Brewsters Hophead and Tring Mansion Mild, along with the mandatory Abbot and IPA. Definitely the best pub in the area.

Not much from the outside but large, multi spaces pub with quality real ale. A nice alround pub

Official site of The Orange Tree - www.theorangetreebaldock.com

Official site of The Orange Tree - www.theorangetreebaldock.com

The Orange Tree is yet another Green King Tied pub in the Hertfordshire town of Baldock. But due to a proper and very active guest ale policy agreed with GK by the current landlord it offers the most interesting choice for the Baldock real ale drinker by a proverbial country mile, and in recognition was awarded the North Herts CAMRA Pub of the Year for 2013. There are usually 8 real ales on offer which are dispensed across 13 hand pumps in banks of 5,4 and 4 across the three serving areas. A pub since the 1760’s , the multi roomed traditional pub interior of the Orange Tree retains several period features with a large public bar with impressive Simpsons brewery sign, a cosy oak beamed snug, and a large lounge/function room also with plenty of character, and an external patio area and large beer garden with sofa’d up smoking shelter out back. From all the advert posters it looks like a good community pub with regular live music, weekly quiz nights on a Tuesday and from what I could make out, a quarterly beer festival. There was also what looked like a good homemade food menu featuring meat from the local butchers but I didn’t try that. The Orange Tree has a comfortable lived in feel, but perhaps will be a bit too well worn for some who like their pubs modern and clean , especially the public area where dogs are welcome. On the ale front fortunately the available beers and their prices are displayed on a beam above the main serving area , so you don’t have to walk round all the pumps to see what was on. The GK brews of GK IPA, Abbott and the XX Mild are always on and Buntingford Brewery brews seem semi-permanent offerings as well and for my visit there was Buntingford Partridge, Twitchell and 92 Squadron alongside Great Oakley Tiffield Thunderbolt, Dark Star Winter Meltdown and a 10% Burton Bridge Thomas Sykes Old Ale. I ducked the Old Ale as I still needed to navigate back to the train station, but Dark Star and the couple from Buntingford I tried were well kept. This was the last pub of my Baldock crawl and for Ale choice, I had certainly saved the best till last.