The White Lion, Baldock

A middling-sized pub, reasonable smart but not a great deal of character despite being an aged building. It is U-shaped round a central servery with an outdoor drinking area in the yard behind. The ales were slightly up on the average, with a sparkling Oakham/St Austell collab, a slightly soupy Woodfordes Wherry, Old Speckled Hen and a house beer, presumably the GK standard.

From the outside this looks quite a grand building,but the interior is much smaller,a reverse tardis. You enter into a tap room with a low ceiling and herringbone pattern brick flooring.There is a back door onto a courtyard,and for access to the loos,head for the ladies but dont go in,the gents door is obscured to one side. Wind around the bar to reach a side section with an exceptionally low ceiling ,so if using the high tables here dont get wedged in if you are tall.There is some more traditional seating at the rear of this room.Cosy and charming is the overall impression. Don't worry about the Greene King signage as this now appears to offer guest ales,with 4 handpumped ale doubled up on both sides of the bar.On my trip there was Butcombe Chris Mouse,Woodforde's Wherry,Baldock Pride (provenance unknown but possibly a GK brew) and Oakham Inferno (NBSS 3.5). It was open earlier that the advertised Whatpub hours,it had a boozer atmosphere and made a good stop on a tour of the town.

Another Green King tied pub on the opposite side of the Baldock High Street to the Cock. Although it doesn’t appear to be from the outside it is apparently another former 17th Century Inn. Inside it has a bit more character with wooden beams and half walls partitioning the large space into different areas and low beamed ceilings throughout, and then an external patio area with metal tables and chairs out back. It was quite quiet for my afternoon visit and as such lacked a bit of atmosphere, but perhaps it’s different when there are a few in on a Weekend evening. And also not helped by the fact that there was only Abbott & IPA on the ale front and it was quite an indifferent half of IPA , which means I won’t be rushing back to this one any time soon.