The Gate, Sawbridgeworth

Not all pumps are visible in the front bar but the beers are written on chalk boards above and the choice is good: Youngs Special, Rebellion IPA, Masterbrew, Nobby's Wild West (Kettering), Woodforde Wherry, Harveys Best. The bar has a local buzzy feel throughout, some punters were eating in the front bar (to the right of which is a small snug), this curves to the left and a larger mid room with dartboard and large screen tv, beyond this a pool table and another dartboard in separate rear room. Plenty of old pumpclips around walls and ceiling indicate this to be a proper beer pub. Re-reading reviews below I'm a little disappointed I didn't spot their own brew(s), but good Wild West & Wherry.

A pretty exterior (“white clapboard”) got my hopes up, especially when I read that it’s a family-run freehouse with its own microbrewery. Indeed it had a lot of beers (plus a cider) available my visit, but I also found that a couple of them were well past their best – they were changed without fuss but the quality control needs to be a bit tighter here. The interior has the main bar at the front and a separate games room (darts and pool) at the rear. Not all the beers are immediately visible when entering – look above the bar to see what’s on the chalkboards for the full selection. The pub is big on sports and the footy was on full blast when I popped in. The atmosphere was quite blokey – not necessarily a place to take the missus. Was busy though, I'll give it that and good to see them brewing their own juice. Room for improvement, however. If they can sort out the beer quality, this place could be a real destination.

Official site of the Gate, contains menu and event details - thegatepub.com

Official site of the Gate, contains menu and event details - thegatepub.com

The Gate is probably the best real ale venue in Sawbridgeworth and the offer is decent but I can't help feeling that it could be even better. The building is an inviting, traditional white clapboard pub with an abundant and colourful display of flowers outside in both pots and hanging baskets. Inside there are two rooms, the most comfortable of which you walk straight into and has banquettes around the edge and various tables. There is also an extensive collection of pump clips on the ceiling and around the walls as well as other breweriana. Beyond this is a wooden floored bar with a large television showing sports, usually football. The landlord is an ex Crystal Palace player who, in years gone by, would take the opportunity to chat through his career with plenty of reference to the 'greats' he played with and against. It's all sport in the Gate. The pub does have it's own brewery and Sawbridgeworth Malt Shovel Porter and Gold were on from here along with Summer Lightning, Youngs Best and Rebellion IPA. The Gold was palatable but seemed to leave an increasingly unpleasant aftertaste the more we drank it. We also tried a Summer Lightning which was vinegar in all but name but was promptly replaced and taken off when we mentioned it. Herein lies the issue with The Gate, it's clearly doing many of the right things on the ale front with a reasonable variety and it's own brewery but having visited intermittently over many years I've never found a pint which really flew down and demanded that another be quaffed.