The Kingston Arms, Cambridge

This is another back street ale house that has been knocked into one room. There were what looked like carpet tiles on the floor for a change and bare wooden tables. There was a TV screen but it was turned off. The bar sported twelve hand pumps and a black cat fast asleep at one end of it. There were two ciders available and the beers on offer tended to have a slant in favour of larger micros. I went for a Thornbridge Jaipur IPA (£4.10) which tends to be pricey even in a Spoons. It was in excellent nick. For the third time on the day I missed out on the CAMRA discount. This was a much better place than the manic Cambridge Blue around the corner.

Another of Cambridge's back street gems; smaller than some of the others we visited on the day, but still managing to pack in a dozen or so ales. Keener than some of the local free houses to promote their food, which seems to have a good reputation locally. If it hadn't been for the lure of another pub on a busy pub crawl, I'm sure we would have stayed for longer to sample a few more of the ales.

I think I counted 13 pumps now, including the cider ones, and a good balanced choice available. A couple of Hop Back beers, an Elgoods Mild and a couple of Oakhams, but right bang in the middle of the counter was Mighty Oak Oscar Wild, completely living up to its 2011 Best British Beer status. Again, this Cambridgeshire Ale house tucked away in the narrow streets east of the City Centre is not the biggest of places internally being mainly a thin L shaped room around the serving bar, but does benefit from having a decent outdoor space out back, with an eclectic jumble of mixed tables and seating underneath two large Jumbrellas. Good pub internal décor, and although there is a flat screen tele now on the wall in the short side, it was tuned to a radio station for the test match cricket, which I thought was a nice touch. Quite busy on the weekend lunchtime visit and most people were eating the roasts. They looked very good , but we were only here for the beer, and very good it was too.

An attractive exterior with blue and white window arches, this pub aims itself more towards the lefty academic crowd, what with wi-fi terminals and Palestinian food (very yummy, I might add). Ten ales on from smaller breweries alongside a real cider, the two I tried were in pretty good shape. The foreign chap behind the bar was a bit surly though. As noted elsewhere, the ratio in height between settles and tables is way out. Interior is colourfully decorated and there’s a decent garden to the rear. Should be a default visit if you like your ale.