The Cherry Tree, Woodston, Peterborough

The pub is much as described by PSM despite nearly five years having passed between his review and mine. I obviously caught this place at the wrong time, as a post-match fight had just broken out on the edge of the car park, and the landlord was distracted enough to serve several others at the bar before me, although I'd been there easily the longest. Perhaps I should give it another chance on a non-match day. The choice of beers available was moderately stimulating, so this would make for an interesting stop on a south of the river crawl (Charters, Woolpack, Coalheavers and Palmerston) if the occasion arose. Date of visit: 6th December 2015

Official site of The Cherry Tree - www.cherrytree-inn.co.uk

Official site of The Cherry Tree - www.cherrytree-inn.co.uk

This rather standard traditional pub is situated just a short walk away from Peterborough FC and there was a decent crowd in when I arrived just prior to an evening match. The entrance takes you straight to the bar, where there is a limited amount of seating, although things open up a bit more to the right hand side, where there is room for quite a lot of tables and chairs. The room is nicely lit, creating quite a comfortable environment for a drink or two, but unfortunately there were no seats left when I arrived, so I ended up in another room to the left of the bar which looks like it is usually set up for diners. This area had more of a lounge feel to it, with its carpeted floor and formal tables arrangement. Quite a lot of people were tucking into the food and the reasonably priced menu is listed on blackboards above the bar. Background music was played throughout the pub and I noticed a lot of live music posters and flyers which suggest that they are more than just a match day venue. The pub has a large garden out the back and a car park which they were charging football fans to use. This is another Peterborough pub that has embraced the LocAle scheme, so the choice from the four handpulls was Digfield March Hare (£2.80), Everards Sunchaser, NBC Phipps Red Star and TT Landlord. I thought the March Hare was a tasty pint (more so than the Barnwell Bitter I'd tried earlier in the day) and the barmaid who served me was friendly and efficient. Not perhaps the most charismatic of pubs but certainly a decent and honest sort of boozer which seems to offer good beer, reasonably priced food and live entertainment to the local and visiting population.

First visit to this pub as it is in the 2010 Good Beer Guide and I was not disappointed with the real ale. 8 pumps - 3 with Landlord, a London Pride, a Green King IPA and Digfield March Hare that we chose to try. The other 2 were empty. Food menu looked good, and it must be more of an eatery than drinking pub as most of the tables seemed to be set up for meals complete with paper cloths and cutlery. The only "bar" tables were 2 in front of the bar that were occupied so we felt obliged to stand, even though most of the tables were empty. I would not have wanted to mess the table up.