Olde England 2, Wellingborough

Alehouse-style pub, so rather rustic in appearance, and also surprisingly devoid of much furniture around the bar. That said, the area around the bar billiards table at the far end looks quite appealing. I found five of the seven cask ale handpumps in use, with beers being the 'house' Raedwald's Gold (just £4.40 with a packet of peanuts), Adnams Broadside, Courage Directors, IPA Claudius from Roman Way and Potbelly's Best. Four of the separate bank of five cider handpumps were also operational.

The Olde England is a wooden floored and panelled high street pub with seating under the windows either side of the entrance and a bar on the rear wall in the right corner. I counted twelve hand pumps that were drawing a mix of ales and ciders alongside a limited standard and premium keg range. In the left hand side of the pub is a bar billiards table and above is a big hole in the ceiling that has exposed the old wooden beams, must have been one hell of a shot. There’s a jukebox that sat silent, so the pub was very quiet. Looking at the goth barmaid and the illustrated customers dressed in metal T-shirts and chains I imagine it gets a bit lively in here at the weekend. There is a pub cat. Maybe the owners are going for the distressed look, but I think this pub could do with a bit of TLC. I struggled to get comfortable so wasn’t a huge fan and don’t plan to return.

First stop on a short tour of Wellingborough pubs was this sister pub to the Olde England in Northampton. It's a fairly busy town centre pub with plenty of locals. Wooden flooring gives it a traditional feel. The long bar has many handpulls, but the real ale range was limited to Courage Directors, Wychwood Hobgoblin & Hobgoblin Gold, Potbelly Best & Bombardier. The solitary real cider was Gwynt y Ddraig Farmhouse Scrumpy.