The Bushel, Newmarket

The Bushel was previously known as the Bushel & Wine Vaults, and is one of the oldest pubs in the town of Newmarket with bits of it dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. I remember visiting it many years ago during a day at the races when this area behind the High Street was a maze of narrow lanes known as the Rookery and this was a quaint back street pub. Unfortunately all that was swept away in the name of progress and replaced with the ugly, bland Guineas shopping arcade with all its pound shops and chain stores, and the pub now sits uncomfortably facing one of the arcade squares and now has the aura of a shopping centre pub instead of a quaint back street local. Yet another of GK’s stock of pubs in town it is a two room pub with the bar at the front and then a separate dining room behind. The bar area is comfortable enough with a plain section to the left with pool table and a smarter section to the right, and a couple of handpumps with the usual uninspiring GK options of IPA and Abbott. Now maybe a Saturday lunchtime is not the best time to visit, but it did appear to mainly attract those of an age for whom it would be difficult to walk any great distance to one of the other Town options. Maybe this turns into a magnet for the youth of Newmarket in the evening, but somehow I didn’t get that impression.