The Cock, Bishop's Stortford

Fairly bog standard boozer located on a busy set of traffic lights. There were only a couple of other customers present on my arrival. Although, I believe a band may have been about to set up outdoors at the rear and there were a few drinkers filtering outside too. The ale choice was uninspiring - Doom Bar & Tribute. But the barman was happy to chat.

The Cock dates from 1547 and has been a pub since 1620 when it was called the Black Lion and later the Vernons Head. It stands at a crossroads on the edge of the town centre and is the last of 4 pubs that once stood here. The pub is said to have been a regular haunt of Dick Turpin who, if the stories of his frequenting of pubs is to believed, would never have had time to do any robbing. The pub also doubled up as a courthouse and jail so I doubt he would have been too keen on hanging around (metaphorically speaking). One of the upstairs rooms is also said to contain a priesthole. From the outside it does appear a bit faded and grubby and the interior has been given a fairly basic, stripped back and quite modern makeover that perhaps doesn’t enhance all the best characteristics however there are still enough wonky walls and sagging ceilings to attest to its great age. The main bar is L-shaped with fairly spartan furnishings including a couple of high back pews but on the whole it comes over as quite dull and underplayed. The rear section is separated by a wall remnant with double sided fireplace and contains a pool table. There is also a small equally spartan side room with a bit more of a loungey approach. There were several rather lewd, double entendre, pub adverts making the most of the pub name in a Carry On style of humour and also some unusual modern artworks (for sale). I think the TV count must have been addressed since the previous reports as I noted only 3 (main bar, pool section and side room) and they didn’t come over as particularly intrusive Beer wise, there were 4 ales available for my visit, 3 by Adnams (Bitter, Explorer and Broadside) plus Spitfire. I tried the Explorer which was fine quality wise and priced in line with most of the pubs in the area. I certainly didn’t feel uncomfortable here and the customer base seemed perfectly civilized although it is yet another pub in the area that probably hasn’t made the best of its attributes. As it is on the way to the football ground, I wouldn’t have any major objections in making use of its facilities at some future stage.

The Cock Inn is a picturesque 16th century timbered building with more flat screen televisions inside than I've ever seen in a pub. There's even one between the optics which you can watch while your drinks are being poured. The beer was Adnams Bitter and Broadside and Spitfire the latter two of which were poor to undrinkable. When it comes to ale, The Cock is cock.