Old Queen's Head, Chester

This is now part of the Craft Union chain, very few of which in my experience have cask beers available. This one almost did, with two hand pumps on the second section of the bar counter, with a Lilley's cider and a reversed pump clip which could have been Old Speckled Hen but I would wager a small sum was actually Old Golden Hen. I'd didn't lose any time debating this, as I needed a swift half of Guinness to restore my taste buds after a strange experience in the nearby Marlbororough. This is not a bad pub at all, and if there had been a cask beer on in reasonable nick I'd have been very pleased. I was quite pleased anyway, as I now knew that my sense of taste and smell hadn't been totally screwed.

Popped in here after visiting the exellent Greek Retaurant across the road , the interior is open plan and roughly L shaped , strange mix of customers with old blokes knocking back the whisky , groups of drunk , loud middle aged couples and scantilly clad young girlies on the shots , 3 handpulls with Rosie Pig Cider , Doombar and Brains Cafe Phoinex at £2 a pint . Staff were a bit on the odd side , friendly to some people abusive to others . We just had a quick JD and left before the kareoke started .