Pomfret Arms, Northampton

Reopened after a long closure this is the home of the Cotton End brewery.It's a traditional town centre boozer but with some pleasant design features.The front bar with flag stone floor has a fireplace to both sides ,cleverly lit by an array of fairy lights running around mirrors above.There is bench seating below each front window,while the island bar also serves a much larger rear room which in turn leads to a good sized outside beer terrace. The pub has a community feel with quiz nights and children welcome until 7pm and a very friendly welcome from the barstaff ,who include the brewer.I can forgive a faint smell of puke on entering as a result .On my visit there were three Cotton End ales on offer plus Hart brewed House Beer.I enjoyed both Aramis and Goldings Pale and felt that this pub is well worth visiting for both a chance to sample their good ale and enjoy drinking in a proper pub atmosphere.Not to be missed if crawling the town searching for decent real ale.

A white-painted building with dark bottle-green windows, a colour that is repeated internally to good effect. The floor is bare boards and there are fireplaces at either end of the one long room, in contrasting styles, one on a stone chimney-breast and the other brick. There's a Northamptonshire skittles table to the left in front of the bar. On the bar are six hand pumps, and these were offering beers from Phipps (Diamond Ale), Great Oakley (Wot's Occuring) and Hart of Wellingborough (3 and 9). There's real cider from boxed polypins. The soundtrack to all this was an eclectic one of blues, R&B and soul. Well worth a stroll out of town for this one.