Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, Barrow Town Centre, Barrow-In-Furness

A recent business trip to Barrow resulted in an overnight stay in The Duke of Edinburgh Hotel. It’s a large Victorian building occupying a prominent street corner position close to Barrow railway station. A major refurbishment in 2006 created a contemporary stylish 30 room hotel whilst still retaining some attractive original features. The modern, airy ground floor bar strikes a good balance between acting as a hotel bar and appealing equally to non residents. Two separate, but adjoining areas have a mixture of comfortable seating and some awkward tall perches and tables. A highlight is a real fire. Standard good value bar meals are served. Reflecting the need not to be totally reliant on hotel guests, a weekly live music evening is held. The hotel is owned by the same company who own Lancaster Brewery and 4 of their beers – Amber, Blonde, Dark and Red – were available. A second bank of 4 handpumps was serving Adnams Bitter, Thwaites Bomber, Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and Castle Rock HPA – a very impressive and enterprising range in my book. The 3 Lancaster beers sampled by me – Amber, Red and Dark – were all fine pints in excellent condition. The spicy robust, full bodied Red is especially worth sampling. The establishment is listed in the CAMRA 2011 Good Beer Guide – its first listing, it would appear. I’d be surprised if there were many ( if any ) better places in Barrow with as good a beer range as this and I’d be happy to eat, drink and stay here again if ever in Barrow. Finally, don’t forget to admire the statue of Emlyn Hughes on the street corner opposite the hotel – a reminder for English football fans of memorable days long gone.

smart new pub,pleasent to drink in with fantastic range of ales.should be better when they open for live groups,but one of barrows better pubs.