The Caledonian, Carlisle

The Caledonian is a high street boozer with banquettes in the front windows either side of the central entrance, and up the left-hand wall is a serving counter that supports standard and premium keg products. For some reason there was no service in the central section of the counter that had been roped off, I struggled to understand the reason for this early on a Monday evening. Cards are taken, but cash is preferred. The mix of open plan high and standard seating in the rest of the pub is broken up with a few supporting columns, most of which have televisions mounted to them for the showing of Sky Sports and racing TV. It was busy in here, which I think must be due to the reasonably priced beer rather than the atmosphere which was non-existent.

Had enough time for a swift one in-between trains so decided to chance a tick over the Spoons certainties opposite. An odd place this one - clearly refurbed not long ago and pretty plush, the awful snot green paint notwithstanding. Busy for a mid-afternoon weekday with a chunk of the clientele glued to gee-gees, clutching betting slips and copies of the Racing Post. A large part of the bar area was weirdly cordoned off, you had to stand either side of the barrier. No cask and incredibly basic drink selection (Amber Tavern pub, I see), so a John Smiths keg did me for the low abv. Could, if it pulled its finger out, be a fairly decent bet.