The Wainwright, Keswick

The Wainwright has become a regular in the Good Beer Guide and I was eager to pay it a visit whilst spending an evening in Keswick. It is very much a walkers pub with lots of pictures and maps of wainwrights and other bits of countryside on the walls. Even the TV was showing pictures of mountains. The pub has quite a traditional feel with bare boards. Music was playing reasonably loud in the background. Food service was just stopping when I arrived, but the pub was starting to fill up with drinkers. Dogs are welcome. Fell Tinderbox is the regular ale. Appropriately, Marston's Wainwright Gold also appears to be a regular. Guest beers were Eden River Emperor, Carlisle Cushty Peeve, Barngates Goodhew's Dry Stout, Langdale Bowfell Bitter, Ennerdale Blonde & Theakston Summit. A CAMRA discount is offered. Although, the barmaid went to great lengths to inspect my CAMRA card, in particular the expiry date. With a discount, it was £5 for a pint. WhatPub suggested that real cider would be available from some local producers, but on enquiring, I was given a choice of fizzy varieties instead. So, they have clearly discontinued their sales of real cider. Nevertheless, my Cushty Peeve was adequate.

Loving this pub - easily the best in Keswick. Busy but on my two post mountain walk visits, I managed to squeeze into the back bars, blocking access for others (soz) but making it real easy for me to get into conversations. Beer selection of independant Cumbrian breweries was impressive. I tried two - Fell Brewery Tinderbox and Heskett Market Black Sail stout. Both amazing. Would I change anything? They dont allow you to order a sandwich when sat at the bar, which is a shame as a solo visitor. Even if I had got a table, it would have been gone by the time I hard got to the bar to place my order.

A definite change for the better since my last visit here in 2012. There are eight hand pumps, with Wainwright (of course) as a regular, plus five other ales at the time of my visit, with one gone off, plus a seasonal cider. (See photos for pump clips.) It was good to see that all the beers (with the exception of Wainwright) were from local breweries. The pub was lively and busy, though a slight annoyance was a group of lager drinkers sat on stools right in front of the hand pumps. There was a screen showing climbing videos, and drawings of Lakeland fells in the style of A Wainwright, done by Mark Richards (http://www.markrichards.info/about-me.html). With all this good stuff going for it, I was prepared to cheerfully ignore the fake fire and chimney breast on this occasion. I'll certainly call again when next in Keswick, but I hope they get rid of the stools in front of the bar. Date of visit: 17th December 2017