The Centurion, Lincoln

This pub is part of the Ember Inns chain and can be found on a busy roundabout in the southern suburbs of Lincoln. You used to know what you were getting with Ember Inns. The interior is fairly identikit throughout the chain, but they did at least support cask ale. Whilst they still offer cask ale, the range has diminished significantly since Covid. This branch had 8 handpulls, but just Doom Bar & Moonshine available. Doom Bar was double clipped and the other handpulls were clipped with some kind of promotional material. I opted for a Moonshine, as I haven't had one for some time. But I soon remembered why it's not my favourite beer. A CAMRA discount is supposedly offered, but the barman who served me had never heard of CAMRA. Nevertheless, he did manage to find a discount button on the till and I got 20p off. Wingman was the pick of the keg beers. Strongbow Dark Fruit & Stowford Press were the ciders. As you'd expect with Ember Inns, the interior was carpeted, wallpapered and functional. There was at least one games machine and the Cheltenham Festival was being shown on the TV on mute, with music playing. I'm glad it was one or the other and not both. Naturally this pub can be found listed in the 2025 Good Beer Guide!

An Ember Inns pub beside a roundabout on what used to be the A46 or the Fosse Way, the Roman Road linking Lincoln, Leicester and Bath, among others. Nowadays this is a dining pub with a large car park and precious few centurions. Not being the dining pub sort, my eyes were drawn to two sets of four hand pumps, but a closer perusal showed that the same beers were doubled: St Austell Anthem, Sharps Doom Bar, Purity Mad Goose and Allendale Golden Plover. I went for the last named, which was disappointingly cold. I was charged £4.40 for my pint and it was only after leaving the bar that I saw a poster attached to a pillar offering a 20p per pint reduction for Camra members - carefully affixed to that side of the pillar that would not be seen on approaching the bar. Quite honestly, I wouldn't be that bothered about 20p, but it would be nice to see it offered a little less grudgingly. I've been in a few Ember Inns over the years and found some of them ok. This one, being more like a Marstons or Greene King retail park diner than a proper pub, would not be among them.

The Centurion used to be run by James Hole & Co. Ltd. The image is from a mat issued in 1968.

Official pages at the Ember Inns site - www.emberinns.co.uk

Official pages at the Ember Inns site - www.emberinns.co.uk