The Prince Rupert, Newark

When i first went in this pub it was called The Woolpack,a John Smiths tied house that had no real on on my first visit,but there was handpumped John Smiths bitter on at later visits. The Prince Rupert now as a different looking frontage to when it was The Woolpack. Once inside the is pretty much unchanged with quite a few different rooms,there are two rooms either side of the corridor which leads to the bar which is in a small area to the rear,there is an area off this to the left which has normal tables and chairs,there is also another area behind the bar which as more seating. There was a good choice of real ales on the bar,we had a drink of Oakham JHB which went down a treat,the other real ales noted were Scribblers Beyond Reasonable Stout,Brains Reverand James,there were a coupe more beers i failed to note. Food seems to be a big draw here with most customers having meals. The pub was packed on our Saturday dinner visit. A very pleasant pub that my wife really liked. Woolpack first visited 20/3/1983 Old photo taken 21/4/1987 Prince Rupert visited 6/8/2016

This is clearly a very old building although the roof looks modern so one must assume it was leaking before. Inside the age of the building is very apparent with lots of small rooms and the usual beams plus wooden floorboards. It was busy on my Saturday afternoon visit with many people coming primarily for the food. One of the rooms had a live acoustic band. The bar has six hand pumps with beers on my visit being Brains Rev James, Oakham JHB, Idle Valley Indolent Philosopher, Mallard Quackerjack, Newark BLH4 and Totally Brewed Slap In The Face. I went for the Indolent Philosopher (£3.70) which was an excellent strong dark beer. The only minor gripe I had with this place apart from it being very busy are the prices. My obscure stout was 5.3% ABV so not too outrageous but £3.50 for JHB or £3.60 for Rev James is excessive. Despite that niggle I thought it was a good pub but there are better value pubs in Newark.

A very attractive ancient town pub, ably described by earlier contributors. We were travelling south from York, and it proved to be too late to reach our regular lunch stop, but I remembered reading about this pub, which we reached before the kitchen closed. An eclectic mix of small ancient rooms with newer annexes:time was pressing, so we didn’t venture upstairs to see the timber framed rooms advertised below.A long, narrow bar in the centre of the pub offered a range of seven or eight handpumps,primed with beers largely unknown to me. A pleasant touch:the landlord had placed samples of each beer in mini Kilner jars in front of the relevant pump. I was pleased to see JHB from Oakham, a brewery much admired, but seldom seen on my home turf. This was followed by Baronet, a good brown bitter from Dukeries Brewery of Worksop. Both beers were served in grand condition.Interesting looking ciders were also available, as was proper leaf tea,a plus factor in my book. This pub is part of a small, enterprising chain known as Knead, which also owns the Tobie Norris in Stamford. Service was friendly, the food good:pricey, as mentioned by other contributors,but not by southeast standards. Good beer and real tea-what could be better?

As pointed out below pricey food and drink but the historic interior goes some way to mitigate this. Sub divided into many rooms over two floors some with a seventeenth century timbered look which have been sympathetically treated. Settles and scrubbed pine tables fit the style wonderfully. A visit is certainly required for the interior and a choice of seven beers.