The Fat Cat, Colchester

Official site of The Fat Cat - www.fatcatcolchester.co.uk

Official site of The Fat Cat - www.fatcatcolchester.co.uk

Bright lightwood front bar above which a blackboard showed available ales - five of six handpumps Sat pm, and seven of the originally listed eleven from the tap room; I don't have all details but when the choice is reduced and still stretches to 12 beers, it's gotta be good. I know they had Brewers Gold & Hophead and, I agree with GDS, the couple of FatCat beers I tried were really tasty too. A plain looking pub, too plain according to my fellow crawlers, but I didn't mind the simplicity of the whiteboarded walls & ceilings in the front, contrasting with the green wall housing the windows to the tap room stills, and there was a small plasma showing the rugby above a decorative fireplace. Around the bar to the right is a more shadowy section with some serious beer tasting going on, beyond this a small tiled area leading to impressively spotless loos, and a tiny outside corridor for smokers. Come on FatCat, we need you to open an outlet in SE London.

Previously The Royal, The Fat Cat (the sign hanging outside is annotated 'Free Mouse') has matured into an excellent local pub with 8 ales on gravity feed. It has the feel of a cross between a micro and a traditional town local. There is a good bar menu and they run regular curry nights as well as a take-away curry service. The staff are dedicated and hardworking, but maybe not as welcoming as they could be. The locals were very much more welcoming, friendly and chatty. The décor is basic: bare brick, bare floorboards, minimal clutter on the walls and plain paint on what wood panneling remains. The building has been extended to the rear and now occupies almost the whole plot, leaving a tiny shred of garden as an outside terrace. The extension isn't terribly sympathetic to the original Victorian building – anachronistic beams, for example – but that doesn't detract from the pub's operation. The from bar is mainly for vertical drinkers though there are a few bar stools for the less steady, while the back bar in the extension has tables and pew seating. An outstanding pub which makes an essential addition to a crawl and one I shall certainly visit next time I'm in the area.

I popped in here prior to AFC Bournemouth's Friday evening match against Colchester (partly because there is a bus to the stadium that leaves from outside) and had high expectations for my first visit to a Fat Cat pub. The interior is L-shaped, with a few seats at the front, a relatively narrow strip down the side, and a more open area with additional seating to the rear. The walls were wood panelled and there wasn't really a lot of interest on display, which left it feeling a bit cold and impersonal. The staff were pretty friendly and I got chatting to some of the locals who seemed like a decent bunch, but I got the impression that it was only the football crowd generating any kind of atmosphere and that once the match-day bus departed, the pub would be a bit lifeless. There were 5 ales on hand pull, with a sixth pump displaying a turned clip. Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold, Woodfordes Wherry, Sharp's Doom Bar, Nethergate Sweeney Todd and one other were complimented by a further selection available from the tap room, but to my shame I only spotted the tap room about ten minutes before I had to leave, so I don't know how many beers were on offer from there. My Brewer's Gold was in pretty good shape and my companions enjoyed pints of a Belgian lager, the name of which I neglected to record, with Leffe also available on tap. This has the makings of a great pub, but I found it was lacking in atmosphere and character. Having said that, it's clearly a real ale destination pub and for that reason alone, I'm sure this won't be the last time I visit.

I was looking forward to my initial visit to the Fat Cat having been somewhat overwhelmed by the ales in its Norwich namesake but my early evening Saturday visit found little more than a rack of empty barrels and reversed pump clips (5 of the 6 were unavailable). Before I had even tried to ask for a pint listed on the overhead board the barmaid read out a long list of those that were not available and of the ones that were left, there really wasn’t much choice by the standards that I was expecting. The blame was apparently down to Colchester Utd being at home (they run a shuttle bus from the pub to the ground) but since this presumably happens at least once a fortnight, I would have expected the pub to be a bit more on the ball and have sufficient supplies at the ready. On a normal day I think it’s fair to assume that the ale range would be among the best in town and I certainly had no need to criticize the quality on the single beer I did try (Wolf Golden Jackal). The pub itself has a quite compact L shaped interior with some quite narrow drinking areas although it does seem to be a bit more spacious to the rear where there is an alcove with some pew seating and a further extension housed under a pitched roof. A small external yard won’t be of much use to anyone other than the “quick fag” customers. The front section has a window through which the tap room and its racked (empty, grrrr) barrels can be viewed. The general décor is quite plain and basic with bare floors, exposed brickwork, solid furnishings, a few nostaglic adverts and the old pub sign mounted on the wall. There was a good babble among the punters with no music and a sole silent TV showing Sky Sports News (before its recent withdrawal from Freeview). I do get the impression that I caught them on a bad day at the office and I would expect my rating to vastly improve on a return visit but for now, it must rank as a bit of a disappointment.