The Mitre, Cambridge

Established in 1754 according to the exterior signage, what is now the Mitre was originally 2 pubs, the Blackmoor's Head and The Cock and Magpie although the former had closed by 1874, a vicitim of downtrade following the decline of the local river traffic in favour of the railways. The passage way between the Mitre and the Baron of Beef next door still bears the Blackmoor name. Today the Mitre is part of the Nicholson’s chain and is fairly representative of the company albeit internally the place does feel a little chain pubby rather than having any real intrinsic character or identity. The interior is divided into a light and bright front bar with pastel yellows and pine floors, drape curtains and simple furnishings. To the rear is a larger carpeted bar with a slightly sunken section designated as the dning area. The décor contains several pictrues of the various colleges and historic buildings. There are a couple of TVs and some background piped music. As one expects from Nicholsons, there was a good selection across the 8 hand pumps (4 in each bar) with 2 Adnams (Bitter and Broadside), St Austells Nicholsons Pale, Thwaites Wainwright, Everards Sunchaser, Roosters Yankee, Caledonian Golden Sun and Old Rosie Cider. The Nicholsons Pale was £3 which is pretty good value for what is a bit of a City Centre tourist hot spot just a few yards down from Punt Central. Food was competitive with main courses around £7-£10 with a few more specialized meat dishes up to £18. Service was prompt and friendly and the customer base largely derived from the tourist trade. It won’t compete with some of the more specialized beer houses than can be found in the city but it does what it is there for and given that it panders to the tourist trade still has enough to offer the more discerning drinker and pub enthusiast.

Nicholsons pub our favorite on our short visit to Cambridge , basically one large room on two levels with the split bar to the right , keg taps slightly more upmarket than usual with Peroni etc and four handpulls on each side of the bar , beers were from Adnams , three mills , rooster , robinsons and pontypridd all the ones tried were in exellent nick . The pub was very busy on both visits but the atmosphere was good and a special mention must go to the exellent bar staff who despite it being two deep at the bar at times made sure you did not wait long for service . Really liked it here , well worth a visit

Bland and unremarkable, save the labels of recently-shoplifted goods that had been discarded in the gents. Caledonian IPA on offer which was fair - other beers I believe were Adnams and Greene King (great). Oddly, given the size of the place, there were two quiz machines which gave us 20 minutes worth of entertainment. [EDIT - since this review it looks like Nicholsons have purchased the place made forward strides, review based on previous incarnation]

Official pages of the Mitre, containing menu and cask ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk

Official pages of the Mitre, containing menu and cask ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk