Queens Head Hotel, Ambleside

This is a lovely old inn with remnants of some original features. The dominant impression on entering was the smell of fried fish, but I suppose this is something that we get used to after a while. The beers are all from Robinsons: Dizzy Blonde, Cumbria Way and Patterd'ale. The latter is 4.2% and presumably based on one of the former Hartleys beers, though I can't find any information about it. I drank it and my only notes made at the time were that it was cheap for the area, at £2 for a half. Date of visit: 3rd March 2022

It was quite busy when I was here one Monday lunchtime in January. There's a dining room to the rear, and a small area near the bar, to the right upon entering. I found my way to a small room to the left, with rather odd tartan wallpaper. There is wood panelling and low beams throughout, but rather than playing up to the traditional Lakeland pub image which would seem to fit this place to a T, there are pretensions to hotel status, which I find off-putting. One symptom of this was the over-loud lounge bar-type music, which I could definitely have done without. There were three hand pumps on the bar, two ales being available: Marstons Double Drop and Hartleys Cumbrian Way, probably two of the most anonymous beers you could find around these parts.