Connelly's, Carlisle

Nice smart city bar serving a few real ales

Opened 3 months ago in the premises which were the Moo Bar. There were 5 handpulled beers on when I went in today. Also quite a few craft beers. Had half of Fallen Chew Chew (a milk stout) which was pretty superb. There were only two people in the place. I hope this reincarnation of the pub is a success,

This is a recently opened shop conversion with an enormous bank of hand pumps that I kept trying to count but always had to give up. There is also a large bank of keg options at the back of the bar. The inside is long and narrow with the bar on the left and a modern interior. I sat on an enormous chair above a glass partition that looks down into the cellar. Although several of the hand pumps were unused there were still too many to note down. The only mainstream beer was Landlord and there were three from Sonnet 43. I tried the Black Hole Milky Way (£3.20), the Sonnet 43 American Pale Ale (£3.00) and the Cross Bay Zenith (£3.00) all of which were in excellent condition. This is the sort of place you might expect to be a bit of a rip off but it certainly isn't. This and the Woodrow Wilson Spoons are the best bets in Carlisle for a decent range of beers.