The Little R'Ale House, Wellingborough

A quick visit while changing trains - something that EMR's timetables have made almost redundant these days. Just long enough to enjoy a pint of Kings Cliffe B5, and for my companion to get a Baileys, once it had been located!

The Little R’ale House is in a small building up the end of a platform at Wellingborough Railway Station. Outside is some paving with a couple of picnic tables and a covered seating area to the left of the building. Inside there is a bar counter on the rear wall with three bar stools. Five small tables with seating run found around the walls that are adorned with train and beer memorabilia. On the right wall is a flame effect heater and small model trains line the picture rail. To the right of the bar counter is a tall craft beer fridge and atop are a few boxes of cider. The cask is on stillage behind the bar. Grainstore Brewery’s Ten Fifty, Abbeydale’s Through the Hopback Mosiac, Milestone Brewery’s Fletchers, Bradfield Brewery’s Yorkshire Farmer and Church End Brewery’s Irish Coffee were all available. I went for the latter which was very good and the very friendly and chatty owner informed me that there is a bottle of whisky in the cask. There were five friendly locals in when I arrived and when I left a few more were arriving. I reckon you could get about twenty in here before it got very uncomfortable. The opening hours until summer are 12:00 - 20:00 apart from Wednesday when it is closed and Sunday when it closes at 18:00. Well worth a look.

Official site of The Little R'Ale House - thelittleralehouse-bar.business.site

Official site of The Little R'Ale House - thelittleralehouse-bar.business.site

Facebook - www.facebook.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com

My final stop on a day trip to Wellingborough was this small micropub adjacent to the northbound platform at the station. This was undoubtedly the highlight of my trip to Wellingborough, but did have its downsides. The picture posted here does give an indication as to its size. So, on a wet autumn afternoon, with several people already inside, there was no room for another. As such, I was consigned to a bench under an awning overlooking the road. It kept me mainly dry, but my ciders were almost being filled up and diluted by the rainwater quicker than I could drink them. It did give me a taste of what winter drinking will be like later in the pandemic. However, it was also frustrating that others (locals) were arriving and could still be seated inside, as presumably they were known. I did notice that the owner only donned a facemask every time I wandered inside to get their attention! Nevertheless, I was really impressed by the ale and cider range. The 3 ales were all fairly unusual - Potbelly Crazy Daze, Stockport West Coast IPA & Goff's Jester Mango. Apart from the Lilley's Lemon & Lime Cider, the other 3 real ciders were all new to me - Addington Garden Cider, Bad Boy Cloudy Rhubarb Cider & Simply Cider Laughton Belle. After trying those 3, I was all ready to jump on a train home. A discount is offered for CAMRA members. With such an adventurous range and in spite of having to sit outside in the rain, which is more due to current regulations than anything else, I enjoyed my visit here and whilst I can't imagine having to change trains here, if I ever do get back to Wellingborough on the train, this will be my first (or last) stop.