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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 9 of 10) see review guidelines
Quinno _ left this review about Drayman's Son
Tidy two-tiered alehouse, which whilst monikered as a micropub isn’t really (if you use the Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s maxim for pornography, anyway). Basic alehouse interior but on the right side of austere with parquet flooring, enamel signs, railway memorabilia and some old bits of mechanical engineering. A substantial (and fairly local – Three Blind Mice seem to have a tie-in) drink selection with five cask including a mild and stout, six craftykeg, 14 ciders and nine Belgo-German bottles. Friendly young barmaid, presumably the music choice of languid modern Indie was hers. I went for a Papworth Mild Thing which came off stillage in a cold room, and very good it was too (NBSS 4.5). So I also had another one, Three Blind Mice Simple Stout (NBSS 3.5). Some grumbles below about pricing but I didn’t see anything to make me wince – and you get what you pay for here. Best pub in Ely for choice aligned with quality and quite possibly also the extended locale; make time for at least two in here. Naturally, it's Good Beer Guide listed.
On 13th September 2023
- rating: 9
[User has posted 5089 recommendations about 5072 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Drayman's Son
As with my Southeast London crawl the day before, I'd started my day in the worst pub and graduated to the best at the end of the day (although I did still have one more to go back to that had earlier been closed).
The Drayman's Son is a micropub situated on Forehill that does not open until 5pm during the week. In fact, during the daytime it has a kind of derelict appearance. If it wasn't for the opening times posted, I wouldn't have known that it was a pub or indeed whether it was still open.
However, shortly before 5:30 pm, it was mostly definitely open and already quite busy. A steady flow of customers arrived during my visit.
There is an area of seating near the windows at the front, with a few steps beyond leading to the small bar area in the far right-hand corner, with a further low table and some stools placed alongside a shelf.
The efficient staff member took orders and after fetching beers or ciders from the cold room at the rear, brought them to your table.
Blackboards list the real ales and craft beers, as well as the real ciders. I was amazed to find a list of 19 real ciders, with 4 I'd never previously had.
There seems to be some kind of link to the Three Blind Mice brewery here, but they didn't dominate the beer lists. Real ales were Ampersand The Cap Bitter, Parkway Cheeky Money, Baker's Dozen Cryo at the Discotheque & Straight Outta Ketton, Crafty Beers Stout, Milestone Azacca & Three Blind Mice Juice Rocket.
Craft beers were Three Blind Mice Sour Pineapple & Lemongrass & IPA Galaxy & Simcoe, Lost & Grounded Keller Pils, Vaux Black Wave & Fallen Switch.
The 19 aforementioned ciders were Cromwell's Oliver's Session, Oliver's Choice, Oliver's Sweetheart & Cavalier Perry, Lilley's Strawberry Cider, Mango Cider, Rum Cider, Apple & Pears, Elderflower Cider, Rhubarb Cider & Gladiator, Thistly Cross Whisky Cask & Simon's Sweet P, Cox, East Meets West, Short Stirling, Dabinett, 5 Pear Perry & Vice Versa. In addition, there was a mead!
There is an abundance of railway memorabilia around the walls, along bizarrely with some car number plates.
I could have spent several more hours here, but my stomach was rumbling and Le Spice restaurant directly opposite was calling. But this was undoubtedly one of my favourite pub visits from the past years and I'd rate this pub as one of the best 10 I've been to in the UK. I have no hesitation to repeat the previous reviewer's score of 10/10 and hope to visit Ely again by train one day to spend much longer here.
On 8th October 2021
- rating: 10
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Thuck Phat left this review about Drayman's Son
A total gem of a micropub situated in a former shop premises on a street full of independent businesses.
The outside is attractive with its green and yellow livery, vintage guide dog collection piece and array of plant holders and colourful flowers. It could be mistaken for a florists and put me in mind of those Irish boozers situated in various shops.
The interior continues the eclectic and quirky vibe with a selection of old, mismatched furniture, an impressive collection of antique advertising signs and car number plates from around the world.
The welcome from Rob, who runs the place, was friendly and he is immensely knowledgeable on the beer served and very generous with tasters, advice and information. It was a pleasure to spend a couple of hours in his intelligent and entertaining company.
The real draw here though has to be the beer and the selection is spectacular. The pub was taken over by the Three Blind Mice Brewery in March 2018 and their beers are showcased here but they are extremely confident in the quality if the guests are anything to go by.
The beers are listed on a board to the left and are usually 6 cask and 6 keykegs all served from the tiny cellar at the back of the building.
Our visit found these gems: Three Blind Mice Draymans Best, Little Gem, Juice Rocket and Battle Scars, Amundsen Bryggert Norwegian Wild, Nene Valley John Lemon, Marble Earl Grey IPA, Lord Conrads Big Bad Wolf, Bakers Dozen Stamford Pale and The Big Twig, Milestone Summer Lovin and Pig and Porter Sandstorm Lager. There were many in there that I hadn't heard of but Rob expertly guided us through them introducing IPA's, session ales, sour beers, fruit beers and stouts.
We tried most, helped by the availability of 1/3rds and 2/3rds as well as halves, and all were in top condition with the keykeg virtually indistinguishable from the cask. In fact these were some of the best beers I've had all year and the Battle Scars heads my beer of 2018 list currently.
Fifteen real ciders and twelve gins were also available but these were never going to get a look in for us.
The pub does not appear in the 2018 GBG which, from what I gathered, seems to be down to some slightly petty administration and is an utter travesty.
Simply not to be missed and I wouldn't plan on visiting anywhere else in Ely, even the cathedral, if returning.
On 28th September 2018
- rating: 10
[User has posted 679 recommendations about 678 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Drayman's Son
A selection of nine ales on this visit, their regular number of ales is ten per day. You pay and order your beer at the small bar at the rear of the pub and then the beer is poured from stillage in the rear cellar and then brought to your table.
I agree with Aqualung, this is also the most expensive Micropub we have visited to date, especially when one of our beers was a (3.5%) at £3.90.
Beer wise we went for the Hellbound brewery Cock Blocker, Colchester brewery Jack Spitty, Nene Valley Unexpected Pleasures and Joc's Norfolk Ale Brewery Norfolk Kiwi. My favourite beer was the Jack Spitty. Also if you're lucky on a visit, you might come across a local brewery Three Blind Mice, this particular ale usually sells out in one day.
They also had a range of 37 ciders to choice from. We found this to be a friendly and chatty pub, especially if you get there early doors. There are two toilets, a Ladies and Gents.
On 2nd August 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Drayman's Son
This micropub was originally the Liberty Belle but is now under new ownership where the Landlord's father was a drayman hence the name. Unsurprisingly it's a shop conversion.
Inside it's a decent sized area for a micropub with two tiers. There is mixed seating rather than just high tables and chairs. For some reason there was a motor bike parked at the rear of the lower tier and all sorts of other bric-a-brac around the place.
The bar and cellar is at the rear on the upper tier and this had a selection of eight beers and numerous ciders. It was too late in the day to note all the beers but many were unfamiliar to me and I suspect they were all from fairly local breweries. I went for the Two Rivers Norfolk Stout (£3.90) which was an excellent strong oatmeal stout in superb condition.
My only niggle with this pub is that it's the most expensive micropub I've visited. The trouble is that the weaker beers (3.8%) were also £3.90. This seems very poor value to me, although one 3.8% one was £3.80 but a 5% Wolf beer was £4.00.
Why Ely should be more expensive than SE London I don't know but it slightly put me off what was otherwise a great micropub.
On 3rd September 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]