please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I used to like this place for a quick snack & pint at lunchtime, when it was called the BunShop (true, the original one was on Downing St). It had a lot of rowing memorabilia and was popular with local shop workers for lunch.
I stopped going when it went to a fancy tapas bar - and so did most of the old regulars.
Tried it the other day, as an alternative to the Bath House (which has gone McDonalds-style) and found it OK for a light lunch. Hot beef bun tasty, though beef tough. Good range of varying micro-beers: I tried MistyRiver and it was OK. Menu is perhaps too extensive for a place like this, and a little bit expensive. A window seat is great for watching the strange people going up and down King Street!
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PS/ turns out it is a chain, or at least the start of one. the developers sold their previous chain to greene king and are not shy of saying that this is what they want to do with this one too.
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true enough. nothing wrong with it that you could stand in the court of public opinion and condemn it on. lots of cambridge folk like places like it, the geldart, for example, which focuses on a similar market at the mill road end of town.
BTW, with our references to bills and malmaison, it's worth me saying i have no clue whether cambridge brew house is or isn't part of a chain. it may not matter. baroosh (another chain) cultivates a similar market, and i rather like their cambridge bar.
so i make no play of being objective and am entirely capricious in my view ... but something about the clientele and ambience here does give me the irrits.
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benscaro indeed being a little bitchy :-) I can see his/her point, though. It is the Brewpub equivalent of Malmaison hotels: nice, clean, professional and.. a bit tedious. People who like places like this will like this place. So it will do well in Cambridge.
It's ok, though: perfect if your in-laws are visiting on Father's day or suchlike.
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whatever it was in the past, 1 king street is now the 'cambridge brew house' a big, open plan, gastropubby myddle-class-family-friendly conurbation.
has some boutiquey ales and porters brewed on the premises. i did not mind the misty river but honestly they were not much to write home about.
the sort of people who like bills restaurants, that is, former hipsters with kids, drifting into early middle age, will find this exactly the sort of thing they like.
i really am a nasty bitch sometimes.
and i like it.
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This is nonsense. The real Bun Shop was off Downing Street, and was knocked down as part of the Lion Yard development
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As per the last post, the Bun Shop is yet again under new management. But unlike most of the prior incumbents (5 in ~5 years), these folks look like they know what they're about.
For now, the sign still says The Bun Shop, and the interior is little changed. But the new menu is in place -- watch this space for a report. We have also not yet explored the wine list, but it appears, as cameron.JA says, to have had some thought put into it.
The pub is due to close for what sounds like an ambitious refurb in mid-February, from which it will emerge re-christened the Jolly Scholar. But in the mean time, it's a properly run pub again. No need to wait for the refurb -- give it a try now.
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The bun shop has been taken over by the owners of the Jolly Sailor in Orford. The plans are for a refurbishment in the New Year with a focus on locally sourced food and fish caught daily from Orford. The sister pub is award winning and we confident the Bun Shop (will be the Jolly Scholar) will follow in a similar vein. Adnams ales, kept with passion, a wine list that is not some generic copy of everyone else and food that is truly locally sourced not ordered through some phone hotline. As you may guess I do have a vested interest because I work there, but please come and see what we are doing and place your own comment to update the OLD information currently listed. Please try and look past the 70�s exterior and we promise you will not find a crisp dispenser in the middle of the seating area.
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First stop on a Saturday lunchtime crawl - fairly reasonable place to start a King St run. Excellent quality pint of Courage Directors...4 others, Hobgoblin, Pride and Spitfire I think. Pleasant enough, but without a wow factor to make us stay for longer than the one. Friendly bar staff. Tend to agree with previous reviewer really, good but somehow not quite great.
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This place closed down once again shortly after the last poster's comment. However it has recently re-opened so I thought I'd give it a try tonight. To be honest little has changed (although thankfully there is no longer sawdust on the floor) and many of the earlier posts seem to sum this place up.
Five ales on tap (with Youngs and LP reasonably priced at �2) however they were quite predictable, with Black Sheep being the most "exotic" available. I had an okish pint of Black Sheep followed by a truly awful Hobgoblin. Also available for those with other tastes are the usual array of naff lagers and ciders, plus a limited supply of spirits and wines. Bloke behind the bar was very friendly, as the staff here have generally always been. Atmosphere was okay, piped music but not noticable, and customers mainly younger students though so I felt quite old! Decor was strange, wooden panelling did not really disguise the fact that this is a naff 1970s building, and what is a crisp dispensor doing in the middle of a seating area?!
Although this place isn't bad, I think its problem (and probably the reason it's never really succeeded) is that it doesn't really know what it is. It isn't a real ale pub, or a 'local', or a party type bar. It's the same with the drinks on offer, nothing to catch the eye just very predictable tipples. The Bun Shop tries to be all things to all people and therefore misses the mark on many importan things.
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This pub sure has a tough time of it. After re-opening, they were brilliant for a while. The Gunner's Daughter described by Skusey below is scrummy.
But then last night... "Oh dear 5 hand pumps and all the clips turned round." (See comment by Love_good_ale, 29 June 2008).
At least it was open -- which it wasn't at 9PM Monday night.
I'm hoping they get their act together -- this ought to be a great pub.
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Popped in here on last Sunday for the first time since it reopened (having been bought/saved by the people that own the excellent d'Arry's restaurant down the road).
First impressions were good with friendly, enthusiastic, staff, an excellent pint of Gunners Daughter from the Old Cannon brewery in Bury St Edmunds (of which they apparently only produce two barrels a week) and - most surprisingly of all for a pub in this day and age - sawdust on the floor. I also ordered a hash brown "bun", which arrived promptly was pretty good and clearly freshly prepared (if *perhaps* a tiny bit bland, could have done with some sort of relish). So, lots of positives there.
The only down side was that on a extremely quiet Sunday evening the place was lacking a little in atmosphere given how open the layout of pub is and with no music being played (something that I'm generally in favour of, but I somehow felt the room would have benefited from in this situation).
Apparently there is - at the time of writing - also a �2 a pint deal on Tuesdays, which is a steal if the Gunner's Daughter I tried was anything to go by.
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Reopened now as an annexe to the Bun Shop across the road.
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Closed this week (September 08) by bailiffs. Unlikely to re-open. Apparently, it was heavily in debt.
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Looked like it has been converted from a 1960s style multi-story car park from the outside. Went in to five five hand-pumps with a range of beer - unfortunately (as Love Real Ale states) none of them were available! Looked to be food orientated.
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Oh dear 5 hand pumps and all the clips turned round. Bad management on a Friday afternoon to have no beer available. Surely you should be geared up for the weekend at this point. The pub looked more like a restaurant from the outside.
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The PUB QUIZ at the Bun Shop is BRILLIANT - every Wed evening - started 8.30pm. �1 per player I think it was, we had 4 in our team. Max of 5 per team. Nice bottle of wine as a prize when we played - yeah, we won! (there weren't many other teams that night, though they had just got started!) I think you get a pitcher of beer if you're second. It's upstairs, which is nice, and the host was gorgeous! lol Not sure if that was intended as an incentive!
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Not much to look at from the outside; and with its name, it takes a second glance to work out what's inside. In fact there are several things within - bistro, tapas bar, live music/function room and a 'pub style' bar (which is actually rather better than it sounds).
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Celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in one of the rooms upstairs with friends.
Food was plentiful and very tasty. The staff could not have been more helpful and generous. And the tapas / wine deal is exceptional value for money.
Recommend this to anyone organising a party for 20-30 people.
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They serve Tappas there. My advice: Do NOT eat them �awful! So summary: awful food, bad service.
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First ever visit this week - always walked past it on the way to Radegund/Champion as it looks awful from outside & beer range is DULL. Inside is actually quite well done, & Bombardier decent.
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The selection of beers is decidedly average compared to other cambridge haunts, but the food is great. Expensive though. All in all a nice pub but watch the wallet
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The pub bit is reasonable; in fact that sums up most things about this place. Not brilliant, not bad at all. Friendly staff.
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To anyone brought up in Cambridge this is a travesty. The origional Bun Shop was legendary but demolished in the 70's to make way for the ugly Lion Yard shopping centre.
Atmosphere free.
rik - 16 Jan 2004 13:37 |
Have a burger with the cheese and green pepper secret sauce. It's lovely.
Techno - 7 Apr 2003 12:07 |
