The Carpenters Arms, Cambridge

This pub has just reopened as a free house, after being saved from its previous owners, Punch Taverns, who tried to sell it off for housing. I believe it's now under completely new ownership.

Went for a first look at it this week and it's been done up really well, with comfy seats as well as tables you could eat at. Stylish but not overly poshed-up, despite the new gastro-pub label. The bar manager and chef have been recruited from other Cambridge ale pubs, and seem to know what they're doing - there were four ales on when we went in, two of them fairly conventional (Doom Bar and something else), the other two less familiar and both a good pint. The barman was chatting about the beers he's looking forward to putting on, which is a hopeful sign.

The food menu looked interesting - a short list but it looked like good food, if a bit pricey. Somewhere to eat out occasionally, rather than your standard pub burger - although they weren't serving food yet when we went. They've built a pizza oven out the back as well, which looks promising.

Generally this looks really good as a community local or somewhere to go for a meal - it's not going to rival the real ale pubs in Cambridge that have 8 or 16 beers on, but it seems to have a good atmosphere and lots going for it. Here's hoping they manage to make a success of it...

16 May 2013 19:36