Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Cambridge

Cambridge – Hobson’s Choice

I never knew until today that the phrase Hobson’s Choice has its origins in Cambridge. It seems that the origin of this idiom is attributed to Thomas Hobson (1544-1630/1631) who was a carrier and livery stable owner in the city. Hobson ran a thriving business, renting horses to the many students and academics at the university, as well as operating a mail service to London and as part of that he maintained a large stable of around 40 horses.

Hobson noticed that customers consistently favoured his fastest and strongest horses, leading to their overwork while others remained idle, a situation which he considered entirely sub-optimal. To prevent this and to ensure the well-being of his entire stable, he implemented a strict policy which was that customers had to take the horse nearest to the stable door which was the one that was most rested. If they didn’t want that particular horse, they wouldn’t get any horse from him, so their choice was somewhat limited.

And the plaque on the wall on Regent Street.

May 13, 2025
Gdansk Trip – Luton Airport Back to Newmarket

I had initially planned to repeat my travel plans of the previous week, which was to stay at the Pret Landside at Luton Airport, then get the 04:30 National Express service to Cambridge and then get the first train to Newmarket. It was in many ways a sub-optimal journey. However, thanks to a particularly impressive early arrival from Wizz Air, a border with no delays and my ability to walk quickly, I was able to make the last National Express service of the day that would get me back to Newmarket.

And here she comes. Are coaches female? I don’t know, let’s say it is, I suppose there’s a comparison about a mother hen gathering up her chicks, just as National Express pick up passengers. I think that might be stretching the logic though and I’m digressing once again. I had paid £5 to transfer my coach ticket to this earlier service and that didn’t feel unreasonable for the convenience.

It wasn’t the busiest service I’ve been on.

I’m not sure if I’ve seen a request from a coach company about tipping drivers, even in the United States. Although I don’t envy drivers, dealing with this massive vehicle and edging it through traffic, battling roadworks and dodging kamikaze pigeons, all the time listening to the cacophony of coughs, sneezes and rustling crisp packets from passengers. They probably deserve a little extra every now and then.

The bus arrived at Parker’s Piece, perhaps most notable for being where the football games governed by the Cambridge Rules were played, the forerunner of how football is played today. It was pragmatic, there were plenty of students coming to Cambridge from various decadent private schools and it was only sensible that there were agreed rules on how to play the game.

I had to wait for my second coach, so it was time for a Titanic Cherry Porter in the JD Wetherspoon pub, the Regal. The beer is always a delight.

The gleaming beacon of cleanliness, it positively blinded me with its radiance, it must have been bathed in the tears of a thousand angels.

Changing to the next coach which turned up early, the driver seemed to take a dislike to another passenger and a shine to me, something to do with how I didn’t hassle him with my bag. I like being the favourite customer on board. It meant that I arrived safely into Newmarket at around midnight which was all rather lovely given that I had expected to arrive nearly nine hours later.

October 2, 2024
Belgrade Trip – Getting Back from Luton Airport

I had a slightly (very) sub-optimal arrangement to get back to Newmarket from London Luton Airport, although I’ve realised if I can get slightly earlier flights back then I can get a National Express bus straight back. Unfortunately, the final leg of that service isn’t operated a night, so I had a few hours wait at the Pret landside with a 99p filter coffee. They have power and seating, that’s all I really required. I was suitably productive though, so the time wasn’t wasted.

The coach can arrive at any of these gates it seems.

As a slight side issue, why are they being that precise that a coach will be leaving one minute late? And I accept there are more important things to worry about in the world, but when you’re meandering around outside an airport at 04:30 these things provide at least a modicum of amusement.

Here it comes.

Four of us boarded. This route just flits between Luton Airport and Cambridge, obviously much busier later in the day taking passengers from the airport. They need more legroom on these coaches, that’s my summary of the service.

Morning Cambridge!

Then a 20 minute walk to the railway station.

It’s all happening now.

There’s the Ipswich Rocket at platform 5 that took me back to Newmarket.

After a quick sausage roll at Greggs waiting for Wetherspoons to open, I then had the £3 breakfast and £1 unlimited coffees. I quite a few coffees to stay awake, but as Tony Blair said, “that is that, the end”. Well, for the Belgrade trip anyway. I’m conscious I’ve skipped great chunks of the history, food and culture that I thought I’d write about, but there we go, maybe I’ll get back to it another time. Oh, I didn’t mention, that was one of the better Wetherspoons breakfasts so all was well with the world.

September 17, 2024
Little Stuck Lorry Incident in Cambridge

As I don’t get out much I like a little bit of drama in my day, although not too much of course. The poor driver of this HE Payne lorry found themselves just a bit stuck in the middle of the street. Some slightly annoyed cyclists informed the driver that he was in the way, but I suspect that the driver was already aware of that before their helpful contributions.

It looks like a fun challenge to remove this again, but hopefully it’ll be on its way soon enough…… Anyway, that’s enough posting in my riveting ‘stuck lorries in Cambridge’ series.

June 18, 2023
Cambridge – Hopbine

This is the former Hopbine pub on Fair Street in Cambridge, now a squat, but it’s one which is claiming to have transformed the building into being in a better state than when they found it. It’s operating as a community kitchen which means it’s of benefit to the local area, although it seems a shame that it is no longer operating as a pub. There was some dispute between the freeholder and the tenant who wanted a longer lease, with the current set-up clearly being sub-optimal for likely both parties. It’s not clear whether or not it will ever re-open as a pub again.

And here’s an interesting interview with a member of the vegan squat.

May 28, 2023
Cambridge – Devonshire Arms

Emma, Bev and I were in Cambridge for the beer festival, but we arrived earlier on in the day to visit a few pubs en route to where the main event was being held on Jesus Green. I’d never visited this pub before, one of three pubs which is run by the Milton Brewery, who once operated the rather wonderful White Lion in Norwich. It isn’t usually open on weekday afternoons, but they had specially extended opening hours for the week of the beer festival.

There were no guest beers, but there was a comprehensive selection of Milton beers.

I went for the Minerva, a clean tasting and well kept golden ale. I resisted going for the Marcus Aurelius which is a 7.5% imperial stout, but that seemed a little too much for the morning.

The pub interior, empty as they hadn’t been long open.

Traditional wooden seating. The service was friendly and knowledgeable, with this being apparent when Bev asked a series of questions about what beers the pub had available.

The back room, or indeed the front room depending on which way the pub is entered from.

Some of the pub’s previously available beers, in normal circumstances they do have some guest ales.

I enjoyed this pub and it was also a positive start to the day’s activities which were leading up to the Cambridge Beer Festival. The Internet tells me that this was a Reggae pub before Milton took it over, with its name being changed from the Midland Tavern to its current Devonshire Arms. And as a little bonus, this pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide, so that’s another one that I can tick off.

May 28, 2023
Cambridge – The Maypole (Repeat Visit)

I’ve visited this pub before, so will just add briefly to what I wrote a couple of years ago.

I was going to try a third of the Duality V4, as I’ve worked through the rest in that series, and a third of the Panna Cotta, but the manager told the server not to pour those drinks in that size. I must admit I’m not entirely sure that’s ideal, these are £9 per pint beers and I would have preferred to try two different ones. The last time that happened to me was at the Euston Tap, it’s otherwise not something I come across very often at all. It’s not a problem particularly as I’ll just opt for something else, but it feels sub-optimal from a craft beer perspective.

I instead went for half a pint of the Brazilian from Colchester Brewery, a reliable and creamy stout that I’ve had numerous times before, including from here. It was well-kept, at the appropriate temperature and reasonably priced, so I had no complaints.

The food options looked tempting and I might have worked through some more of the beer options, but we decided to just have one drink and leave to go elsewhere.

The full menu, looks suitably interesting.

Anyway, without repeating too much more from my previous post, the pub is still listed in the Good Beer Guide and there’s plenty of choice in terms of cask and keg beers.

April 30, 2023
Cambridge – Thirsty (Repeat Visit)

I’ve visited this bar before, but I felt the need to just repeat how excellent this on-trend and exciting the venue is. Those beer options are exceptional and very helpfully, they’re listed on Untappd. As I’ve written about the bar before, I’ll limit myself to just commenting on the beers I had when I visited with my friend Ross at the weekend.

The surroundings remain clean, comfortable and well presented. There’s a food menu where a neighbouring Italian restaurant brings the dishes in, it all looks most agreeable.

The Muffin Man (Blueberry & Mango) from Vault City, who are one of my favourite brewers. Sweet, fruity, smooth and very drinkable.

This is the star of any show though, the Cocotella which is also from Vault City. Liquid chocolate and coconut, this was smooth and entirely hid its 10% ABV. The combination of a stout with coconut, nuts and chocolate is always a decadent treat and this was no exception.

As a bar, this is a marvellous destination and I can’t really imagine a trip to Cambridge without popping in for at least one drink. Some considerable thought and effort clearly goes into this beer menu and it leaves me constantly surprised and delighted.

April 27, 2023
Cambridge – Champion of the Thames

Working through my never ending task of visiting as many pubs in the Good Beer Guide as possible, this is a Cambridge pub that I haven’t been to before. As I’m an idiot I couldn’t work out how to get in, but a customer did make it obvious and commented that this happened frequently. The external chalk boards were mostly rubbed out and it wasn’t entirely clear that the pub was open at first.

There were four real ales on, without nothing particularly interesting or unique, and I went for the Mad Wolf from Wolf Brewery. It didn’t seem entirely well kept, but it was just on the right side of not being vinegary to persist with it without taking it back to the bar and there wasn’t anything else particularly interesting on anyway. However, this is a Greene King pub, so I wasn’t expecting to be surprised or delighted with the beer. I note on their web-site that they claim “we pride ourselves on having the best ales in Cambridge” and then list Abbot and Greene King IPA below that. Perhaps my expectations were too high having just come from Thirsty, a formidable bar in the city which offers beers of an exceptional quality.

The pub was quiet, but it is an inviting atmosphere, there were friendly customers and plenty of heritage evident in its design. It was also clean and well presented, so the environment was sufficiently comfortable. The staff member was also engaging and polite, but it did feel like a pub for locals rather than aimed at tourists. They seem to have deliberately kept it old fashioned in terms of the decor and that seems very sensible, it’s got an authentic feel to it and that positively to the whole arrangement.

I initially thought that it was positive they had events taking place, until I realised that they’re in a different pub. It felt an odd marketing strategy, but I assume it’s clear to the regulars. They do have other events, such as showing University Challenge which I can imagine leads to a quite fun atmosphere in the venue. They also do free cheese and crackers on a Sunday, that’s something that feels really community led.

I’m sure that this offers a reliable option for the community and it’s obviously of a decent enough standard to be listed in the Good Beer Guide, so I might have just got unlucky with the beer. The beer wasn’t for me though interesting enough in range or quality, both combining to be a disappointing visit. Given the heritage of the building and the potential here, it just feels a shame that it’s part of the Greene King pub empire.

April 27, 2023
Cambridge – King Street Run

Our decision (more my decision than Ross’s to be fair) to come to this pub was a little random and primarily as it was nearby to a Good Beer Guide listed pub, I hadn’t realised at the time that this is one of the venues that Nathan has got one of his funny stories about. Probably best that I don’t put it on this blog, just ask about it when playing bar billiards is probably the optimal strategy…..

There was a friendly welcome and the interior felt like it was a suitably cosy venue. Evidently the pub doesn’t want to take itself too seriously with the “free air guitars for customers” and I like that style. The pub name itself is part of that theme, as the King Street Run was a mainly student led tradition where they had a pint in eight pubs without using the facilities. Such frivolity has long since gone, but students still form their own versions of the tradition to suit their needs.

I didn’t comment for long on the choice of drink Ross made. Well, for no more than a couple of minutes anyway.

They only had one real ale, which was Doom Bar and that didn’t excite or delight me, so I went for a Blue Moon.

Despite the brewer’s best efforts to remind publicans to ensure the drink was served with an orange, including printing that on the glass, the orange was missing. I accept this isn’t actually a problem to me, but it’s part of the drink’s theatre and I’m not sure why a pub would choose to sell this beer and then mis-serve it.

It’s very much a sports pub, with football showing and pool, darts and other similar equipment dotted around the venue, not least a bar billiards table.

Although it seemed quite student led, I quite liked the whole arrangement and it was better than I had anticipated when we entered, although also much quieter than I had expected. I can imagine it’s quite a vibrant atmosphere when live sports are being shown, but it was certainly peaceful enough during our visit. I wouldn’t recommend coming here for real ale or craft beer, but it’s interesting enough and maybe one day there will be a plaque on the wall noting Nathan’s acrobatics here.

April 27, 2023