please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
First visit since the refurb. It is now a small welcoming pub, rather than a private bar for it's regulars. Very nice pint of Magie Best.
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Two and half years after my review below I finally got the chance to go back. The place hasn''t changed that much after all. Good selection of beers and a friendly barman. Woodforde''s Wherry and Fuller''s London Pride are the staples with four other guest beers. Remember to use your CAMRA card here as it''s not advertised.
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The St Radegund is a small pub with limited opening hours. I know from my last visit to Cambridge that it closes on a Sunday and during the week, it does not open until 5pm. So we arrived just on opening. I can imagine that the single bar could get very crowded with any more than about a dozen people in. So the limited opening hours probably suit it. In reply to the last reviewer, the refurb has not destroyed the pub's character. Despite its size, the pub was supporting 6 ales - Fullers London Pride, Milestone Black Pearl & Cathedral Gold, Woodfordes Wherry, Reunion Ales Beard Tongue & Colchester Anne Downes. Pride & Wherry appear to be the regular ales. No real cider is stocked. Forgot to ask for the CAMRA discount.
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Currently closed for a refurb. Is this going to be a good thing??
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An excellent find with a host of real ales, many from the Saffron Walden brewery. We perched ourselves at an unfeasibly narrow table and chomped on some suoerb chili nuts while supping our pints. Central and yet away from the teeth of the tourist trail, one of Cambridge's best.
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Never been blanked here ... but then i'm a weirdo.
I like this place and always have a great time here.
Landlord always keen to guide me as to the best thing on tap to drink.
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Cliquey, creepy, and weird. Went in with my wife for a lunchtime pint, and we were so effectively blanked by the two bar staff that it was as if we didn't exist.
Don't like being looked through, so left without ordering. Won't bother again.
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Full of weirdos drinking great beer, still has a cassette player behind the bar. Ceiling is covered in smokey writing. Small.
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Looked kind of interesting and is in my camra book of crawls. We went in - all very busy and had to share a table with some others, including the winner of cambridge moustache of the year 2012. One cider was on and it looked like dishwater but that is the mrs problem. My pint was OK. Didnt stay for long, wanted to check out the music from the King St Run.
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Delightful and delightfully laid back, cosy pub, slightly hidden; Milton beers, elderflower (!), London Pride and St.Peter's all on. The Milton Justinian (3.9%) was particularly good. Very pleasant barmaid and happy, amiable clientele.
The photo needs to be updated, BTW, as the ugly white rendering has now been stripped back.
Regis - 28 Jul 2011 12:03 |
Started a crawl here on Sat Apr 17th. Pub remains same and has been left alone by the new encumbants save a lick of paint. Milton Habit Ale still available, as is a second Milton and three other beers. A few jovial people at the bar this time. Great pub, still recommend it.
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Stop No 3 on the Sat lunchtime crawl. Lovely small pub with good selection of Milton Brewery beers and others -seem to remember about 8 pumps on but I may be one or two adrift. Fascinating decor with ceiling daubs and King St Run memorabilia and Vera Lynn pictures etc. Seemed friendly enough, barman recommended the sister pub - Devonshire Arms but we ran out of time this time around.
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This pub has changed hands of recent months and has made a remarkable recovery!!! Day time opening (is new) has WIFI!!!???! (for all those workpubaholics who cannot make up their minds to work or play.) The new Landlord offers a wide range of rather tasty ales from light to strong. Its been a while since i have had the pleasure of visiting this delightful pub so seeing a transformation from a spit and sawdust with designer dirt thrown in...to a cleaner, more inviting cheerier place. The beer tastes clean and as it should, the atmosphere is as ever welcoming with the usual suspects perched on a bar stool, fighting over a crossword or arguing on who won the King Street Run, or the Grads pouring in for their pub crawls. as you can tell i hold this pub very dear to my heart and would highly recommend this quaint (smallest pub in cambridge) to everyone who travels past its door for a warming ale, a hot honey vodka, whisky that you are spoilt for choice or a soft drink. top notch traditional pub with a good rep....give it a go!!
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Excellent little pub. Makes good use of limited space and a good choice of ciders.
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A quirky atmospheric free house situated at the far end of King Street and little more than a stone's throw away from the Champion of the Thames 9 just reviewed ). Don't let the rather forbidding and grim looking exterior - see photo here - put you off.
It's reputed to be the smallest pub in Cambridge and there's plenty of interesting memorabilia on the walls. In particular, I liked the memorabilia of the infamous King Street Run - a local pub crawl - where the record is apparently less than 15 minutes for a pint in each of 8 pubs. Sadly, there's now fewer pubs, so current contestants have to do some of the pubs twice to get the 8 pints in.
There's 5 pumps in total. 4 beers were on during my visit - Thwaites Original, London Pride plus 2 Milton beers ( Icarus and Sackcloth ) . The Sackcloth, disappointingly served in one of those tall branded Adnams glasses, was a splendidly tasty pint. The St Radegund is a CAMRA GBG regular.
I didn't find the pub as welcoming and friendly as other posters and the barman on duty looked slightly bored and disinterested to me, but I'd probably come here again. I did like the background jazz playing.
Finally, do check out the opening hours. It doesn't do lunchtimes between Monday and Friday. Evening opening on those days is not until 5pm.
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Being new to pubs, only in Cambridge for 6 months at the time, I was made very welcome and educated quickly to the local brews. I fell in love with a couple and the staff and ownership took there time to make sure I was satisfied with the selections. I became a regular for my final 3 months. I never stopped in on a pub crawl, the St. Radegund is an all niter. If your a tourist, it's a "must".
A fan from Atlanta Georgia, USA
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Pleasant start to my first Cambridge crawl of two thousand and nine here.
Milton "Sackcloth", 4.3%, tastewise halfway between Pegasus and Sparta. No bowls of nuts here tonight (out of stock) but otherwise pub unchanged since last visit.
Drinkers should note that the No mobile phone policy includes silent use of a phone (on silent mode) to send or respond to a silently received text message. I got caught out while advertising the pub to a friend in London!
Remains a hostelry to include in any Cambridge crawl.
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An atmospheric small pub with plenty of character (and characters). Very quiet on a rainy weekend afternoon, though. Ales on offer were Milton Sackcloth, Woodforde's Wherry and London Pride. All in good nick, but we decided to move on to the Elm Tree for a wider range after a couple of pints. Also contributing to this decision was a distinct aroma of sewage, which may well have come from outside the pub, but definitely did not enhance our experience.
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Small traditional pub just up the road from The Champion. On a busy Friday night when it is fairly full inside everyone spills out on the street. Like previous comment I also strangely enough spoke to Paul Crush of the Milton Brewery. A pleasant and sociable chap who likes drinking his beer from this pub. Three ales here although four hand pumps. Milton Sackcloth and Daedalus with London Pride available. A friendly pub but I wonder if it is as popular when the weather is not so nice.
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Good old fashioned boozer! Lots of ale including several local ones. Was busy on the Friday afternoon I visited and people had spilt onto the street and were enjoying each others' company. I got chatting to a bloke about the quality of the beer and it turned out to be the bloke who brews the beer at Milton Brewery - it seems he likes the way they serve his beer too!
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A new pub to me and what a fine pub. Located a minute from the Grafton center. A very good selection of ales including 3 from the Milton brewey and some dubious looking cider. I tried the milton sack cloth which was OK but I am not really a fan of Milton ales.
Bar staff very friendly and welcoming.
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Always good to discover a new pub experience - unless it's being told by the landlord where to stand. Being a grumpy sod and making customers feel unwelcome means no repeat custom from me.
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Only one other customer on Sat afternoon so no queuing system to negotiate. Small single roomed pub playing background jazz. The infamous Terry was not in situ but the barman and the other punter were happy to chat about the pub's name & social angles - they have rowing & cricket teams and run an annual drinking (or drunken?)race. Apparently Jesus college was founded on the site of the 12c nunnery of St Mary & St Radegund. On handpump Thwaites, Pride, Milton Nero & Milton Sackcloth. Wall of shame is for those who fail to finish their drink - they are invited to sign a chitty stating "Terry's beer was too strong for me".
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I note the mixed reviews but our experience last night was positive, it is small and busy hence the sensible "service area" and queue system at the bar which allows seating at bar stools at the other end.
Fullers beers, a bit bland for a London based drinker but had the guest from the local Milton brewery, I forget which one but a straw coloured enjoyable ale around 4.5%.
The barman was friendly and informative, helping us with our maps and route and suggesting some alternative options. The "Hall of Shame" seems to be for those who cannotr handle their ale, looks like there have been plenty.
I enjoyed it here, a gem. An 8 in my book, a better beer selection would have achieved a heady 9 from me!
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Nice little boozer with some good well-kept beers, which is quite unusual for central Cambridge. Unfortunately the place was totally spoilt by the landlord who was drunk, and aggressive to anyone who wasn't one of his regulars - the 'cliquey' comments already made are definitely true. I haven't been made to feel so unwelcome in a proper pub for years. I won't be going back; I'll stick to the Champion of the Thames up the road; the beer isn't as interesting but it's a much nicer place.
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Visited this on a Saturday afternoon and although quiet, there was an agreeable feel about the place. Nicely worn in and comfortable with good beer on too, the guest was from Milton Brewery. I noticed a couple of pictures of a mate of mine on the walls too, there looks to be a bit of a folk group thing going on. All in all a tidy boozer, handy for town.
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Not sure about this place being "cliquey" - Terry the landlord has always gone out of his way to be friendly (even if that does mean him foisting copies of his cricket magazine on you at the end of the evening). There might be a few odd rules but if you want something soulless head for the beer barns in the centre of town. You won't catch them doing Veil Ale. If you only visit one pub in Cambridge, make sure it's the Rad.
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Strange little place with some very odd rules, some sensible (like the queuing bars), and some not (cliquey names for certain drinks etc)
Folk here are friendly though, it appears more cliquey than it is. Its not that old (I recall it opening for the first time in the late 80s) but it feels like an old pub, it's that kind of place
Recommended
dodgy - 17 Apr 2006 21:42 |
In disagreement with Lord Radlington, you will not "spoil" this pub by visiting, and in agreement with previous commentators, the St. Rad must be included in any central Cambridge pubcrawl. The Habit Ale was spot on once again last Friday, and the atmosphere was as friendly and eccentric as it has always been - hope it always will be! The only people in danger of spoiling the pub are those who may look to buy it and change its style or appearance.
Classic.
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Not sure about Jamie Nakin's comments about it being essential for a Cambridge crawl to include this pub - only because I don't know Cambridge pubs well - suffice it to say, I shall do this one again next time I'm in Cambridge, which sadly is probably not for some time.
I too had an excellent pint of Milton Habit Ale, which I think is brewed specially for this pub
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If you've never visited this pub; don't. You'll spoil it. A magically eccentric grotto of fine booze, the St Radegund is something of a comforting constant in the pine-and-pastel pub plague sweeping the watering holes of the Western world. My only concern about the place is that its life expectancy is linked to that of Terry the landlord's liver.
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I visited twice, both with the Cambridge Hash House Harriers on Monday nights. I loved the group, the pub, and the beer. The extraordinary aspect of this pub was doing the Hash and spending the time with the other "Drinkers with a Running Problem." Will do again when in Cambridge.
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Top, top pub. Everything about it says "stop for a couple and make some new friends."
anonymous - 21 Sep 2005 09:31 |
A great pub. Small dark, none of the usual chalkboards and fruit machines etc... Genuine character. Last time I was there you could get a Black Russian for �2.50 as well.
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Essential pub for a Cambridge crawl. Unique. Excellent Milton Habit Ale and guests. A crawl without this pub is rather like a bicycle without wheels.
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From the outside this pubs looks like shit, on the inside it is cosy and welcoming. Very small. Open from 5 p.m. only. Real ales are the lure here. I've seen bartenders in other pubs who looked more interested in what they were doing, though. Sampled Milton Habit Ale and Nero, both decent. A mystery was left unsolved - was it Lasse or me who really spilled that half-pint?
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A great little pub - great beer, great relaxed atmosphere, - and a ban on mobiles too which is a godsend!
A word of warning though - do NOT under ANY circumstances drink the Polish Gold Vasser.
It's MINE, all MINE, you hear?
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A must-visit in Cambridge. More unique features than most of the rest of the pubs put together.
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Top quality!
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Habit Ale is brewed by Milton for the Radegund.
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Is Lee Newton getting paid to advertise Habit Ale?
Who brews the ruddy stuff anyway?
I've drank over a 100 Milton beers but never heard of this one!
Bemused - 25 Jul 2004 16:01 |
Small but delightful drinking establishment. Could only afford three pints from a tenner though!
Bram - 25 Jul 2004 15:58 |
A good session on the Habit Ale following Strawberry Fair. Habit Ale on good form, lots of merry people outside the pub. Plastic glasses in use today :-(
Still a good pnit though, and all my prevoius comments on ealier visits still stand!
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Without a doubt one of the very best pubs in Cambridge. A no nonsense atmosphere with absolutely no frills and great beer.
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An absolutely superb pint of Habit Ale was supped last Friday (14/11/03) when I popped in to see if the place was unchanged (which thankfully it is!) I intended to have only one pint but ended up having two and a half having been bought another by a guy called "Ron"(?)The table at which I sat became filled with friendly locals, conversations were struck up and I had to force myself to leave in order that I could try some other places as well.
Oh, and the Vera Lyn music at 7.30pm to end the happy hour (cheap G&T's) is unique (Cockney rhyming slang: Vera Lynn = GIN)
What a classic pub! A MUST every time one visits Cambridge!
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I've got to say, apart from it being one of the smallest pubs I have ever been in, it has to be the almost definately the best pub in Cambridge to go for a quiet drink.
Claire - 29 Oct 2003 18:57 |
A real gem! Had a very good half of Milton HABIT ALE, noticing Fullers' Pride and Shepherd Neame Spitfire at the bar (on 03/05/2003). There's a good spirits range. Triangular drinking area with the walls adorned with maps, sporting/rowing paraphernalia and railway photography. Old paraffin-lamp style light fittings hang from the nicotine-stained ceiling, which is bedecked in smoke-signatures drawn with matches & lighters. A very concealed 17" Mitsubishi tv was off during my visit. No food except crisps, nuts etc. Emphasis on jazz for background, with an extensive wide-ranging tape collection. A must for any in-town pub crawl.
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