please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
One of my go to pubs when I'm in Peterborough. Huge venue set over two floors operated by Oakham Ales. During the day the customer base tends to be those seeking a lunchtime pint during their work break, with a younger but well behaved crowd venturing in for the evening entertainment at weekends. Thai food is the offering here which I personally don't like however, that's not a reflection on the food itself. All I can say is it looks amazing when I've seen it being served. A full range of Oakham Ales are available, along with a couple of other ales, and although constantly busy, the staff always have a smile on their face and a friendly attitude.
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Usual stunning ales for Oakham and the (Thai) food was excellent.
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Huge pub, (believe it is more of a music venue in evenings). Good choce of ales in good condition.
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Great quality Oakham ales in a decent setting, good to see the brewery!
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Visited on 1 February with Steve to see the mighty U’s postponed match at Peterborough. Well the train tickets were booked, the match ticket is going to be refunded so we cut out the worst part of any of days out watching the U’s. We visited the Brewery Tap twice, and the Coalheavers and the Palmerston.
Started at the Tap with a pint of JHB which was in excellent form followed by the beer of the day for both of us, the wonderful Nottingham Brewery Sooty Stout – a worthy but different rival to the Colchester Brewery Cream Stout as my favourite stout. Wonderful bitterness, toastiness and dare I say sootiness! Fantastic. The interior of the pub is most impressive with the brewing equipment and sofas and tables by the window and a variety of seating areas, reminds me of a couple of brewpubs on the west coast of the USA. We also ate here both had the beef lunchtime special from the excellent Thai restaurant, very tasty and good value. Good service considering it was busy with food and drinks being ordered. We returned here for the last pint before catching our trains home and again went for the Sooty Stout, a great way to round off the day. 8.5/10
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Large, clean pub that still retains a feeling of cosiness. Excellent food and a brilliant range of well looked after ales from Oakham.
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Compares well to Charters in regard to the beer range from Oakham and afar.
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Second visit, as good as the first, fantasic beer range.
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I've been drinking here since it opened, and along with it's sister pub Charters - is one of the safest bests in town for a good pint with a good crowd and with good music. The food is nowhere near as consistently good as in Charters - but on a good day it's fantastic.
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Always worth a visit. A massive pub with its own brewery(although I understand that some Oakham beers are also brewed elsewhere in the city).Anyway a great selection - I had the superb Oakham Citra and also the Inferno (wonderful stuff!!). Lunch was Thai and was very good. Service is prompt and efficient. Great place - every town should have one!!
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Had the good fortune to lunch in the Brewery Tap today. Excellent freshly cooked Thai food and perhaps more importantly fantastic well kept beer, enjoyed a couple of pints of JHB.
Friendly staff.
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utterly superb place,Fast and friendly service,lovely atmosphere,comfy and airy,selection of ales was brilliant,the pint of oakham citra was ten out of ten,there is on way that this place earns itself any less than a fat beer badger 10/10
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Excellent pub serving superb Oakham beers plus a couple of guests, Black Sheep Ale and Elgoods Black Dog. Bills itself as the largest brewpub in Europe. Food was reasonably priced and decent sized portions. Some foreign beer.
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used to stay in peterbrough a bit and hads a lovely thai meal here.decent enough pub
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Very impressed! Although the pub was busy being a Friday night, the bar staff were efficient and friendly and both real ales I sampled were superb.
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JHB and Bishop's Farewell always on. What more need one say!
Well just one thing. If you're walking from the station, don't head straight for it or you'll end up having to cross dual carriageways and vault barriers. Use the bridge to the shopping mall to cross the road, then turn left.
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Large open beerhall type establishment that has an upper 'gallery style' area. Tends to be popular with visitng football supporters (discerning Coventry fans this time) probably due to it's proximity to the station and it being able to cope with large groups. The beer is generally good (Highway Robber on this occasion) but have found the service and food to be variable (this being my third visit). Some of the staff seem enthusiastic while others tend to be little more than ornaments, while the food tends to hit the spot more depending on how much you've had to drink while waiting for it. Overall worth a visit for the beer. There are plenty of underused and badly run pubs in this town but it seems the council would rather demolish a busy and well run establishment instead.
anonymous - 7 Mar 2010 10:18 |
An excellent pub, do the council really want to knock it down?
A variety of Oakham beers sampled on my visit. Managed to have more thanexpected as i had travelled to see Peterborough vs Sheffield united only for the game to be postponed, never mind though the beer more than made up for that.
This is a big open pub that serves thai food. Guest beers are offered as an alternative to Oakham beers, i would suggest trying all of them they were that good. Service was quick friendly and very helpful.
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It's simply unbelievable to read that the Council want to demolish this place! Whatever for? Is there no other land or brownfield site ripe for development without destroying something great which people enjoy? What a green disaster. The Oakham range is superb and the guest ales too a fine compliment. Vandalism, sheer vandalism is this place is demolished. Shameful. Didn't like the food though - my Thai duck wrap was very disappointing.
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I first went through the doors here to "sign on" when it was a labour exchange. The modern usage is much friendlier, though the Tap has lived under a planning curse for years now. Plenty of space, airy, very well kept beers with the Oakham beers obviously exemplary, but the guests often interesting too. Comfortable seating and good staff, very convenient for the station and also for Queensgate. Has a strong following, which will be hugely saddened if at last the place is demolished.
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Barn-like drinking space with seating on two levels, five minutes' walk from the rail and bus stations. Extensive range of real ales served in very good condition by friendly barmen. The Thai food was reasonably priced, tasty, and promptly served even on a Friday evening.
It seems a very successful enterprise. The council want to demolish it.
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Really good pub, Was in before the M,Boro v P,Boro match yesterday. Really good range of ale and the Thai food was very good and not pricey. Feel sorry for the CAMRA folk who were coming in for a do later on as we seemed to have drunk most of the stuff that was set up on the stillage for them!
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Every town should have a pub like this. Large without being soulless, confident without being obnoxious, and the quality and range of the beer shines through. No chain pub this, but clearly a labour of love from the excellent Oakham brewery.
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A dozen real ales available on my visit. A good selection from the Oakham range (of course) plus some guests primarily from local microbrewers. I enjoyed pints of Elgoods Black Dog Mild and Oakham Bishops Farewell.
This is a large modern pub but even at busy times you can usually get a seat. Thai food is available. Handy for the rail and bus stations and a must visit when in Peterborough.
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Oakham JHB, Bishops Farewell (went just after opening!), Attila (7.5), White Dwarf, Inferno, Oblivion, Darkstar Festival, Wolf Wolf, & Wolf in Sheeps Clothing, Elgoods Black Dog, Westons Bounds Brand Scrumpy. Large paved bar area, gives on to wood flooring, black/white tiles around bar, open upper tier, old copper brewing vats visible to the rear, partially hidden by drop down screen (nothing on - roll it up�), didn�t previously realise they have a smaller rear room for functions/ comedy nights. Doesn�t feel overly pubby to me, but that�s a good beer line up. We arrived in Peterborough before midday so had to wait a few mins for the noon opening. Young friendly staff. Was busying up with younger (but not problematic) clientele when we dropped back in later on return to station.
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Seemed a decent pub, very large with two levels of seating, a few beers on tap and some decent cider.
Quite busy for a Tuesday night.
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A great pub... superb range of beer including their own brews. Visited on a Saturday night and although it was likely and busy it is a big enough place to avoid customers feeling cramped. Despite being busy there were enough staff to ensure quick and efficient service. Surprised there is a need for bouncers but they were very low key so you hardly noticed them.
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Late comment from October when we were visiting GBG pubs in the area. Don't like to think that this pub is still under threat of closure. Always visit when in the area and enjoyed our Oakham beers as well as guests from Brentwood and Great Oakley.
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By a country mile the best pub in Peterborough city centre ( I'm not including Charters which is the other side of the river ). Great ales, which are no longer brewed on the premises, and splendid thai food.
Somewhere where you can actually go on a weekend evening and not be surround by alcopop drinking juveniles - yes, it's a place where grown ups can go for a civilized drink or five. Unique in the city, and a local institution.
Which makes it even more difficult to understand by the council want to knock it down and build more shops - backhanders anyone ?
Get down there while you still can !
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Fantastic pub. Visited on a Saturday with a large group of friends and it was the perfect place to start. About 12 ales on offer, including the Oakham range. I had a very well kept JHB (now this is understandly a good place to drink this) and an excellent Black Swan.
Large open plan pub that could feel a bit empty but seperate areas. Also does what looked and slet like very good Thai food but i didn't eat here so can't comment on its taste.
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A very large brewery tap pub for Oakham Brewery. Eleven different ales on tap; Oakham JHB, Inferno, Bishops Farewell, White Dwarf, Hawse Buckler. Guest ales also available were Vale Black Swan, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, Elgoods Black Dog, Nottingham Legend, Storm Tornado and Pot Belly Red Wing. All the beer I tasted here was excellent and was also reasonably priced. As other reviewers have commented it is a huge pub and the bar covers some distance with many banks of hand pumps. It is easier to read the available beers on the black board, although that initially took some spotting. There is an area with 3 tables with comfy sofas around each that managed to seat are large pre football party. The old Oakham brewing kit is housed behind glass on display. I don't believe they use this brewing kit anymore. On a busy Saturday with the pub filling up with customers it was a good place to visit. I would be surprised if during the week it feels the same way when not so many people are in.
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Had a visit to this place and while I appreciate the comments about the large screens, be grateful for the fact that this place has it's own brewery on site! Had a pint of White Dwarf which was highly enjoyable, plus some Thai snacks which weren't unpleasant despite my grievances against pubs doing this.
A huge choice of beers on tap or in bottle, reasonable surroundings (though the reservations of museum are spot on and not sure about the mix of old and new) but we should be grateful that at least it's not a Yates despite a previous review alluding to this. Believe me as a Londoner Yates is a million miles from this unless East Anglain Yates are actually quite sophisticated.
Perish the thought
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This pub serves a purpose. It has a great choice of ales - including their own Oakham ales, (The JSB has a good "hoppy" taste, and feels stronger than 3.8% claimed) and the usual branded bevs. It's vast interior dotted with comfy area leather sofas, and benchseats, galleried tables/seating make it good for large gatherings.
This place is open plan, and me being there with a booked work function could explain why it was video screen and noise-free. However, reading some other posts, I can imagine this being annoying in a large open plan tall space.
The Thai food came as a buffet for our evening, and was of very good standard (and I'm not one for oversalted MSG dishes). Genuine flavours/herbs and spices and a good variety.
Mon-Friday, it appears this is a stop over pub, whereby people move on to other nightspots, leaving it emptied out by 10:00. Not sure about Saturday,as I believe they have a resident DJ, and sometimes Bands.
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Oh dear what has happened to this place, its like a chain pub, are we in Yates' all of a sudden. Poor show suprised by the a nightclub and big screen approach they have took. what a shame........
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This used to be a 'must visit' whenever in town. A pub with it's own brewery attached that didn't deafen you with music/sport and had decent food. Sadly only the latter appears to be true.
It would appear that the 'brewery' has become a museum piece back-drop to the huge screen sports presentations, and if you stay beyond 10 p.m. prepare to not do any talking as you won't be heard. I know you have to adapt to survive, but to change the character of the place so radically smacks of money-grabbing. Why become another of the faceless-samey-places when you can carve out a niche by being individual? Older 'sister' Charters may have also abandonned it's no music policy, but at least you can hear yourself think....not all volume knobs need to go to eleven...
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"Got anything to say about this pub?" - well, I did have, but it didn't get posted up for some bloomin' reason!
I had a long-winded moan about how 2 Christmases in the past few years I've tried to get into the place for good Thai food & excellent beer, but it's been closed.
The most recent of these was on Boxing Day & I rang up to check the place was open ("yes, no problem - no need to book!") only to turn up to find a private party about to start & the place closed to all but the ex-pupils of a local school!
Poor show.
I still like the place (when I can get in!)
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Another "must go" in my Cambs holidays. Wide choice of excellent beers, at the time of visit very friendly bar staff.
Hope it will be there for a long, long time !
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Always worth a visit when in Peterborough. The beer is excellent, and the Thai food is too. Appeals to all kinds, not just real ale drinkers. However, the open plan nature of the place means that if they show sport on the giant video screen you just cannot escape it wherever you sit, so conversation is impossible.
It's a shame the on site brewery doesn't get much use now, it used to be interesting watching the brewers as work as one sat and supped. Look out for the cuddly toy orang-utan hanging from a light fitting in the brewery.
If the local council decide to bulldoze the place to extend the already humongous shopping centre it will be a terrible shame. The Brewery Tap is unique for a town already disfigured by sprawling concrete. I'm quite sure it attracts a lot of customers from out of the town, myself included.
Slake - 12 Feb 2008 19:56 |
oh, after all my woes below, I do like the idea of their insisting on "NOT" using a sparkler (I've never heard of that 1 before) - more power to their not-overly-stressed elbows! You'd never guess I'm a fan of pubs that decide to keep that carefully naturally created CO2 in the beer, rather than knocked to death thru a sparkler!
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Great pub, great ales, great food, but why do they refuse to serve Northern beers through a sparkler? The reply "if the beer's in good enough condition it won't need one" is unacceptable. It's surely a matter of the customer's personal taste.
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What a lovely pub. We enjoyed 3 guest beers before heading off to the station - amazing as we had been to a festival at Charters. It is certainly one to go back to so I hope the petition works and a way of keeping it open is found. Lovely to see the brewery through the windows.
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"For some reason serves Thai food."
AFAIK the wife of one of the owners is Thai - nothing too mysterious about it really :~)
Not been in a while, but always worth a visit - great food, cracking beer.
I don't know how much the in-house brewery gets used anymore, since they set up an (even!) bigger brewplant out of town (Peterboro that is, not Oakham - just to confuse matters, the brewery name is "Oakham" even though they've been in Pboro for years).
The place is still under threat of demolition as part of the town's redevelopment, but this would be a great shame. To me, culturally important buildings should be incorporated into development where possible.
If you agree, sign the petition at the bar & have a pint of delicious JHB!
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What more could you want. Real ales a plenty and european bottled beer. Thai food is excellent and the surroundings are warm if unusual. I found peace at the Brewery tap in an otherwise souless town, bereft of decent pubs (well maybe there's a couple). Soft furnishings aplenty howevr may not appeal to everyone.;
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I'm not a massive fan of this place. Is a very popular city centre pub, with a massive choice of real ales and European bubbles. For some reason serves Thai food.
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A wide range of ales, both from the Oakham brewery, and plenty of guests. Served well at reasonable prices. Tasty Thai food menu with excellent service. Highly recommended - only a couple of minutes from the station.
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Brilliant 9/10
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First time in here but will return, even if it is two hours from where i live, look at these beers and prices. Very friendly place enormus big screen for the football only stopped till 7pm so probably missed a good night.
ELGOODS, BLACK DOG 3.6 �1.90
TRING, COLLEYS BLACK DOG 5.2 �2.40
BARTRAM, RED QUEEN IPA 3.9 �1.90
SALAMANDER, WARRIOR 4 �2 ??
OAKHAMS, WHITE DWARF 4.3 �2
OAKHAMS, BISHOPS FAREWELL 4.6 �2.10
OAKHAMS, HARLEQUIN 4.9 �2.30
TITANIC, GOLDEN AGE 4.6 �2.10
FOX, DROP OF NORFOLK 4.1 �1.90
CROUCH VALE, AMARILLO 5 �2.20
OAKHAMS, JHB 3.8 �1.90
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Very good beer, as you would expect, and comfortable seating. A cavernous sort of space - bet it gets very noisy late on.
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Good music, good beer, reasonable prices.
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The second Cathedral in Peterborough. One for God and this on for Beer. Shame the council are looking to knock it down. Sits out on its own since the demise of the 5 Bells. Well worth a visit and the sister pub (Charters) moored on the river. Oakham Ales are the mutts nuts they take pride in the product. Check em out
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Best pub in Peterborough for me.
Quality beer and food, nicely designed interior and a friendly atmosphere. Live music on occasions. Can get very busy on weekend evenings despite it being a bit of a walk from the city centre.
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Lovely pub - great food and a good atmosphere, although was very crowded around Christmas. Much better than any of the pubs nearby. Typically, the council want demolish it, thus continuing their policy of making Peterborough even more unpleasent to live in.
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Too many beers, too little time. I'll be back, but next time with me carry out bottles!!!!
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Good range of beers from the onsite brewery and beyond.
Summer time.... don't wear shorts at the weekend as you won't get in.
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This pub is the tap for Oakham Ales brewery and is currently under threat of demolition to make way for a new shopping centre. Normally twelve real ales available including several fron the Oakham Ales range. The food is good value Thai. Late licence at the weekends with live music some weeks.
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All round pub
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Good alround pub. Good beer and good food. Atmosphere when quite or busy is very good.
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Oakham's JHB has won best beer at countless beer festivals many times. It's worth a visit just for that alone.
The other beers they brew are great too, and they also have a selection of Belgian bottled beers which are great if you don't want a pint of ale.
The food is good, but I wouldn't say it's the best ever... still very good for a pub.
One of my favourite pubs in the UK.
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ok pub v good door staff
tony - 3 Nov 2004 09:19 |
Excellent Thai food
Nick Dugs - 3 Nov 2004 08:14 |
Great atmosphere, very friendly staff.Very good when the footballs on! The food is brilliant always too much to finish.Met last boyfriend there so personally a very memorable place in Peterborough.
Nicola Smith - 12 Sep 2004 10:39 |
Visited the pub to meet a group on Saturday afternoon/evening. Oakhams JHB on good form, food excellent. Most of the staff are friendly. Handy for the raliway station.
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Always going to generate opinion this place... Firstly, the beer is fantastic - anyone who tells you different is a lager drinker. JHB is an ex-Champion beer, the White Dwarf is outstanding and the range of beer is impressive.
Ok, it's not cosy cos it's big - but the Thai food is good (excellent actually), and it's a great place to meet a new girlfriend. At the end of the day there's no better place to drink than a real brewpub (95% of beer drinkers in the UK would kill to have a brewery on their doorstep)...and Ok.. on Friday and Saturday evenings it's way too busy.. some afternoon's it's cavernous and feels empty too.. but it's a good place to go (in fact, there is no better place to drink in Peterborough).. therefore I think it's a victim of its own success.
To any doubters, I suggest you go upstairs on a quiet Saturday afternoon. You can drink beer made on the premises and kiss the one you love in peace - that makes it a good pub in my eyes...
lfriend - 26 Aug 2004 23:08 |
All In All..A Real Nice Place To Be..
Adrian - 13 Aug 2004 17:49 |
FANTASTIC !!!!
Thai food, delicious....
Staff, Excellent
Doorstaff, friendly
Drink, wide variety
caroline norris - 30 Jul 2004 13:20 |
Friendly Staff, Excellent Beer, Intelligent Door Staff
Taidg - 29 Jul 2004 18:58 |
its amazing..large...friendly
beer galore...food is good too
gavin - 22 Jul 2004 17:31 |
Wow! A pub with it's own brewery but not for the first time at week-ends, NO BEER TO SELL!!!! So what's the point?
Paul - 19 Jul 2004 10:58 |
Fantastic Thai Food
Fantastic Beer
Fantastic Atmosphere
Had a great evening and would more than recomend a vist.
Blake - 4 Jun 2004 14:00 |
its groovy and sells beer they
brew their self
and even thai food wot more do
you need, oh and its got a late licence to drink moreeeee
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This pub sells the best selections of ales and the authentic thai chefs provide the excellent cuisine to compliment both the mind body and soul
gav - 29 Jan 2004 22:55 |
The only place I know which can successfully combine a nightclub environment with that of a true real ale pub. The beer is superb as one would expect and the staff very friendly, don't miss it.
Gerard - 21 Aug 2003 01:01 |
What a great use for a Job Centre! Don't let them demolish it it is under threat of the expanding shopping centre. Excellent Beers amnd happy staff. Open late Fridays & Saturdays with music.
Tim - 28 Jul 2003 13:13 |
Home of Oakham JHB - The best beer in the World.
Gordon - 22 Jul 2003 23:20 |
Very clean pub with excellent beers. The UK's best food outside London and great staff make this the sort of place you can't afford to miss. You will never, however stay for 'just the one'.
Herodotus - 22 May 2003 14:14 |
Big airy pub with own micro brewery behind glass wall. Good beers and good Thai food.
Noel Benstead - 5 Jul 2002 17:51 |
