Campaign for Real Pubs: July 2016

The Oak Inn, Oswestry, Shropshire SY11 2SZ

Situated opposite the parish church at the south end of the town centre, this pub was once the coach house for the next-door Wynnstay Hotel. The narrow frontage conceals a surprisingly deep interior running back down the original burgage plot, including small front public bar, central servery, more spacious lounge and beer garden at the rear. The predominantly red colour scheme is indicative of former ownership by Bass Mitchells & Butlers. There are quarry-tiled floors and an abundance of dark wood. A few TV screens are dotted about, but they’re unlikely to be intrusive except when major football matches are on.

The beer range includes Draught Bass, Station Bitter and Cambrian Gold from the local Stonehouse Brewery, plus two or three guests from North Wales and the Marches. No food is served, but menus for local takeaways are kept behind the bar. On my visit there was an amiable, laid-back pub dog. It features as a regional entry on CAMRA’s National Inventory, and is a classic example of a traditional, unassuming, characterful market town pub.

The Queen’s Head, Newton, Cambridgeshire CB22 7PG

An outwardly unassuming brick-built pub in a village a few miles south-west of Cambridge, that is one of the dwindling number to have featured in every edition of the Good Beer Guide. It also appears as a regional entry on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.

There is a cosy lounge on the left, a main bar area with settles and a quarry-tiled floor, and a further room to the right featuring table skittles. The general atmosphere is comfortable and lived-in. Beers are stillaged on gravity behind the bar, with cooling jackets. Although a free house, Adnams’ beers feature heavily. On my visit there were Southwold Bitter, Ghost Ship and Broadside, together with Taylors’ Landlord as a guest. Southwold Bitter was a very reasonable £3.10.

There’s a simple food menu including soup, sandwiches and meat and cheese platters, but it’s no destination dining pub. It has a somewhat genteel feel to it, but is genuinely welcoming to all. It’s odd how the South of England manages to draw middle-class customers to non-dining village and rural pubs in a way that is hard to imagine in Cheshire – see also the Crown at Churchill in Somerset.

WHAT ARE REAL PUBS?

Real pubs are pubs whose primary function is still the original core purpose of pubs – for people to meet and socialise over a few drinks.

They may serve food, and very good food at that, but they don’t allow it to dominate to the exclusion of all else. They’ll probably have a strong core of regular customers, but still make casual drinkers welcome. They may well serve a good drop of real ale, but won’t be full of beer bores droning on about hop varieties and IBUs.

In many parts of the country they’re getting very hard to find. In recent years, the smoking ban, beer duty hikes, the demonisation of “one-drink driving” and the general anti-alcohol climate have all had their effect, but such pubs do still survive if you know where to look and deserve to be celebrated.

Although in many ways they are a laudable organisation, this blog is not connected with and does not in any way represent the Campaign for Real Ale.

The inclusion of a pub does not necessarily reflect a recent visit by myself, although often it does.