When the Queen Edith opened in April 2015 it was the first newly-built pub in Cambridge for over 30 years. A cause for celebration and a challenge for the Milton Brewery; how do you create a completely new pub rather than adapt an existing, often older and character-filled building?

Well the good news is they have done a good job, an attractive frontage with tables outside and covered cycle racks draw you into the central entrance porch, you then have a choice of the larger public bar or a more intimate side room with high backed booths. Choosing the more spacious area you can see the beer taps, mainly Milton Brewery of course (the ever delightful ‘Justinian'(3.9%) included) and some interesting additions, such as Tolly Roger (4.2%) from Cliff Quay Brewery of Ipswich, described as ‘intensely fragrant aroma of citrus fruit and floral notes, complex flavours of malt, sweetness, bitter oranges, and honeysuckle’.

Even more poetic are the prices, £3 and £3.20 for the pints I sampled, good value for Cambridge.

Sitting in leather armchairs, with part of the Bayeux tapestry on the wall, watching the fish tank and looking through the retro books (eg ‘Biggles, Foreign Legionnaire’?) it is a comfortable and contemplative place to be, an after work stop-off or starting point for heading into town. It could be an ideal place for bands to play, and I should think that once established it should do very well.

In this pub-dry area of Cambridge(nothing else within at least a one mile radius?), it is a definite oasis.

https://twitter.com/queenedithpub
http://www.cliffquay.co.uk/
http://www.miltonbrewery.co.uk/