Staying at S's place in Hitchin at the moment means I'm a lot closer to my sister's house than usual. My mum who's getting a little frailer is staying with my sister and her family for three weeks over the Christmas period.
So it made sense to pop up the tracks to see her before we go off up north on Saturday.
Sister lives in a village just south of Cambridge which is served by a Parkway station - it seems the rough translation of Parkway station is "just far enough from the centre of town to be annoying to get to"...or something.
So when I suggest a pub lunch for the three of us, Sis says "well, as you're coming by train, why not try the pub next to the station". Seemed like a sensible suggestion and the website made it look jolly nice. It's called "The Red Lion" so it sounds suitably properly pubby.
When I arrived there, I was a little bit surprised because although I knew it was a hotel/pub the beautiful historic building was wholly swamped by the modern bits, the car park, the station and some industrial units so it didn't feel like a destination pub at all.
We got inside and whilst mum and sis found a nice table, I went to the bar (I'm more qualified than either sister or mother in this respect...although my mother had her moments back in 70's when Friday lunchtime was a trip to the pub with her mate).
I was very heartened to see four (count 'em) handpumps all with clips facing the right way. There was Adnams bitter and Adnams Shingle Shells, Growler Red Santa, and a seasonal brew from Woodfordes.
I asked for a pint of Shingle Shells since it was the weakest of the beers and I hadn't it before. Adnams make a decent pint so it seemed like a good choice. The young lady behind the bar pulled the pump a couple of times and said "Oh, I think it's off". She turned to another member of staff and said "Is is off? Only nothing's coming out of the pump". Second member of staff says "Don't think so, the Woodfordes is off, I think...but not that one". They looked at each other for a couple of seconds...then a third lady passed through and said "Oh - has the gas run out?".
So one of them said they'd go and change it.
The girl serving me then said "we're changing the gas...I've got Boddington's instead" and pointed to a chilled keg dispenser.
Sigh.
I said I'd wait until they'd sorted out the cask beer, got the drinks for the others and returned to the table.
After 10 mins I went back to the bar and asked whether the cask ale was back working...she'd remembered what I wanted and said she'd bring it to the table.
The beer was fine. No more, but certainly nothing less. My guess is they don't sell a huge amount of cask, even with their four pumps. As a result the beer was a bit lack lustre and I would doubt that was Adnams fault. Maybe the barrel wasn't in its first flush, maybe a cleansing pull through the lines before starting my pint hadn't happened...so the beer just taste a bit blah.
The food was good - both sister and parent declaring the battered haddock delicious, my corned beef hash was pleasant and not too filling and the service was gracious and pleasant.
I know it's a hotel, but the interior of the part we were sitting in was very much pubby and I could imagine it being a nice enough place to sit inside in winter with beer and good company...until we got the bill.
£4.20 a pint for the beer is simply taking the piss. I do expect a bit of a premium in hotel bars - but this styles itself as pub too.
If I'm paying that much for beer, I'd generally expect it to be in tip-top condition, the staff to be knowledgeable and not have wait whilst they faff around with changing the gas on their pumps.
Sorry Red Lion, I'll not be returning any time soon I'm afraid.
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