What's New and Pub News
- (08/02/00) The first anniversary of the death of the Cow and Calf, combined with the fact a planning application is currently going through for it's demolition and replacement by housing :-( :-( have finally pursuaded me to write my own comments on the place. These have been done hastily, so I'll have to add/amend to it later, but at least I've finally done it!
- The Champion has changed landlord; don't yet know if this will affect my very high opinion of the place.
- The Hat and Feathers is going to close soon unless it's bought. Selwyn students seem keen on doing so, but haven't yet raised enough money. Let's hope someone manages!
- (18/01/00) Redone the pages and my reviews for pubs starting with 'A' and 'B'! It's a start... This does mean a number of other things are out of date : the 'average rating' page will have the wrong values for these, and where a pub has changed name I haven't reflected this in the lists yet. These aren't in my priorities quite yet, the updated reviews are.
- Not much news : The Locomotive looks to have the same odd clientele as before, though haven't yet visited. I've heard now that The Mitre may not be turning into an It's A Scream pub after all (fingers crossed), though it's possible the Fresher and Firkin may be instead.
- (06/01/00) Only news again - walked past The Locomotive last night and it's been completely altered - a very-glass frontage, and inside all looks rather new and spanking. Opens tonight apparently.
- (05/01/00) Right, I'm dragging this back from the oblivion it's been facing recently. The whole set of pages are full of out-of-date reviews, broken links, and basically I've been pants. So over the next few weeks I'm going to redo ALL of my reviews (in alphabetical order!), and I'm persuading others to do the same. But I want to get the site moving again, so I'll put stuff up as and when I do it, and if that conflicts with other stuff (eg. the ratings pages), so be it. Anything that looks 'new' will be canonical, the rest (possibly) merely useful. Check this page to see what is what. I apologise to all the people who've sent me reviews over the last 9 months or so that are still sitting around in my e-mail account; your reviews will be up SOON. Nothing really new today, but there will be VERY soon (promise), and there is quite a lot of news, as usual most of it bad:
- The Wetherspoons has finally opened, called The Regal, and is apparently the biggest pub in Britain. Review coming soon. The second Rat and Parrot is also open, and is almost as big as the Regal - the first may well close. Again, review soon, but I'll keep you going with a one-word review : terrible.
- The old Arts Cinema is also likely to become a massive pub.
The Mitre seems destined to become an It's a Scream student theme pub (shudder).
- Chambers isn't Chambers any more - it's now Bar Moosh (though the writers of the sign can't seem to draw B's, instead just doing squiggles. How odd). The British Queen isn't the British Queen anymore - it's now Fat Jacks (shudder). The Blue Boar isn't the Blue Boar anymore - it's Ha! Ha! Bar and Canteen at the Blue Boar (shudder). The Little Rose is definitely nothing approximating to a pub anymore - it's the 'Loch Fyne Fish and Oyster Bar at the Little Rose' (shudder).
- The Cow and Calf developed squatters last month, who seem to have gone again, but now the roof is starting to fall off (at least that's how it looked a few days ago).
- The Racehorse is still going to become a McDonalds. The site of the Globe on Newmarket Road has now been turned into restaurants. The John Barleycorn in Coton is still dead, and Greene King have applied for permission to turn the Yorkshire Grey in Chesterton into flats. The Dog and Pheasant in Chesterton closed last month, and looks likely to become a restaurant. The Grasshopper has also closed, probably for development into student accommodation. All very depressing!
- (05/06/99) Finally got around to changing my e-mail address on all the pages (a very boring task!).
- (20/05/99) Changed the introductory page as the next step in making the guide more user-friendly. It now works in more the way I wanted it to originally. Fixed a few errors I'd inadvertently left from when I introduced frames.
- (16/05/99) Created framed versions of each list : the geographical list, the alphabetical list, and the ordered list. Yes, I know frames are the work of the devil, but they're only an option and if you've got a reasonable browser it does make browsing easier.
- The Yorkshire Grey is still boarded up and no visible progress has apparently occurred in the last six months.
- Updated some more of Andrew Hollingsworth's previously rather random ratings.
- Updated my reviews of The Castle Inn, The Grapes, and The Unicorn in Trumpington.
- Added my reviews of The Kingston Arms, The Duke of Argyle, The Grasshopper, The Master Mariner, The Carlton, The Snowcat, The Ship, and The Jenny Wren.
- (14/05/99) Altered my review of Fitzwilliam College Bar, the Sir Isaac Newton, and the Rat and Parrot.
- Noted the fact that the Baker's Arms is now The Baker's Yard, and needs to be revisited.
- Added skeleton pages for those pubs in the city limits I currently have no reviews of. I currently count 111 pubs in the city limits, of which I've been to 104. Then there's also the Blue Boar and the Lord Byron (which I've been to) and All Bar One (which I haven't) which I have difficulty calling 'pubs', the boarded-up Cow and Calf and Racehorse (both of which I've been to) which look to never be pubs again, the Yorkshire Grey (which I haven't visited) which may or may not have reopened by now (?), the new Little Rose (which may or may not count as a pub, will decide once I've been), and a few hotel bars open to the general public.
- (13/05/99) No real updates to the guide, just some (mostly bad) news. The Cow and Calf has been sold, apparently to property developers. So it looks like it's really the end of it.
- Also The Racehorse has closed in order to be turned into yet another McDonalds, a la The Churchill. Shudder.
- The Little Rose has reopened but as some sort of 'fish and oyster bar'. Ugh. It may be alright inside though, will revisit.
- I may get a little bad at updating the guide (or a lot better!) because I have finals soon - darn. I've still got to review some pubs I visited in October!
- (02/05/99) Added Eric and Ninfa Carpenter's review of The Clarendon Arms.
- I finally went and had a look for myself and indeed The Little Rose has closed and been gutted. However, the signs outside asking for planning permission appear to indicate it will be reopening.
- Changed Andrew Hollingsworth's reviews of The Burleigh Arms and The Cambridge Blue.
- The Cow and Calf remains boarded up and unsold; apparently the price asked for is too high so people aren't going to buy it. It's looking less likely now that it will reopen as a pub, alas.
- (25/04/99) Finally did something! Altered my review of The Champion of the Thames and added Ben Chalmers'.
- More should happen soon...
- (02/03/99) Looking to make a lot of improvements to the site this week, I've finally found some time! For now just updated the front page and added some comments about area covered, etc - to be found here.
- (01/03/99) Well, the Fitz site is unfrozen far quicker than expected so the main site is back here. Fixed a couple of minor mistakes. Re-reviewed St Radegund.
- (19/02/99) Right, the Fitz site is now frozen until the start of April.
- (15/02/99) Updated some very out-of-date reviews to accommodate the closure of the Cow and Calf, though a number of them are hideously out of date : The County Arms, The Castle, The Grapes and The Little Rose.
- I keep hearing rumours that the Little Rose has closed. Is this true?
- Advance warning : this site will be frozen in a couple of days time and an up-to-date copy kept at http://dura.sel.cam.ac.uk/~mwm22/ until the start of April, when it'll return here (but only till June because I'll be graduating soon, aaaaargh!). No hyperlink yet to the 'up-to-date' site because there's currently nothing there!
- (10/02/99) The tragic closing of the Cow and Calf on the 7th February has led me to set up a (currently not very good but it'll hopefully get better) Memorial Site, to which have been added Ben Chalmers' comments and mine will be coming shortly.
- I'm hoping to change the pages in the near future. I feel like a change.
What's New and News from 1998
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This document created by Mike Miller. Last edited 08/02/00.