King's Vac Bar

Y (£) ***** If you can manage to get through the gates before they shut for the night, King’s Vac Bar (inside King’s College, two stories above the main bar) is by far the best place to go for cocktails in central Cambridge during out-of-term time. Extremely potent concoctions with creative names (e.g. ‘something in your pigeonhole’) start at just £2. The crowd is mostly pleasant and very gay-friendly, and the selection of music is always excellent. Red walls and dim lighting create a relaxed atmosphere. The bar is open from 10 until midnight, although if you are not a member of the college, it will be impossible to exit through the front gates unless the porters let you out or you are with someone from the college. The schedule of opening times can be found here.

Sino Tap

(£££) * Following the unfortunate dismantling of the friendly old Town and Gown, the premises at Pound Hill briefly became a venture known as the Rope and Twine. We re-discovered it with most recently with great expectation as a Chinese cuisine-cum-real ale establishment, The Sino Tap. Initially, the combination seemed quite promising - we looked forward to gourmet Chinese cuisine similar to the likes of that at Peking (Burleigh Street), but a bit less expensive, with a good selection of beers to accompany it. We were sorely disappointed. We were served tiny, overpriced portions of gloopy, unimaginative pan-Chinese fare, and the one real ale from the miniscule selection available proved to have run out. In the end, our meal was so unsatisfactory we went down the road for another lunch at the Castle Inn (Castle Hill).

The Castle Inn

(££) *** The Castle Inn (Castle Hill) is a pleasant pub on Castle Hill that scores points on all fronts. It has a cosy, woody old fashioned interior and antiques. It boasts a very large selection of food, including daily specials, curries, sandwiches at lunchtime and a good offering of traditional English pub food. There are a regular guest ales featured, many of them local. The Sunday roast, with all the trimmings, is especially copious. In the summer, it has a large terrace open in the back.

The Free Press

(£££) *** The Free Press (Prospect Row) is one of Cambridge’s two non-smoking, non-mobile-phone pubs (you’ll be fined £1 if they see you texting inside!). It’s a pleasant haven in the winter months, with an open fire and a good variety of real ales and whiskies. Low ceilings, old woodwork, antiques, and a lack of piped music, create a calm atmosphere. There is also a pleasant courtyard garden at the back. The kitchen serves a hearty, eclectic menu, a step up from normal pub food. Wine, however, is overpriced. The landlady can be downright aggressive, and the pub is disproportionately favoured by arrogant academics with beards who have built their own reclining bicycles.

Darwin College Bar

(£) *** Long one of the few bars in central Cambridge to remain open until midnight, Darwin College Bar (Darwin College, Silver Street), strung through the ground floor rooms of an old Victorian house, is popular with overseas postgraduate students and features billiards and table football. Drinks prices are well below average, and the bar is known for its large selection of whiskies. In theory, the bar is only for the use of college members and their guests, a rule that is occasionally enforced. The college often holds bops at weekends, although on these occasions non-members must be signed in, and there is generally an admission charge of £3.

The Champion of The Thames

Y (££) **** The Champion of the Thames (King Street), is a cosy place, favoured by college porters and immortalised in various novels about Cambridge (most famously, in Porterhouse Blue). Although the selection of beers is uninspired, visitors will be entertained by a plethora of local characters that have become fixtures here. Like many Cambridge pubs, this one has a rowing theme, and is inviting in the winter, with old wooden alcoves and a real coal fire.

The St. Radegund

Y (£££) **** Upon entering The Saint Radegund (King Street), Cambridge’s smallest pub, one can’t help but feel that one has penetrated into some private social club where strangers are a bizarre novelty for the staff and regulars. Nonetheless, this freehouse, a veritable Cambridge institution, is cosy and charmingly decorated with Jesus college memorabilia, old maps of Cambridge and antiques. Specialties include Vera Lynn cocktails, and four-pint pitchers, which are sold at a reduced rate. Our only quibble with the Radedund is the fact that a small glass of bog-standard vin de table remains wildly overpriced at £2.50. Saint Radegund is taken from a sixth century saint who gave his name to the Benedictine monastery of St. Mary and St. Radegund, on whose remains Jesus College now stands. No food served.

Casimir

(££) ** Casimir (King Street) is a Polish-run café with an almost endless combination of different types of sandwiches, copious salads, and well-prepared fresh soups. Brightly coloured furniture and walls, hung with local artwork, create a certain feeling of Californian-style urban buzz. Unfortunately quality has gone down considerably since its earlier years - nearly everytime we've been in the past year at least one of our orders has been botched and has had to be sent back. A favourite of postgraduate students and academic staff, it can become very crowded at lunchtimes, and it is often difficult to find a seat. Freshly made cakes, especially the chocolate brownies, are amongst the best in Cambridge. Strangely, this café has no customer toilet. Open only for lunch.