Newmarket Rd, Sturton St, Gwydir St and Kingston St

Aptly named given its location, the Corner House is a Greene King establishment. Recently under new management, it has been refurbished and now does bed and breakfast. The menu includes light bites £2.25-£4.50, old favourites £5.00-£9.00, Mexican £5.00-£6.00, sweets £3.00 and coffee. However, on our visit only the all day breakfast (£3.50) was available (only served before noon). The pub is quite large, with a small pool table and dart board. There is a small eating area to one end with no smoking areas. The walls are painted pink (to match the curtains) and there is some wood panelling. The walls are decorated with Victorian scenes of old Cambridge. The pub is carpeted throughout and some of the windows contain some 1920's style stain glass. Pop music plays in the background.

The Rose and Crown pub has two bars. The public bar to the front has a pool table, darts board and fruit machine while the rear saloon bar has a TV. Further seating is available upstairs. The Victorian interior has carpeted floors, half wood-panelled walls with terracotta/orange paintwork below the picture rail. Hanging on the wall is a map of Cambridge and a large picture of the pub in the 1920s (we reckon). Food is not served on Saturdays, so we visited for Sunday lunch. The menu, on blackboards around the bar, includes basket meals (e.g. burgers, scampi) for £2-£3, jacket potatoes, breakfasts and main meals (£2-£5). We opted for the Sunday roast, which offers a choice of lamb, beef or chicken with both roast and boiled potatoes, peas, carrots, broccoli and gravy for a bargain £2.95. Service was quick and friendly, and the food was good. On our visit, the pub was doing a roaring trade in roasts, largely to an OAP clientele.

" This pub is one of only 3 in the UK to feature a broadband jukebox,which according to the current landlord (who also runs the Bird in Hand) carries over 3.5 MILLION tracks available for playing! "

This pub was being rebuilt when we attempted to visit it. It is the only pub in Cambridge to be marked on the Landranger series of Ordinance Survey maps. Now open, the pub serves food between 12pm-2:30pm on weekdays only.

The 'Alex', as this pub is now known, has recently undergone change of management. The pub's 2002 renovation saw the replacement of tatty carpets and peeling wallpaper with pale wood flooring, while green and cream painted walls highlight this pub's Victorian features. There has been a little furniture rearrangement of late. The lower area now contains a soft furnishings, while the area behind the bar is home to dining tables. Each table (also pale wood) has a small vase of real flowers and a 'night-light' candle, and pictures of flowers adorn the walls. The new menu consists of jacket potatoes (£2.75-£3.50), sandwiches (£2.50-£3.50), soup (£ 2.50), salads (£5.50), main courses (e.g. scampi £6.95, burger £4.95, steak £11). Further dishes are listed on the specials board. The beer garden to the rear appears to have lost its collection of gnomes, which were a prominent feature. Entry to the Sunday pub quiz is free.

This pub changed hands in 2000 and is now run by Chris Lloyd who used to be land lord of the Free Press. With the move came the welcome no-smoking policy and the good home-cooked food. Formerly a Nethergate pub, the beers now also include a selection from City of Cambridge and Milton breweries, and other real ales. The interior is wood panelled and the furnature includes wooden benches and tables. On the walls are pictures of the 'Free Press' rowing team, now based at this pub. Its large beer garden features a number of loud farmyard birds, rabbits and a children's play area including a Wendy house. There is easy access to and from the Mill Road cemetery. Food is served from a conservatory which leads into the garden. The menu always includes of a selection of pies and flans (accompanied by any two of a variety of salads) for around £5.50. On our most recent visit, the menu also included chicken in a white wine sauce (£5.25) and a selection of vegetarin and vegan food, such as a Thai vegetable curry and mushroom stroganoff (£3-£6), A number of cakes are also on display. Sunday roast is £6.50 and barbeques are held in the Summer. The food is prepared while you wait and is very tasty.

This Charles Wells pub has come under new management recently, and food at the Dobblers has made a welcome return. The interior has changed little, but now sports a bar billiards table as well as a pool table, fruit machine, dart board. Sports are shown on two TV screens, one a large front projection screen in the main bar. In the smaller bar area is a selection of board games. The new menu includes nibbles (£1.30-£3.15), light bites such as jacket potatoes (£2.70-£3.80) and doorstep sandwiches (£2-£3), traditional pub main meals (£4-£5), a range of burgers (£4-£5), desserts (£2) and tea/coffee/hot chocolate (£1). On our visit, the chef was rather appologetic as, after a long wait, he admitted to having burnt the Shepherd's pie! We were generously offered a free round of drinks while we waited for a replacement.

" The Dobblers has been refurbished, and will soon be offering food again. "

A Tolly Cobbold pub, the Five Bells doesn't server food. A pool table is provided free of charge for customers. Although small, darts, Karaoke, juke box and fruit machines are available. It doesn't appear to be open on Saturday lunchtimes.

Appropriately enough, we visited The Geldart (an Irish pub) the day before St. Patrick's day. It was decorated with green and white balloons and streamers. The Geldart is a venue for live Irish music in the evenings, and also bills itself as a good place to watch sporting events, with lists of football and rugby fixtures on blackboards. The pub is large, with two bars. The main bar contains a TV, pool table and fruit machine, while the smaller bar has a dart board and juke box. On shelves near the pool table stand a shield and trophies. The wooden tables, upholstered furniture, carpeted floors and painted walls all show a need for refurbishment and redecoration of this pub. On our lunchtime visit, the pub was very quiet and there was a strong smell of bleach near the entrance. Food is not served.

The Greyhound never fails to deliver great value food. Since our last visit in 2000, prices seem to have risen little if at all. The pub is divided into 3 areas. The front public bar hosts a TV, a pool table and a piano. On our lunchtime visit, it was very smokey, and busy with drinkers watching the football. The rear bar offers more room for tables, and was somewhat quieter. Finally, there is a no-smoking restaurant area, in which the tables have tablecloths and branded table mats. A beer garden overlooks Coldhams Common. The traditional pub menu includes a range of with-chips meals, such as burgers, chicken, fish, bacon, sausage and ham (around £4) and sandwiches (£2.50). The portion sizes won't leave you hungry. Non-alcoholic drinks are also available.

The Kingston Arms is a small pub with a beer garden. Following a refurbishment, it opened in its current incarnation on 23/03/2000. On our first visit (two days later) it was still smelling of fresh paint and the walls were unadorned. Now, old advertisements and paintings (by local artist Marina Yedigaroff) cover the walls, and the garden has been renovated. There is a real fire, and one seat backs onto a radiator, pleasantly heating it. There are plenty of large, wooden tables around which are upholstered seats. Around the bar hang glass jugs, and the carpeted interior is bright. Immediately after reopening, Lidstone's beers of varying strengths were on tap. More recently the selection of real ale has change, but still includes a range of local beers among which are City of Cambridge and Milton brewery beers. The pub makes a point of not serving lager, which is probably one of the reasons that CAMRA named the Kingston Arms as pub of the year 2001. Wine lists are posted on blackboards. The menu consists of: main meals (£8.00-£12.50), sandwiches (£3.00-£6.00), light lunches (served noon-3pm, £3.00-£7.00) and puddings (£4.25). Occasional barbecues are held in the garden, which has a number of tables sheltering under two large gazebos (decorated with fairy lights). Internet access is provided at two LCD screens and is free (if you buy a pint). There is also WiFi access.

This pub has now shut. Previous review: "The Racehorse is necessarily large, as it is the only pub in the area. There is a short illustrated menu on the wall of very cheaply priced traditional pub dishes, such as egg, sausage and chips - beer is also quite cheap. Entertainments include a pool table, fruit machines, pinball machine and a large TV screen with Sky TV."

This pub has been on its current site since the 1800s, and unusually there is no background music. It consists of one room semi-partitioned into a saloon bar (with smoking area and larger tables) and a public bar. Furniture consists of benches around the walls, upholstered stools and the floor is carpeted. The decor retains many original Victorian features and amusing adverts hang on the walls. for entertainment, there is a single fruit machine, a TV, a small pool table and a dart board (complete with trophies). Food is served every day, lunch and dinner from a limited menu: chicken balti, sweet and sour port, sausage, egg and bacon, turkey escalope, lasagna, roast chicken, each meal priced at £ 4.50. On our visit in November, bookings were being taken for their Christmas menu. This obviously home-cooked was served quickly by the chef. Apart from the friendly ginger and white cat, this pub was not well attended on our Saturday lunchtime visit.

The White Hart has been been renamed the "Backstreet Bistro", but is no longer a pub as far as we can tell.

" The White Hart has been refurbished. It now sports a number of sofas. We will revisit it soon. "

This Charles Wells pub, unusual (though no longer unique) for its Thai cuisine, is now a landmark in Cambridge. Having changed little over the years, it has now had a new coat of paint. The former green decor has now gone burgundy, both in terms of paintwork and upholstered furniture. New wooden tables and the replacement of the green lino with a combination of stone tiling and wooden floors result in a smart interior, which has also been made brighter by the replacement of frosted glass windows with clear glass. Mirrors on the wall help to increase the sense of space. The pub consists of a medium sized single bar semi divided by a chimney breast. The pool table has now gone, leaving more room for dining tables. The traditional pub interior contrasts with the distinctly oriental menu, which offers an extensive range of chicken, beef, pork, prawn and vegetarian Thai dishes. The prices of the meals, such as Thai green chicken curry, sweet and sour pork, beef chilli (all meat dishes come with rice) and prawn fried rice, are between £7.00 and £8.50 (depending on your choice of meat). There are also vegetarian options. The price is more than the average pub meal, but is well worth it. Beware the green curry: it's hot.