Best Pubs in Cambridge: Riverside, Real Ale and Roasts

What makes a good Cambridge pub

The river is the obvious draw, and it comes with a cost: the pubs closest to the water fill up when the punts are busy, and the best tables go first. A back-street freehouse trades the view for a calmer room and a longer beer list. Neither is better; they answer different questions.

Decide before you set out whether you want a view, a specific beer range, a proper cooked meal or a roast, because no single Cambridge pub wins on all four. Riverside pubs lean on location and standard pub food; the ale-led pubs lean on choice at the bar. Sunday lunch narrows the field further, since not every kitchen runs a roast.

Kitchen hours matter more here than in most cities. Riverside pubs commonly stop serving between lunch and dinner, so a 3pm arrival can mean drinks only until the evening menu restarts. Check the serving hours on each pub's own site for the day you are going — The Fort St George, for example, lists its serving hours separately from its bar hours.

Riverside pubs with a view: The Anchor on Silver Street

The Anchor sits on Silver Street beside the River Cam, with a terrace looking over the Mathematical Bridge and Queens' College. That setting is the reason to come, and the pub leans into it: the riverside terrace is pitched as a punting pitstop as much as a dining room. Its location is given as Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EL.

The food is fresh seasonal cooking and classic ales, with the menu changing by season; the pub has advertised an autumn-winter menu launch and a Wednesday wings offer. Treat the offers as things to confirm rather than fixtures. The beer side is straightforward cask ale rather than a long curated list, so come here for the view and a solid plate rather than a tasting session.

The trade-off is punt traffic. This is one of the most photographed corners of the city, so the terrace is busiest exactly when the weather is best. The pub lists opening hours running to 11pm on Saturday and 8pm on Sunday, with serving hours ending earlier and splitting into lunch and dinner slots on weekdays. Book if you want a table on the water side, and aim for an early or late sitting to dodge the crush.

The Fort St George: a listed riverside pub with a garden

The Fort St George is a Grade II listed, timber-framed pub dating back to the 16th century, set by the River Cam with a beer garden overlooking the water. Run by Greene King, it describes itself as a traditional-style pub with old-world charm, free Wi-Fi and disabled access. It is the calmer of the two riverside options, and the garden is the reason to choose it.

This is a long-lunch pub rather than a quick-pint one. It serves traditional pub food through the week with vegan, vegetarian and non-gluten-containing options, and runs a Sunday roast with the usual trimmings. It is family-friendly and dog-friendly, which makes it the easier choice for a mixed group or a walk along the river with a dog.

The kitchen keeps steady daytime hours: the pub lists service from noon to 8.30pm Monday to Thursday, noon to 9pm on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8.30pm on Sunday, with the bar open later. That makes it forgiving for a late lunch but not for a late dinner. Book ahead for Sunday, when roast demand is highest, and ask for the garden side if the weather looks kind.

Real ale and beer choice: The Cambridge Blue on Gwydir Street

The Cambridge Blue on Gwydir Street is a multi-CAMRA-award-winning freehouse and the beer destination of the three, with up to 14 real ales, 12 keg beers and 7 real ciders on at any one time. It has won Cider/Perry Pub of the Year for Cambridge in 2012 and 2016. The bar also carries a large bottled Belgian and European range and an unusually deep whisky shelf, with more than 70 single malts.

Regular beers come from XT Brewery, Adnams and Nene Valley, with rotating casks from local names such as Three Blind Mice and Turpins. It is a beer-first pub, so treat the kitchen as a bonus rather than the main event. Sit at the bar if you want to work through the range, or take the garden when the weather holds.

Food comes from Wonky Kitchens, which has run the kitchen since July 2025 and sources from local independent suppliers, cooking from scratch with a menu that shifts with the seasons and covers gluten- and dairy-free needs. The kitchen hours are tight and uneven: closed Monday, Tuesday from 5pm, Wednesday and Thursday split between noon to 3pm and 5pm to 8.45pm, Friday and Saturday longer, and Sunday a roast from noon until it sells out. It is a short walk from the city centre, so plan the trip around those hours rather than turning up on spec.

Sunday lunch in Cambridge: which pubs serve a roast

Two of these three pubs do a proper Sunday roast: The Fort St George with classic trimmings, and The Cambridge Blue through Wonky Kitchens, where the roast runs from noon until it sells out. The Anchor lists shorter Sunday serving hours than weekdays, so a late-afternoon roast there is not a safe bet. If a roast is the point of the trip, pick from the first two.

Book for Sunday rather than hoping. The Fort St George takes table reservations, and Wonky Kitchens asks for email bookings for its roasts at the Blue. Both kitchens finish earlier on Sunday than on Saturday, and the Blue's sells-out policy means the later you leave it, the more likely you are choosing from the rest of the menu.

Pubs for food rather than just a pint

If the meal is the reason to go, The Fort St George is the most dependable of the three, with a full pub menu through the week and roasts on Sunday. The Anchor works when the view is part of the meal, with a seasonal menu that changes through the year. Both are standard pub cooking done properly rather than destination dining, so set expectations accordingly.

The Cambridge Blue is the one to choose when the beer matters more than the food. Wonky Kitchens cooks well, but the limited opening hours and the sell-out Sunday mean the kitchen can close while the bar stays open. For a long session on the ale with something solid midway, this is the pick; for a three-course lunch, it is not.

Booking habits differ too. The riverside pubs take reservations and are worth booking at weekends; the Cambridge Blue books for Sunday roasts by email and otherwise expects you to order at the table by QR code. If you would rather not plan, go on a weekday lunchtime when all three are quieter.

The station side: The Cambridge Blue and its sister pubs

The Cambridge Blue anchors a small group of pubs on the east side of the centre, away from the river. Its sister pubs are The Royal Standard and The Blue Moon, listed alongside it by the same operator, and each has its own character: the Blue Moon is described as the gin-focused one of the set, which tells you where to go if gin is the point.

The Gwydir Street address puts the Blue within easy reach of the station side of town, which makes it the sensible first or last stop of a day rather than a mid-afternoon detour. The walk from the centre is short enough to be worth it for the beer list, less so if you only want one quick pint.

Which Cambridge pub for which occasion

For a long riverside lunch with a view, book The Anchor on Silver Street and ask for the terrace. For a calmer garden lunch with children or a dog, choose The Fort St George, where the garden looks over the Cam and the kitchen keeps daytime hours that suit a relaxed afternoon. Those two cover the view-led occasions.

For a session built around beer, walk to The Cambridge Blue on Gwydir Street and give yourself time to work through the casks and the Belgian bottles. For a Sunday roast, choose between the Blue's sell-out service and the Fort St George's bookable roasts. If you want to know which Cambridge pub claims the longest history, that is a separate question answered by the oldest pub in Cambridge.

For a quick pint, skip the riverside on a sunny weekend and use the Blue, where the bar moves faster than the tourist-facing terraces. For a rainy afternoon, the Fort St George's old rooms beat a wet terrace every time.

Practical detail: booking, hours, dogs and children

Book ahead for the two riverside pubs at weekends and for any Sunday roast; the Cambridge Blue takes roast bookings by email and takes walk-ins otherwise. The Fort St George and The Anchor both state that they are dog-friendly. Children are welcome at the Fort St George and The Anchor, which both state family-friendly facilities.

Watch the serving gap. The Anchor splits service into lunch and dinner slots on weekdays, and the Cambridge Blue's kitchen has gaps and a day off. If you are planning around a meal, check the serving hours on the pub's own page for the specific day before you travel, as they change by season.

Which Cambridge pub should you book?

Book The Anchor if the river view is the point of the day and you want a terrace over the Mathematical Bridge; book The Fort St George if you want a quieter garden, a roast and room for children or a dog. Both are riverside pubs, so reserve ahead at weekends.

Choose The Cambridge Blue if the beer list decides your evening, and go early enough to eat before Wonky Kitchens closes. If you only have time for one, ask yourself whether you came for the view or the ale, and the answer picks the pub for you.