The Kingdom of Oakham

Many cities present themselves beautifully to visitors arriving by train. Peterborough isn't one of them. Despite having a fine historic quarter, clustered around a 12th century Gothic cathedral, unspeakable grimness blights the rest of the city centre. When you leave the depressing railway station, you're confronted with a forbidding, impassable dual carriageway. Once you've clambered over a footbridge, you're straight into a miserable shopping centre and a multi-storey car park. This is Britain at its very worst.

The local council wants to redevelop this part of town. Based on my description of it, you'd think I'd be in favour of their plans. Not quite. In the midst of all that unpleasantness sits The Brewery Tap, home of Oakham Brewery. One of my companions commented that they'd never encountered a pub that looks so much better inside than out. The building was previously a Job Centre, and it shows. Inside, it's magnificent. They claim it's the biggest brewpub in Europe, although that's disputed. A lengthy bar offers 12 handpumps, with the glass-fronted brewery right beside it (pictured left). On a mezzanine floor there's a cheap and cheerful dining area given over to Thai food.

We stationed ourselves on sofas close to the bar and got stuck into the Oakham range. Jeffrey Hudson Bitter, Inferno, White Dwarf and Helter Skelter are all beers I've tried before, but rarely in such fantastic condition. Oakham never spare the hops, and their beers seem perfectly adjusted to my palate. We didn't get around to trying Attilla, a 7.5% abv barley wine that didn't seem appropriate in the early afternoon. There were also a range of guest beers from other microbreweries, but we left them alone.

After visiting the cathedral, we made our way through streets lined with identikit chain shops to the River Nene. By the bridge there's a permanently moored Dutch barge (pictured right). It was built in 1909 and served for many decades as a cargo boat, before steaming to Britain and being converted into a pub and restaurant in 1991. It too is owned and operated by Oakham. On the top deck there's a fairly classy Thai restaurant, but the main show is below decks: Charters, a large real ale bar with an Easter beer festival in session. Lovely.

I'd expected a thoroughly surreal experience, but they've done a great job in turning this vessel into a proper pub (pictured left). Having said that, the place is on a permanent lean, but once you've had a few the effect wears off. The staff were young, friendly and enthusiastic, and the atmosphere first class. If I lived in Peterborough I'd camp out here and refuse to leave. A dozen handpumps on the bar were joined by about the same number of casks on stillage. We sampled most of them. My favourite beer of the session was probably Bees Wobble, a rich and curiously fruity stout. It comes from a Leicestershire outfit that only went live earlier this month.

A visit to Oakham's Peterborough fiefdom is a great day out. It seems to me that the brewery has contributed an enormous amount to the local community. If Peterborough's councillors go ahead with their plans to compulsorily purchase and demolish The Brewery Tap, they'll be erasing something truly special in the heart of their city.

Information:

1. The Brewery Tap is at 80 Westgate, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 2AA (map, website). It's a stone's throw from the railway station, albeit marooned on the wrong side of a dual carriageway. Read more about efforts to save the venue from demolition here.
2. Charters is on a barge moored at Town Bridge (map, website). They're having an even bigger beer festival on the May Bank Holiday (2nd - 5th May), with 60+ ales on offer. In the article above I didn't mention the massive beer garden they have on the riverbank, nor the fact it's a noted lived music venue. It's a brilliant place.