Cambridgeshire
Click Oliver Cromwell (who once lived here) to go to contents list.
A personal view
by Philip Grosset
Surf & Turf has replaced Bridges at 8, Manor Mews, Bridge Street, just a few steps from the bridge. It's become a more up-market restaurant, specialising in steak and fish. There's a fairly limited menu (except for steaks) and it's quite expensive, but helpings can be large.
The Golden Lion. Very conveniently situated just by the Free Church on Market Hill, this old coaching inn has been extensively modernised inside, and now offers an extensive, if not very exciting menu, including starters, main courses, light bites,sandwiches and blackboard specials, that are ordered at the bar and served in its large and attractive interior. It can get busy, and is slower and more expensive than the Dolphin
buttery, but it's popular and provides a useful service.
The photo above shows it at Christmas time. The photo on the left shows it as it once was.
Slepe Hall Hotel in Ramsey Road was converted in 1966 from a girls' boarding school set up there in 1848, after the old Slepe Hall (on the site of Cromwell Terrace and Cromwell Place by the bus station) was demolished. Its two-for-the-price-of-one lunches can be quite good value. The latest modernistic refurb has removed what atmosphere the bar area used to have. Cooking is good but can be painfully slow. Last time I was there, they were coping with a large party and it took 50 minutes for the food to arrive! It has its own website at:http://www.slepehall.co.uk
Oliver's Lodge Hotel, in Needingworth Road, is an extended Victorian building, a few minutes walk from the town centre. It offers simple bar snacks (soup and sandwiches) but there is a good restaurant menu which can be recommended. It has its own website at: http://www.oliverslodge.co.uk
Cherry Valley Eating House (on the left of the photo) is a Chinese restaurant that is a few yards from the bridge in Bridge Street. It's really friendly, with very quick and efficient service, and offers excellent sit-in and take-away meals. Their buffet meal is particularly recommended. Only one minor snag: they won't serve tap water (is there anywhere else in St Ives that does the same?). They have their own website at: http://www.thecherryvalley.co.uk
Restaurant Molise. Next door to Cherry Valley along Bridge Street, and on the extreme right of the above photo, there's the Italian Restaurant Molise. Its set meal can be particularly good value. It can get busy in the evening so it may be necessary to book, and service can be slow. But the food is good.
Kushiara Tandoori restaurant in Bridge Street is one of the Indian restaurants in St Ives. Particularly recommended for its Sunday buffet lunch.
River Tea Rooms (previously Sedge's), in the last alleyway on the right as you walk down Bridge Street towards the bridge, is an attractive riverside cafe offering coffee, tea etc and simple light meals. The tables by the windows and, on sunny days, those on the balcony overlooking the river (as seen in the photo) are particularly attractive. The latest owners have added a website at: www.rivertearooms.co.uk.
Nuts Bistro (on the right of the picture) in Station Road is a popular and pleasant place for a cup of tea or coffee or a variety of other drinks and goodies, with good value homemade light lunches - and it's very conveniently situated for the market. Recommended.
The premises, together with those of the adjoining building society and pet shop, as seen above, were originally built in 1844 to house the Church of England's National School.
The Taproom bar (on the left of the picture) is in Bridge Street, just a few yards from the bridge. It's a long narrow room with an open air courtyard at the back. I've included it here because of its remarkable opening hours: 8.0am to 11pm daily (to I.0 am Thurs-Sat) and Sundays 10am to 10.30pm. They do simple cooked meals as well as a good trade in coffee and tea, but in the evenings it is more of a bar than a place to eat.
Costa must be about the tenth place where you can buy coffee in the town centre, but it is very well situated, offers good coffee but can get very busy.It is situated next to the Edinburgh Woollen Mills (the place of constant sales) in Crown Street in premises previously used by Dewhurst the butchers, before their chain went bankrupt. Recommended.
The Old Ferryboat Inn. Some three miles down river at Holywell. By car, turn right, as signposted Holywell, from Needingworth. An attractive thatched pub that claims to be the oldest inn in England - although the upper storeys had to be rebuilt following a fire. A river ferry used to operate from the site, so the inn claims Hereward the Wake as one of its early customers, and liquor has certainly been sold on the site since 560 AD, although the foundations are an estimated century earlier. The bar contains what is said to be the tombstone of Juliet Tewsley, a lovelorn lass who (may have) committed suicide around 1050 AD, and now returns to haunt the place on every March 17th.It's always very pleasant eating (or drinking) in the garden overlooking the river, but its reliability is not what it was. You'll get more choice and better food at The Pike & Eel (below) - although this is also more expensive.
The Pike & Eel is also on the river at Needingworth, but is approached along Overcote Road (leading down from the Needingworth war memorial). It is alongside a marina, and is a 17th century building to which has been added a large airy restaurant overlooking the river and spacious conservatory. The restaurant food is good, with special meals for special occasions (and they can cope well with children). The bar meals are excellent and can be eaten outside. Sunday lunch is good value (except for Mothering Sunday when they more than doubled the price of a 3 course meal) - but book first.
Brampton Mill is a 20 minute drive from St Ives. It is just off the Huntingdon-Brampton Road down a turning on the right called Bromholme Lane as you approach from Brampton. There's lots of atmosphere, with good meals in the bar (or outside in good weather).
King William IV is a picturesque old pub on the main road through Fenstanton, a few miles from St. Ives. It was a 17th century inn that was converted into cottages, then became a pub again in the 19th century. When I last visited it, there were as many as three different menus at lunchtime! Recommended.
The Three Tuns. High Street, Fen Drayton. Some 4 miles from St Ives, via Fenstanton. Attractive thatched country pub, with plenty to look at inside (Tudor beams, old photographs, songsheets, brass plates etc.). It has a much more extensive (and expensive) menu than it used to, even if the food turns out to be rather simpler than it sounds! Still worth a visit, though.
Three Jolly Butchers. Huntingdon Road, Wyton. A short walk from the clock in Houghton. Excellent bar (or restaurant) meals, particularly the chicken fajitas - one may be enough for two people! Sit in the large garden behind in summer. Excellent friendly service.
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