Cambridge’s newest riverside pub has just opened!

The timing has worked out perfectly, as the sun has been tempting me for a couple of cheeky pints by the river for weeks.

Now I finally have a good excuse! 🤣🍻

The story

Named after Lord Byron, the famous poet and member of the House Of Lords, the pub is inspired by a legendary Cambridge story of his time studying at Trinity College. He was forbidden from having dogs on the premises, so in his classic eccentric and rebellious spirit, decided to tame…a bear!

This is the sort of thing that could only happen in a place like Cambridge 🤣

I’m not sure why he couldn’t have just bought a cat but it makes a great story nonetheless. The team at Byron’s Bear wanted to embrace some of Lord Byron’s quirky behaviour and pay tribute to his legacy. A classic example being their Poets Corner, where you can bring your own vinyl to play on their on-site record player or why not use Scrabble pieces to reserve a table?

Byron’s Bear is so much more than a hilarious story about a bear. The team have worked hard to embrace the very essence of Cambridge, with a homage to local history everywhere you turn. It is warm, cosy, and a great pub to sit inside by the fire or relax in the sun by the river. Essentially, it is a pub for all seasons!

The food

The pub offers an extensive list of pub classics. Some might call it traditional, some might call it gastro, but it’s all crowd pleasing familiar food that you are guaranteed to love.

Expect things like Sausage & Mash, Fish & Chips, Steamed Mussels, and Salted Beef Sandwiches.

I noticed two “Bear Boards” available, one called “Beer”, which consists of salt & pepper squid, chicken wings, olives, hash brown bites, cheddar & ale fondue, chips & bread. The other board is called “Sausage” and unsurprisingly is an outright celebration of all things sausage. It comes with Kaiserkrainer, pork & apple, cumberland, sauerkraut, onion gravy, bread & mustard.

I love a good board and “sausage” is something I immediately knew I was going to order from the moment I saw it!

You’ll also notice a small sub-menu for their “Bear Hatch”. It opens between 12-5pm every day with the aim of serving lunches and food for people who want to eat while on the go. Byron’s Bear isn’t just a place for dinner but is great for people who want to quickly grab something to eat while on their way to work.

Byron’s Beer

The beer selection is pretty good with more of a focus on the ales rather than the lagers (though there are lagers available too).

Their signature “Byron’s Bear” caught my eye, a sessionable 3.5% light ale, that really hit the spot (though, I question whether that was a full pint in the photo 🤔).

Sausage board

We ordered the sausage board as a starter. It was brought out with a selection of 3 different sausages, a small pot of sauerkraut, a jug of gravy, a couple of slices of white bread, and a pot of mustard.

There were doubles of each sausage, making 6 in total and therefore the perfect amount to share between two people.

The Cumberland sausage was huge, tasted great and was my guest’s personal favourite from the board. It had a lovely soft texture and a slight peppery yet mild spicy flavour that was subtle enough to allow the quality and meatiness of the sausage to stand out.

The kaiserkrainer was my personal favourite. It is quite simply a big meaty sausage with a light smokey flavour. I found this perfect for dipping in the mustard and the gravy straight. It had a lovely colour to it and was a real mouthful.

Everything sausage should be!

There was a couple of sausages that were pre-sliced on the board. By themselves, they didn’t particularly stand out and were lighter and sweeter in flavour than the other sausages. Luckily, there was some soft white bread available, along with a little pot of sauerkraut and gravy, that combined with the mustard to make into a mini sandwich.

Beer Battered Haddock

Our main courses took quite a while to come out, to the point where I had to chase up the order. I put this down to opening day teething problems but the staff were absolutely excellent about it and made a real effort to resolve the issue quickly. In fact, all the staff were frantically busy but every one of them managed to do a great job and keep a smile the entire time.

I honestly don’t know how they do it!

The beer battered haddock was a decent size and the batter had a lovely thick and crispy skin. The fish itself is absolutely delicious with a soft juiciness that really worked well with the zestiness of the lemon.

The chips portions were measly but tasted great. They were thinly cut and double fried (?) but could have done with a lot more on the plate, especially for £17. The tartare sauce was thick and creamy with a beautiful flavour that perfectly complimented the fish. I was indifferent to the mushy peas but overall it was a good dish that I would recommend.

Burger time

The burger comes with two 4oz beef patties that were accompanied by cheese, baby gem, tomato, gherkin & mustard relish.

The burger is served with chips in a little basket with a small pot of ketchup. The chips were the same as the ones from the beer battered haddock, thin cut and appeared to be double fried (?). The ketchup portion was quite small, even for the small portion of chips that it came with, but it had a nice smokey flavour that was very welcome.

The burger looked great while in the basket. The brioche bun was large with a lovely golden colour. Picking the burger up, you could tell that the bun was very strong and capable of holding a lot but the burger was not overly packed to take advantage of this. It had a lot of colour and the patties tasted clean, implying high quality beef.

Overall, it was a fair burger and will be enough to please your every day consumer but I felt like it didn’t quite meet the standards of my burger league table.

A fine addition to Cambridge

Byron’s Bear is a fine tribute to Lord Byron and is a worthy celebration of the spirit of Cambridge. You can tell a lot of effort has been put into making this place more than just another tourist trap. It is a pub where locals can enjoy an ale by the river or have something wholesome and familiar to eat from their kitchen, with just enough interesting things on the menu to keep you coming back.

Needless to say, the sausage board was the undisputed star of the show this afternoon, whereas the other dishes felt well executed but somewhat forgettable. But once you include them with Byron’s Bear’s stunning scenery and unique character, however, you are rewarded with a truly special experience that is hard to rival in the city, especially with all ale in the up and coming summer.

Basically, order the sausage board! 😍