The Everard Arms - Corby

Reared, raised, practically weaned on Everards fine ales as a lad, so I was expecting great things from their shiny new Brewery Tap Room, recently opened in Corby Town.

I really must learn to read these press releases properly. Turns out the new Everards Beer Hall is actually located in a small meadow called Lycestershire! Nope, me neither?!...

The sign writers art, alive and well...

The Everard Arms is in fact one of the very few Corby pubs I have a smidgen of history with. Back in the late 80's/early 90’s, what little work I did back then often took me over the border to North Northamptonshire. Corby seemed a strange and exotic place to me back then, a country lad experiencing his very first bona fide New Town. I was mightily impressed with the 'brutal' modernist industrial architecture, and the many quality Fish Bars* of course, some of the very finest in the country. But it was the almost total lack of traffic lights that really endeared Corby to me. The post-war trend for traffic islands seemed to have reached a peak of perfection in Corby, and on a good day you could easily traverse the 'Greater Corby' conurbation without cause to stop for anything more substantial than the occasional Deer meandering across the road. The solitary traffic lights outside the main entrance to the old Steelworks were literally the only reason to stop on the way to yet another tedious job at the Weetabix factory. Happy days…

Corby del Sol

The 90’s was of course the fag-end of proper workday lunchtime/afternoon drinking. Fridays in particular when the nations workers either knocked-off early, or observed the ‘No meaningful work engaged after opening time!’ rule. Shocking I know, perhaps even hard to believe for some of our younger readers, but the Friday afternoon pub session was as traditional as unpaid overtime and office alcohol bans are now. My workplace was little more than a ‘phones throw’ from the Everard Arms, and I was at that 'tender' age, just beginning to sip my way into the exciting world of serious adult drinking. It was only a matter of time before I was taken for a session at what was then 'the pub across the road'.

Located on the very edge of Corbys busy shopping centre, I'm not entirely sure whether we'd class the Everard Arms as a 'Townie Pub', 'Estate Local', or 'Destination Foodie Boozer'. Probably all three to be honest, though my trusty CAMRA Guide To Northamptonshire Pubs circa 1990 reduces it down to '...the closest real ale pub to (the) town centre'. A traditional two-roomer, I vaguely recall using the plusher lounge for our occasional lunchtime visits, but can't for the life of me remember whether the Tiger was new-fangled Cask, or the 1970's Heritage Keg that all true beer enthusiasts seek out these days.

Front Row

Now I've always believed that the Everard Arms, indeed every Everards pub in their substantial Midlands estate, serve cask ale. They are after all a solid cask brewer, rightly famous for their Tiger Bitter, and with some very nice traditional pubs, all of which sell cask... Now as we know, there are one or two non-cask ale pubs in Corby, but not Everards... not them!

Well... somewhat embarrassingly (for me), it would appear that the Everard Arms, which was definitely an Everards pub back then, probably isn’t, in fact, an actual Everards pub now!… although it may be! The Everards Brewery website is conspicuously silent on the matter. Hmm!

Anyway, it turns out that the Everard Arms is one of Corbys really quite rare non-real ale pubs. Yes, another one! I had a Guinness (above), propped the bar up, and contemplated why the pub had been named The Everard Arms. Something to do with Larry Grayson I expect...

Feet, not spread!

It's pretty clear from the outside that the Everard Arms was built in the 1960's, an outlier of the (at that time) Burton-on-Trent brewers predominantly Leicestershire pub estate. One can perhaps imagine the irritation in the boardroom of their local Northampton rivals, this neck of the woods being Phipps NBC/Watney Mann territory at the time.

It was, and to a degree remains a solid traditional two-roomer, originally Bar and Lounge, now Bar/Lounge/Music Venue and Restaurant. So a similar layout, though it's clear from comparison with the photograph below that the pub has been extended on both sides. Interestingly (to me!) there was originally a 'shop' (off-licence?) to the rear of the pub, now lost, perhaps similar to the one that the Kingfisher once had. Could this be a unique, hitherto undiscovered Corby pub feature?

The Everard Arms viewed from Coronation Gardens for a 1960's postcard

In it's current guise I'd say the Everard Arms would be a very strong contender in the annual Corbys Loveliest Pub awards. All Plum and deep Pastel Blue within, quality banquet seating, and the kind of classy carpeting I've now come to expect from Corby pubs. All the sport on numerous tellies, and yet somehow not intrusive in the bar, although on my visit practically all eyes were on that days international rugby. Needless to say, most of them swivelled in my direction when I shuffled confidently into the bar. I expected nothing less, clearly I wasn't blending-in again.

I'd adjudged that with Corby Town playing a travelling Cambridge team in the football that day, I'd blend-in best by adopting my 'mature away fan' persona! So, leather-trim Man Bag , Peaky Blinder Cap, and a freshly minted copy of the Guardian it was. Clearly I was fooling no one but it was a warm and friendly welcome nevertheless. Groans aplenty as the local Scotland side missed yet another opportunity to beat the world champions, so I cheerily relayed the news that Corby Town had gone 1-0 up in the third minute. Yay! thought I, but it was a muted response from what was clearly a rugby-mad afternoon crowd.

Cosy Booths and Quality Laminate Flooring

Onwards to the next match, the plucky Irish and their fully expected demolition of a New Zealand side who are clearly quite new to this game. Time for a 'Heritage Keg' Everards Tiger, cool, smooth, Tiger-ish, ok-ish. I went back on the Irish stout as the men from New Zealand lined up for what one lady described as "the bit that always makes me chuckle". Her words, not mine! It looked a terrifying enough haka to me.

I stayed for the first half, wandered around a bit, admired the Iron Brew ghost sign, pretended to read the Sport section of the Guardian. Thought about a craft beer in Paletto Lounge before home. The Pool Table had been wheeled out by now and numbers were swelling nicely in the bar, the England match would be several pints too far...

A cracking local boozer then, and a good alternate option if the Candle or Wetherspoon in town are not to your taste. I've always thought the Everard Arms was little changed since I last visited (some 30 years ago!), but that's clearly not so.

The lockdowns and restricted trade of the past two years have highlighted just how much garden has been brought into play at the front, with perhaps more seating outside than within. The building itself has been expanded a little it seems, but it's still the same proper pub with several distinct areas catering for different tastes and uses. Highly recommended, just get there early for the plush banquet seating, it seems to go fast.

(*English translation: Chip Shops)