Corby - A Short Guide For Pub Tourists

Six pubs in and reaction to the blog has been… encouraging! I think readers have been pleasantly surprised by what Corby has to offer the travelling pub-goer, although I've absolutely no evidence for this. I believe I've already shown that Corby isn't just a town of stylish Post-war Flat Roof Pubs, rare Heritage Keg Beers, and quality neighbourhood Fish Bars. No indeed! I think you'll agree with me (after you've red this) that with just a little bit of local knowledge (standby!), Corby can be a jolly fine day out too! So with this in mind, here’s a small selection of 'Corby Greats'. Top level attractions you've almost certainly heard of already, but which should be on everyone's bucket list when visiting the town for a holiday, short break, or slightly rushed 6-8 pub day trip.

Corby Rolls

FREE souvenir bag with every half-dozen Corby rolls!

The great pub-blogging debates around bread rolls and their numerous regional variants are legendary. Legendary! Amongst pub bloggers. Just the mention of the word 'Cob' in relation to anything other than the genuine crusty East Midlands iteration is liable to send comments pages into meltdown, occasionally breaking the internet with the shear weight of belligerent closing-time debate. Baps, Barms, Bread Cakes, Rolls, Stotties, it's a well known fact that at any given time, someone, somewhere on the planet will be getting the name of these bread-based lunchtime snacks irritatingly, infuriatingly wrong!

Serving Suggestion

Which brings me rather neatly to a little-known North Northamptonshire bread speciality, the Corby Roll. At first glance a Corby Roll might easily be mistaken for the more common Scotch Roll. Similar in shape and size, both dusted with a gritty toasted semolina crust, both Rolls, but that's where the similarity ends. Corby Rolls, lovingly baked at the High Street Bakery in Corby, are much lighter, far less 'doughy' than their Scotch cousins, which makes them completely different, and in my opinion a far superior roll. Uniquely, deliciously, light and fluffily Corby. Versatile, available in 'Dark' or 'Light' versions, and found absolutely everywhere in the town, as well as many of the surrounding villages, all keen to tap into the fresh new-ish taste of Corby town.

Like the eponymous Little Stick of Blackpool Rock, you'll certainly want to take a 'lucky' bag of Corby Rolls home for family and friends (watch the little-ones eyes light up!). A reminder of your time in Scotland's most beautiful and tasty English town.

Pub Recommendation: The Kingfisher is handy for their Pytchley Court Bakery Shop.

Corby Cube

Corbys impressive Cube building is arguably the towns top tourist attraction and local head-turner since the similarly impressive 'Candle' was demolished in the 1970's. A true marvel of modern space-saving design, the uniquely squareform building lives up to its unusual name by being, in almost every sense, a cube. Styled, as I understand it, on a Liquorish Allsort, a popular sweet in Corby for generations, it dominates the entrance to the town if arriving from Market Harborough, somewhat less-so from the equally popular Peterborough direction. What's inside? Well, nobody knows for sure. Just admire the sleek polished exterior, and on no account google how much it cost...

Pub Recommendation: Paletto Lounge offers good views of the Cube.

Hadden Family Butchers

Located on The Jamb in the old village, and seemingly always busy with a steady stream of discerning local gourmands, D&L Hadden Family Butchers are probably the last of their kind in Corby now that Bradbury are an online butchers only. The go-to for Scotch Pies, Bridies (whatever they are?!), Tattie Scones (???) and of course the mighty Hadden Lorne Sausage. Also purveyors of the award-winning Ramsay Scottish Haggis, the go-to stuffed-stomach treat on Burns Night. Accept no substitute, unless you’re vegetarian or vegan of course. And even then, it’s just a bit of Offal, sure where's the harm!…

Pub Recommendation: The historic Cardigan Arms is opposite, seems sensible.

Boating Lake & Geese

There’s more to Corby wildlife than a Friday night at the Saxon Cross Wetherspoon. Corby is literally teaming with fauna and flora, a legacy of the towns location at the very heart of the once mighty Rockingham Forest. There’s no better place to get that little bit too close to nature than at the popular Boating & Fishing Lake on the edge of town.

Classic 70’s flat-roof cafe

All manner of birdlife, both fowl and fare, can be found dabbling in the murky waters of the lake, though the famous Corby Greylag Geese are the principal attraction. These majestic, honking, Winter migrants can often be seen grazing peacefully on the grassy banks of the lake, and occasionally halting traffic on the adjacent roads into town. A friendly bunch, except when they’re not (see below), though incidents of actual ‘Goose Strike’ are extremely rare…

Thursdays and Sundays are model boat days. The flotilla can be safely viewed, just out of mini-cannon and depth charge range, from the historic Cafe on the far side of the lake.

Recommended Pub: Everard Arms

The Heritage Centre

Located in the old village centre, a trip to Corby is not complete without popping into the lovely Heritage Centre. Although it was closed when we went so we haven't actually been round it yet.

Be sure to ring ahead and check opening hours if travelling far, or just look through the windows like what we did...

Recommended pub: The New Inn is just a short walk away up Stocks Lane.

Rail Station & Excursion North

Gateway to Kettering and The South, Corbys shiny new-ish Rail Station is an architectural attraction in its own right. A proper grown-up twin track electrified line to the south, still toddling and teething in the northward direction with a somewhat limited service.

Highlight of any day out to the station though is the weekday 11.53am excursion over the world famous Welland Viaduct (below), a sedate rollercoaster ride up the valley to Oakham in Rutland, or for a longer journey that affords just enough time to grab a Dickinson & Morris Pork Pie, Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. Because there's nothing that Corby folk like more than a rail trip somewhere else, all the better to appreciate their home town on return.

A Cow, yesterday

Be sure to start the day right with refreshments at the Station Buffet, before joining your intercity-style service for a picturesque journey north through beautiful rolling 'Shire' countryside. There will be an hour or so to kill in Rutland of course, for which I recommend further refreshments in the nearby Grainstore Brewery Tap, but soon you’ll be speeding slowly home, arriving just in time for a post-journey pint(s) in the nearby White Hart, which is my Corby pub recommendation.

Try Also: Corby Candle Monument, Corby Clock Tower, The Cottingham Stack