It’s been quite a while since I last posted on here, which is of course inexcusable! My excuse is that Corby pub life had settled back into something of a routine since the heady days of the early 2020’s, when murky
Craft Beer and 'National Beer Treasure'
Doom Bar helped push the town into the
UK Beer Destination Premier League.
Since then the once ubiquitous
Salt Brewery Jute has become just a hazy memory, and even the
Doom Bar at the
Cardigan Arms has been changed in favour of
Hobgoblin Gold. As for our favourite pre/post Cinema destination,
Paletto Lounge, it’s been a hard choice between the
Camden Pale and… well that’s it actually, so no choice at all really. Corby was teetering on the brink of a calamitous beer league relegation!
I must admit though, the
Corby Pub Safari had taken its rakishly monocled eye off the beer ball of late. So much so that it fell to our
principal ‘influencer’ and all-round top bloke
The Mayor to alert us to the reintroduction of quality craft beer to
Paletto Lounge. Excellent news, and proof positive that all those cans of
Wiper & True Kaleidoscope we valiantly chugged back in 2024 must have made a positive impact to the Lounge HQ balance sheet. Moving from cans in the fridge to an eye-level presence on the T-Bar should help the
Kaleidoscope tickle the fancy of Corby drinkers all the more, and if that wasn’t enough, dark beer drinkers can now choose a
Murphy’s Stout in the Lounge. Talking of which…
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| The Paletto Lounge T-Bar, yesterday. |
Extensive research (yesterday) has revealed that Cork’s finest is now available literally everywhere in Corby! The Cardigan Arms, Ev’s, Paletto Lounge and The Raven have all gone Murphy’s Mad, and that’s just the pubs that I happened to visit yesterday! Great news if, like me, you find the usual Irish Stout something of an overpriced and over-chilled disappointment for the most part. Not that Murphy’s is that much better, but it is significantly cheaper, so a definite nitro-surge forward for Corby.
Back to the serious business of cask and craft beer though. The even bigger news is that the historic
Raven Hotel has recently rediscovered its historic
Barrel Drop (
below), and subsequently sprouted not one, but two shiny
Handpumps on the bar, both of which are connected to barrels it seems! Now this might seem a little over ambitious for a town not particularly noted for its cask ale, and in truth I haven’t actually tried the two
Wadsworths offerings yet so can’t really comment, but let’s be cask-positive. These ales are very highly regarded in their home town of
Devizes, a town which by a happy coincidence is also located in the beautiful
Notswolds, so beers like these should be to Corby folk's taste, I'd imagine…
Back in the town centre we have the beginnings of Corby's first official
Craft Beer Trail, with locally brewed beer now available at the new-ish
Savoy Cinema Bar. Now my understanding is that just two venues for Craft Beer constitutes an official ‘Trail’, with line of sight between the venues the clincher (
below). The impressive modernist edifice of Corby's
Savoy Cinema can easily be seen from Paletto Lounge, on a clear day, and with
AI-e-Scooters and a conveniently located
Taxi Rank outside, Corby looks set to join the
Coalville's and
Luton's of the world as a top beer destination.
Corby Pub Safari hope to secure the services of
The Mayor to cut the ribbon at an opening ceremony in the near future...
Wait-what! A bar in a Cinema! In Corby! That's right, the days when the cinema offering extended little further than a
Westlers Hotdog and a
Kia-Ora Orange Juice are long gone. Corby Savoy is showing the way with a fully licensed bar, soon to be knocked through into
Pay-to-Dart entertainment next door. Rumours of a
Sunday Meat Raffle and
Pay-to-Domino remain just that, rumours.
Even better news for pub goers is the aforementioned Northamptonshire Beer offering, because the forward thinking management are clearly as keen as mustard to augment the draught lines with something local and different for thirsty Corby folk. We here at Corby Pub Safari can't say too much right now, but let's just say that local brewery reps were literally beating the automatic-opening doors down with samples of their wares while we were there, so keep a keen eye on the bottle fridge the next time you take the kids to see Dune III or The Fokkers XV...
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