May 20, 2012
The Maypole’s located on a quiet street not far from Jesus College in the centre of Cambridge. The pub’s large, with a big beer garden. It’s often crowded with students, and the boisterous atmosphere makes for a nice ambience. The 8 cask selections were interesting, featuring many local micro-breweries that I had never even heard of. The beer was well-kept and the barman knew his product. Overall, this is a very good pub that I’d strongly recommend to beer lovers visiting Cambridge. Its location close to the centre of town is a real bonus too, as most of Cambridge’s best pubs are located in less convenient locations.

April 2, 2012
I thought this pub to be a real find. Hidden away from any main roads or shopping streets Portugal Place is however within easy walking distance of anywhere within the city centre and The Maypole is well worth the effort of finding; if you want good quality Real Ale from small independent breweries that other pubs don’t sell in Cambridge. The pub has two distinct rooms, both with TV’s (something I’m not too keen on), both also have a bar area, the larger bar having many hand pulls on it. Cocktails and good quality food being another selling point according to a local who tipped me off about it, we didn’t eat or have cocktails though: too many new cask beers for us to attack. The pub is also in the 2012 CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Basic, this is far from plush or smart, but it is friendly and clean, good service comes with a smile no matter how busy the establishment is, or how large your order may be. On our visit the beer quality was excellent as was the selection, what more could you ask for?

January 25, 2012
Wow - becoming a free house has turned this from simple adequacy to definite "beer haven" status. Made sure I got 2 trips in my long weekend, and there were 3 new beers on after a gap of 3 days. They always seem to have 8-10 real ales. Menu looked fancy, didn’t eat. Occasional festivals - only possible (or cost effective) since ditching the tie to Green King. Freindly staff, happy to talk about their beers and all kinds of related matters. I wish these guys well, they’re right in the centre of my beer scope when I’m going to Cambridge (#3 beside CB and L&LL, I’d say).

August 10, 2010
Quite cosy place on a small side alley, a bit tricky to find, so luckily I had a good guide with me. Decent selection of beers. Quite small outside seating area in an alley, but ok for having a pint or two. Friendly and quite quick service as well.

August 9, 2010
Visited on 29 July 2010. Central location but tucked away in the back streets between Jesus Green and Bridge Street. Although the address is Portugal Place, the main entrance seems to be on Park Street (next to the multi-storey car park). Although I’ve visited Cambridge many times I can’t say this place had really come to my notice until I saw an advertisement in the Cambridge Beer Festival programme claiming 10 handpumps. Seems it was a Green King house until recently but long-standing landlords have bought the place and installed a bank of handpumps dispensing a quite interesting range of beers. Looks like there’s an old building buried in there somewhere but an unsympathetic modern extension rather spoils the look. Not exactly olde-worlde and cosy on the inside either. However, there is a pleasant sizeable patio outside and good weather meant we just hunkered down there. The landlord was very friendly and obliging - even going down to the cellar to check the barrel of a poorly identified beer to establish the brewer. Food was pretty tasty with an Italian slant (the family that owns the pub are of Italian extraction) and, if not the cheapest, everything was under £10. My risotto was well cooked and tasty. Eight or so handpumps. A very useful improvement to the city centre pub scene.