The Prince Rupert, Newark

A very attractive ancient town pub, ably described by earlier contributors. We were travelling south from York, and it proved to be too late to reach our regular lunch stop, but I remembered reading about this pub, which we reached before the kitchen closed. An eclectic mix of small ancient rooms with newer annexes:time was pressing, so we didn’t venture upstairs to see the timber framed rooms advertised below.A long, narrow bar in the centre of the pub offered a range of seven or eight handpumps,primed with beers largely unknown to me. A pleasant touch:the landlord had placed samples of each beer in mini Kilner jars in front of the relevant pump. I was pleased to see JHB from Oakham, a brewery much admired, but seldom seen on my home turf. This was followed by Baronet, a good brown bitter from Dukeries Brewery of Worksop. Both beers were served in grand condition.Interesting looking ciders were also available, as was proper leaf tea,a plus factor in my book. This pub is part of a small, enterprising chain known as Knead, which also owns the Tobie Norris in Stamford. Service was friendly, the food good:pricey, as mentioned by other contributors,but not by southeast standards. Good beer and real tea-what could be better?

As pointed out below pricey food and drink but the historic interior goes some way to mitigate this. Sub divided into many rooms over two floors some with a seventeenth century timbered look which have been sympathetically treated. Settles and scrubbed pine tables fit the style wonderfully. A visit is certainly required for the interior and a choice of seven beers.