Cambridge’s favourite indie!

Mill Road is well known for its independent shops and businesses, so it’s no surprise that the area has done so well in the Discovering Cambridge competition. Discovering Cambridge was set up by local MP Julian Huppert in January of this year to celebrate the City’s independent traders and encourage people to visit their local shops, businesses, cafes, restaurants and pubs. People have been able to vote for their favourite in a different category each month and the winners from the Mill Road area have included the following:

• Best Independent Coffee Shop (January) – Hot Numbers
• Best Independent Music Shop (February) – Rhythm Online
• Best Independent Specialist Food Retailer (March) – Limoncello
• Best Independent Pub (July) – The Kingston Arms
• Best Independent Home & Garden Shop (August) – Cutlacks

An overall winner will be announced at the Mill Road Winter Fair on Saturday 7th December, and now’s your chance to vote for your favourite – just make sure you fill in a voting form while there’s still time. It great to see the traders and businesses around Mill Road doing so well, the best way to show your support for them is to use them – and of course vote!

Best indie pub

Local MP Julian Huppert launched his Discovering Cambridge competition in January, in order to support the independent shops and businesses we have here in Cambridge. People nominate their favourite in a different category throughout each month, with a winner announced at the end of the month. There will also be an over all winner announced at the Mill Road Winter Fair on 7th December.

The Mill Road area has had winners in three of the six categories so far and now lays claim to Cambridge’s best independent music shop (Rhythm Online), best independent specialist food & drink outlet (Limoncello) and best independent coffee shop (Hot Numbers). The category for July is best independent pub and you can nominate your favourite by email, twitter or post – see Julian Huppert’s website for more information.

Best independent pub is an interesting category – the vast majority of pubs are owned by larger breweries and chains; yet they are, in the main, run by a landlord and/or landlady who probably runs only that pub and who brings their own character to the place. Pubs that are part of larger breweries and chains often have certain restrictions placed on them (such as only being allowed to purchase their beer from a specific provider) but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of room for making their own unique mark in their local communities (in fact, I reckon most people would be more likely able to name the landlord/landlady of their local than which pub company it belongs to…). I’m not quite sure what definition Julian is going with for his competition (and where part-tied pubs fit in) but if it’s only pubs that are not tied to a larger chain or which are the only pub run by that tenant/owner, then that leaves just a small handful in Cambridge.

I’m going to nominate the Earl of Beaconsfield – Susie and Matt took over the pub last October and have made it into a really lovely place that not only looks after its existing regulars but is welcoming to new visitors too. There’s all sorts of regular music nights (Sunday blues jam, Monday open mic session, Tuesday acoustic jam, Thursday Irish music session and regular jazz Saturdays) and they’re all free, the back room that was previously out of bounds has now been completely transformed into a large games room, the pub now serves food and the beer garden has also had a much needed makeover. They’ve also set up Facebook and Twitter accounts for the pub, as well as recently launching a brand new website. Given all the hard work Susie and Matt have put in to the Beaccy and the great changes that have come as a result in such a short space of time (and bearing in mind the fact that they had never run a pub before!) I think they thoroughly deserve some recognition for their efforts.

Mill Road itself has lost over 60% of its public houses in the last twelve years alone, and now just two pubs remain. So there’s never been a more important time to make sure you use your local, and the sunny weather is the perfect time to try out the ones you haven’t been to for a while or visited before. Just don’t forget to nominate your favourite indie pub by 31st July (tomorrow!).

Things to do before the end of May

Saturday 1st June is the date of this year’s Strawberry Fair – rumoured to be the UK’s largest free one-day festival. But there’s lots to see and do before then – from art exhibitions and talks to live music and theatre – so here’s a taster of what’s coming up around Mill Road…

Tiger Blue duo

SATURDAY 25th
Landmark Seizures project Special Closing Event – Station Buildings (opposite Swiss Laundry, next to Station Cycles), from 12pm. Discussion, readings + performances throughout the day, with a special party 7-9pm. Hosted by Aid & Abet.
Cancer Research Fundraiser –
St Matthews Church, 12-3pm. Cakes, DVD’s, books, toys & handmade items for sale.
Tiger Blue duo – Earl of Beaconsfield, 8:30-11pm.
Last Gang In Town – the Man on the Moon, from 7:30pm. Music from: New Town Kings + Defekters + Last Gang DJ’s.

SUNDAY 26th
Blues Jam – Earl of Beaconsfield, from 8:30pm.
Surviving Strings – The Brook, 8:30pm. Acoustic duo playing hits from the 60’s through to present day.

MONDAY 27th
Open Mic Night – Earl of Beaconsfield, from 8:30pm.
Irish music session – The White Swan, 9-11pm.
Quiz night – The Six Bells, starts 9pm.

TUESDAY 28th
Acoustic Jam – Earl of Beaconsfield, from 9pm. Hosted by Johnny Wright, all welcome.
Dr Doodleys Drink & Draw – Hot numbers Café, 7:30-9:30pm. This fortnights theme is picture books and is hosted by Simon Prescott.
Quiz Night – The Dobblers, from 9pm. This weeks top prize is a rollover of £57.

THURSDAY 30th
Katharine Rose – Hot Numbers Café, 7:30-10pm. Indie/folk piano and singing.
Irish music session – Earl of Beaconsfield, from 9-11pm.
Quiz Night – The Brook, starts 9pm.
Four Farces – Mumford Theatre, 7:30pm. A selection of one-act farces presented by the European Arts Company.
All about CamLETS – CB1 Café, 7:30-9pm. Talk with Richard Robertson about Cambridge’s local exchange and trading system – CamLETS.

ALL MONTH
Dr Doodley’s Drink & Draw Artists annual exhibition – Hot Numbers Café, runs until 31^st May. Over fifteen artists who attend Drink & Draw exhbiting their work.
Mohammed Djazmi ‘s ‘Social Commentary’ exhibition – Williams Art, until 31^st May.
Jill Eastland’s ‘Our Land, Our Lives’ exhibition – The Six Bells, until 31^st May.

Do check with venues/organisers for more info and updates.

What’s your favourite coffee shop?

MP Julian Huppert has just launched a competition – Discovering Cambridge – to find the best independent Cambridge businesses. He is asking the public to nominate their favourites and there will be a winner chosen in a different business category each month – with the over all winner being announced in December at the Mill Road Winter Fair. This sounds like a great idea and should hopefully highlight the importance of using our local independent shops and businesses (which shouldn’t be too hard to do around Mill Road!).

The category for January is ‘Best Coffee Shop’ and you can vote for your favourite via Twitter, Facebook, email or post – just remember to do it before the end of the month.

Boards outside some of the cafe’s on Mill Road: (L-R) Cafe De Paris, CB1, Neide’s Deli Cafe, Limoncello & Cafe Otto.

Even though I’m fairly sure I know a coffee shop when I see one, it’s worth noting that as well as being “a shop where different types of coffee are sold, either to drink or as beans or powder” the term ‘coffee shop’ can also refer to “a small informal restaurant where drinks and small meals are served, sometimes in a larger shop or building” – so I assume that café’s and the like can also be included. There are several such places around Mill Road, the vast majority of these are independents and include:   Cafe Otto, Neide’s Deli Cafe, Café De Paris, Hot Numbers Coffee, Limoncello, CB1, Cornerstone, Rotana, BLD’s, Urban Larder, Black Cat, Snakatak; and you can even get a cup of coffee at the RSPCA Bookshop. There are probably others too (apologies to those I’ve missed) but these are just the ones that spring to mind.

Although I have my favourites, I think the competition is a good opportunity to try them all out – well, as many as possible (there’s only so much coffee a girl drink in one month!). It would be great to see one of our Mill Road places win the best coffee shop accolade, but the important thing is that we use our independents – so make sure you go and enjoy some of the local cafes this month.

Also – those of you following me on Twitter or Facebook will know that last week I asked for peoples favourite budget-friendly eateries around Mill Road, as I am writing an article. The article will be a short list of my favourites (which may include cafes, restaurants, pubs etc) but I do want to mention places that other local diners like – so do join in the conversation on Twitter or Facebook and let me know what would be on your list.

Coffee & Collage

Yesterday evening I went along to the fortnightly Drink & Draw session at Hot Numbers cafe on Gwydir Street. I’m quite creative but I usually do my ‘creating’ at home and hadn’t been to any kind of open session like this before, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But I needn’t have had any trepidatory thoughts as everyone was friendly and welcoming. This was the fourth Drink & Draw session and they were the idea of local artist Emmanuel Martin.

The theme for the evening was collage and was introduced by local artist Dan Biggs. Everyone was asked to bring scissors, glue and some old magazines (or whatever bits and bobs we had that could be collaged) and we were all given a blank greeting card upon which to make our collages. I think everybody chose to make a card, but there was certainly no pressure to – people can just turn up and draw/create their own thing or even just socialise with others. I decided to make a penguin shaped collage and set about cutting out all sorts of colourful pieces from the magazines I had bought along – the knack seems to be in the cutting and arranging of your collage before you do any glueing. Everyones creation was different and there were some great designs.

Most of us gave the cards we made to Hot Numbers to sell. I hadn’t expected my penguin to make the grade, but I popped in this afternoon to meet a friend and while in there someone bought my card! But there’s still a few left if you would like to buy one. Most of the cards were left blank (so you can add your own greeting) but tomorrow is the last day before Christmas for first class post, so if you’re looking for a festive card then do pop down to Hot Numbers tomorrow. Although it’s called Drink & Draw, you don’t have to be an artist to join in – it’s open to everyone (and there’s no need to book – just turn up on the night). I really enjoyed the company and creativity last night and will certainly be going along to Drink & Draw again – and not just because of the post-collage trip to the Dev!

The next Drink & Draw will be at Hot Numbers on Tuesday 8th January, 7-9pm. The theme is tattoo art and will be hosted by Vic Cristea from Mill Road’s Tattoos by Fabio