Over the coming months, I intend to visit every single college bar in Cambridge, review it, rate it and come up with the college bar league tables. Who needs the Tompkins Tables to rank colleges when you have The Beverage Report?

I will start this report by reviewing my local bar, the Red Brick Bar at Robinson College. While Robinson is known best for its ruddy red bricks and raucous bops, its bar is surprisingly and unfairly overlooked.

The Red Brick Bar is located in the heart of the college, and when you enter you will see stunning red brick walls and even red brick-sized tiles as the floor. But it gets better. At the back of the bar, there are large glass windows that let you have a magnificent view of the college gardens, including the meandering Bin Brook. Sitting back on a summer’s eve with a cold pint and looking at the lush Eden-like gardens of Robinson is a truly marvellous experience.

Every night, the bar atmosphere never fails to let you down. You have the regulars who nurse their pints from about seven thirty in the evening until 11pm when the bar closes. They tend to talk about bitcoin, vaping and how they are doing no work but still getting good grades, while wearing green corduroys and a casual white shirt. The regulars are always welcoming to new companions and are up for a good laugh.

“Sitting back on a summer’s eve with a cold pint and looking at the lush Eden-like gardens of Robinson is a truly marvellous experience”

As well as the welcoming atmosphere of the local regulars, the bar is also very much a vivacious student bar. £2 pints, cheap shots from an array of spirit bottles and a great atmosphere means many students begin a night out at Robinson. One of the cheapest and most cheerful bars you will find. The only flaw is in its range of drinks. There are only five types of beer on tap and no cola, but it’s a small college bar that only opens in the evenings so I can let that one slide.

The atmosphere at the bar is absolutely enhanced by the bar staff. George and Catherine tend to run it most nights. They do a good cop, bad cop act: George, very funny and chilled, tends to encourage students to drink (responsibly) and Catherine, dry-witted and pretty savage, kicks them out. Both Catherine and George are warm-hearted and kind people who are brilliant fun to chat to at the bar.

For folks that like pool or table football, you’re in luck. There is both a table football and a pool table where students play, though you do need to put a coin in.

Robinson College’s Red Brick Bar is a gem. Overall, I would rate it 9/10 owing to its brilliant atmosphere, encouraging prices and the fact I come from Robinson, so the rating may be a little skewed. To get that extra point, the Red Brick Bar might want to consider making its own college-cocktail or expanding the draught beer range. Robinson’s bar is open to students outside of the college too so I invite you to join me for a pint there soon. You won’t regret it.