So, how well do you know Cambridge? Even as long-term residents, the Indie Cambridge team was stumped when the name Scroope Terrace came up. Maybe the mention of The Royal Cambridge Hotel gives a clue as to the location, as the elegant row of cream-coloured town houses on the corner of Trumpington Street and The Fen Causeway, are five of the original houses of Scroope Terrace.
The terrace was named after Lady Anne Scroope, the last representative of the Gonville family. This rich heiress acquired the land, alongside her husband Lord Scroope of Bolton, as part of an inheritance gift and later gave the land to Cambridge University’s Gonville and Caius College in 1498. Originally occupied by senior members of the University, the houses were first converted into The Royal Hotel in 1936 and then, after being acquired by the Reynolds family in 1963, the name was finally changed to The Royal Cambridge Hotel we know today.
So that’s your Cambridge history lesson finished with – now it’s time to look inside 6 Scroope Terrace (the bar at the front of the hotel) today and if you are a gin fan, then this is where it gets really interesting. The interior is beautifully decorated and comfortably plush, and the well-stocked bar is a gin drinker’s heaven. There are over 30 to try, including classic London dry-style gins; citrus and herbaceous varieties; fresh and floral gins; juniper rich and robust types; ginger serves and sloe and sweeter gins – all served with Fever Tree mixers and fresh garnishes.
Plus, for all indie fans, the 6 Scroope Terrace Restaurant and Bar proudly partners with local distilleries such as the Cambridge Distillery, Pinkster Gin, Roundwood London Dry, the Ely Distillery and the Northamptonshire Distillery. And if you prefer a pint, there’s Crafty Wolf from Norfolk’s Wolf Brewery (Neil Morrisey’s brewing company no less!) which can be enjoyed with a packet of local indie crisps from Corkers Crisps, grown and hand cooked in the local Cambridgeshire Fens. Now isn’t that a wonderful Cambridge story!
6 Scroope Terrace
The Royal Cambridge Hotel, Trumpington Street
Cambridge CB2 1PY
Telephone 01223 351631
www.theroylcambridgehotel.co.uk
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