![[Neglected, March 2000]](../2000/pics/cc-side-mar.jpg)
![[logo © CAMRA]](../pics/logo3.gif){kind=logo}
![[Boarded up, September 1999]](pics/cow-calf.jpg)
The owners for many years, the City Council, put the property up for sale to
help pay for the Parkside Pool redevelopment.
The competitive tender resulted in a property developer acquiring it and as of May 1999 it seems that
a long planning battle will follow, with the likelihood of it eventually being
converted to student accommodation (as there's little parking available) - very much like the nearby
Merton Arms eleven years earlier.
It was boarded up on 8 Feb. 1999, the landlord having finally left the previous day.
It was sad to see the place in a downward spiral of neglect for over a year, having been a regular in
the Good Beer Guide and the Branch Pub of the Year 1990.
It was a cosy, friendly place with a number of pub cats.
As a true Free House, latterly City of Cambridge and then Lidstone's beers were available.
![[March 2000]](../2000/pics/cc-front-mar.jpg)