Rose and Crown, Histon; 12 Jan 12

I live in Histon. It’s a large village north of Cambridge and separated from it by the notorious A14. It’s closely connected to a sister village, Impington, and later this year the two villages will be ‘joined’ resulting in just one community council although the individual parishes will continue to exist.

This makes sense. There is no clear dividing line between the villages although residents face each other across Mill Lane, Water Lane and Station Road. Impington Village College serves both villages. Histon Football Club plays in Impington and, perhaps wrongly, the recreation ground is referred to as the Histon Rec. The guided bus stop is divided into a Histon stop (inbound) and an Impington one (outbound) although the station itself is in Histon.

Most of the shops are in Histon; the exception is the excellent Station Stores. So are all but one of the pubs. But the churches are split: the Methodist and Baptist chapels are in Histon but the Salvation Army Citadel is in Impington; both parishes have, appropriately, their own parish church. Most of the employment too is in Histon: what remains of the Chivers operation, it is now Premier Foods, and the offices of Vision Park but the headquarters of the International Whaling Commission is in Impington. On the housing side new developments recently have been in Impington and of course King’s Meadows south of the A14 is technically in Impington as was, until recently, the new community of Orchard Park.

It is one community and it’s characterised by being close to Cambridge but not of Cambridge. It’s heavily middle class with its fair share of the upwardly mobile. It’s relatively affluent (it is in South Cambs after all) and although there is crime it’s hardly endemic. Living there is pretty good. But there’s something missing …

The are 6 pubs in total and although they all have to some degree and quality served food you’d never call any of them a gastropub. And there’s an Indian and a Chinese and an excellent fish and chip shop. But gastronomically it’s not great. But is that changing?

I had a drink in the Rose and Crown late last year and saw that it had changed. It used to be pretty gloomy and a typical boozer: little to recommend it. Now it’s been opened up, there are bright lights and there’s a restaurant area with good solid tables and chairs. There’s a roaring fire and thankfully few distracting decorations. The pub area is still there and it’s still a pub.

Worryingly I found out that the changes took place early in 2011 but if I had not have visited I would not have found about about it although I did get a flier late December with details. Someone needs to be thinking about marketing. There is a web-site www.rosenandcrownhiston.com but the reference on TripAdvisor has it in Cambridge.

I went with the wife last week for supper.

The menu was limited and on the blackboard which implies that it changes and that the food should be fresh. I had fish and chips (it was Thursday) and the wife had a curry. The former was just right, crispy beer batter and generous real chips. The latter was what you’d expect from a non-Indian restaurant: bland.  There was a nice choice of starters and deserts (the latter includes a strawberry cheesecake but that would really have killed my new year weight loss regime), all the beers you’d expect in a pub and wines by the glass. The Sauvignon Blanc I had was drinkable.

If the Rose and Crown aspires to be a gastropub, and I hope it does because that’s what I think Histon needs, it’s still on the bottom rung. But even as it is it is what Histon needs. All power to it!