The Tivoli

Walk into The Tivoli and you'll clock the kind of place that doesn't need to try too hard—wood-panelled walls, decent lighting that doesn't go full gastropub, and the hum of actual conversation rather than background muzak. It's the pub you'd want at the end of your street in Chesterton, which is precisely why locals keep coming back. The real ales rotate with purpose, the food's competent without being showy (think proper pies and fish and chips), and at around £4-5 a pint, it's refreshingly unpretentious for Cambridge. There's enough going on to justify a night out, but not so much theatre that you can't just sit quietly with your drink if that's the mood.