Situated next to the village hall and first named the Tally Ho, the pub was first listed as a brew house when it opened in the 1840s. The brewery remained in use until the early 1900s. The pub was renovated and renamed Hudson’s Ale House in October 2015, renamed The Duchess of Cambridge for a brief time in 2022 before reverting back to Hudson’s Ale House in February 2025.
In the early 1900s, the pub had a plain front, along which ran a large sign shouting “Hudson’s Noted Ales and Stout”, the brewery that owned the pub at the time.
A large extension had been added to the rear. The bay windows and porch roof across the frontage were added probably in the 1930s.
Philip Llewelyn Hudson was employed at King’s College Cambridge as College Cook and apart from catering was responsible for brewing Audit Ale for the college.
By 1888 Philip, who was also a tea merchant, purchased Ekin’s brewery at Magdalene Street, Cambridge. At about the same time, he purchased Bathe’s Pampisford Brewery and also leased some land at Pampisford from a Mr Binney.
The two deals comprised 2 breweries, 95 pubs, 3 malting with various unlicensed properties and plots of land. There would have been limited space for expansion at Magdalene Street so the brewery was soon closed and the business concentrated at Pampisford Brewery. Philip was Chairman and Managing Director until his death in 1914.
The brewery continued on through 3 generations of Hudson’s in charge of the business until it’s sale to Wells & Winch in 1930.
Today the pub is independently run by Hayley & Steve who operate a small pub company in Cambridge with three other sites, The Portland Arms on Mitcham’s corner, The Alex on Gwydir Street and The Castle Inn on Castle Street.
Information and photo’s on this page taken from Peter Dawsons research on the Trumpington Local History Group.
Read more on Philip Hudson at: breweryhistory.com