Pub of the week: Centurion Arms, Brough

The rapid increase in new-build housing in Brough over the past decade or so has left the town lacking in drinking dens and so the recent appearance of micropub the Centurion Arms has proven a much-needed fillip for local sensation seekers.

Centurion, obviously, because Brough was home of the Parisi tribe in Roman times, when it was known as Petuaria and was the start of a road that ran all the way to Pons Aelius, or Newcastle.

Despite the pub being in a decidedly unhistoric shop unit, there is enough comfy furniture to make it feel homely and welcoming. There are Chesterfield settees, bar stools, a piano in the corner and even what appear to be cloth clouds hanging from the ceiling. As long as you don’t look at the front window, you wouldn’t know you weren’t in a normal pub.

As well as four local hand-pulled beers and some real ciders, there is a large gin selection, which is good because the pub seems to attract a real mixture of punters. Not just the beardy real ale types you associate with micropubs but hipsters in baseball caps and lumberjack shirts and ladies who lunch comparing the price of their bags.

Food currently stretches only to sausage rolls and crisps but there is also a jar of dog snacks behind the bar so your canine friend won’t feel left out.

With regular live music, vinyl and meet-the-brewer nights, the Centurion is offering much the same as many small pubs but it seems that the crowd and the vibe are different. Brough may have just taken a small step down a very new road.

Centurion Arms, Toft Court, 39 Skillings Lane, Brough, HU15 1BA.