When I first ventured into London for a Pub Raid™, I ordered my pint and handed over a crisp five pound note. Confident that the bar person would be back with change, and change featuring at least one golden coin, I lingered at the bar. A year or so ago I became optimistic of a gold coin. Today, I cling to the hope of a few silvers. Tomorrow, I might be rustling around in that fiddly bit of my wallet to top up my £5… On a recent raid at The Birdcage, my brother ordered a Scotch Egg and a Pint for a total of £10 plus. Bearing in mind this was the cheaper of two Scotch Eggs (the more expensive option came with a napkin) this is plainly ridiculous…

Enter The Strugglers. A proper pub. The menu is below (in true football score fashion… “Londoners, if you don’t want to know the prices, please look away now…”)

“Filled Bap £2

Sausage Roll 30p

Scotch Egg 35p

Pork Pie 65p”

Proper prices for normal people.

The Strugglers is hands down the best pub in Lincoln. Any CAMRA guide or ‘WhatPub?’ review will probably say the same, but the stamp of approval from yours truly is worth its weight in Scampi Fries, given how bloody sneering we’ve been about pretty much everywhere else.

9 beers being served from a bar that only looks long enough to hold about 6 pumps. I’ve never been in this pub and found it anything less than jammed. From the outside it must look like a wooden barrel in a cartoon, the planks straining inside their metal fasteners as another couple squeeze themselves in, and then another, and another. But the barrel never bursts.

The food options speak for themselves (see above), offering variety at competitive prices. The sheer mass of people and perma-lit fire ensure this place is consistently hotter than the sun. It is the only pub I’ve had entered in summer and still had my glasses steam up. Across the road is a newsagent in which I have bought two black biros in my life. Why do I remember such a sad fact? I bought them to facilitate completion of a crossword in The Strugglers because I wanted to stay as long as possible. This pub is biro-purchasingly good.

The only negative thing I can say about The Strugglers is that there is never a seat, because it’s always packed. I usually do my crossword stood up, and I wouldn’t want it any other way…