Whether you’re looking for cocktails or an art gallery, we’ve discovered spots you might not have come across.
This very special Dinky Door on the Reality Checkpoint Lamppost is a reality checker(Image: Niamh Dann/CambsLive)
Cambridge is full of well-known buildings and bars, which you will see tourists crowding around every summer. However, our city also has its fair share of hidden attractions, which you could easily miss.
These hidden gems range from a hidden cocktail bar to a memorial to a famous Chinese poet. Take a look below to find your new favourite places to take family and friends next time they visit the city.
Hidden Rooms
The clue’s in the title with this one. This cocktail bar is, of course, hidden to the average passer-by. It is a reservation-only spot located in the basement of a Victorian-era Roman baths, and looks just like it’s part of the Kibou restaurant on Jesus Lane.
Hidden Rooms, Cambridge, is a romantic spot(Image: David Johnson)
Once you discover the bar, you will realise there is plenty going on here. Not only are you invited to sip margaritas and martinis, but you could get involved in a cocktail-making class or attend one of its regular music nights.
The Women’s Art Collection
The historic divide between “town and gown” in Cambridge may mean residents, who aren’t students, are missing out on some of the delights to be found in the university’s colleges. Some of these, like the women’s art collection at Murray Edwards College on Huntingdon Road, are open to the public.
This collection began in the late 1980s and has grown, now numbering over 600 works by more than 300 artists. As well as the permanent collection, there are regular exhibitions and talks by artists.
Newton’s apple tree
This is not the tree from Isaac Newton’s childhood home. However, it is close enough to be special: this tree outside Trinity College, Trinity Street, is an offshoot of that original tree, which has a place in the stories told as schools worldwide while students about Newton’s discovery of gravity.
The tree outside Trinity College is not actually the original tree Newton sat under(Image: CambridgeshireLive)
The tree was planted in 1954 to honour his links to the University of Cambridge (where he studied and worked) and to celebrate his contributions to science. It is visible at all times, although members of the public are banned from entering the grass surrounding it.
Xu Zhimo Memorial
From science to poetry: there are plenty of celebrated figures with a connection to the city, and who are remembered in various ways along Cambridge’s streets and at its colleges. One of these is poet Xu Zhimo, known for his contributions to modernist Chinese poetry.
Xu’s love for the city began when he first entered King’s College, Cambridge, in 1922, where he fell in love with Romantic poetry and literature. Having returned to China and infused Chinese poetry with European Romanticism, he came back to Cambridge in 1928.
Here, he penned a poem that celebrated the punters, willows and sunlight experienced in the Backs of King’s College, which has since become famous in China. Xu was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1931, and his memorial stone was unveiled in the grounds of King’s College in 2018.
People can visit the stone by buying a ticket to enter the grounds of King’s College.
Bar-OH
Tucked away next to the Hilton hotel on Downing Street, you will find a treasure trove of video games and quirky drinks. Customers are invited to play classics like Wii Sports and MarioKart, and say hello to the robot doorman.
Robot doorman at Bar-OH(Image: CambridgeshireLive)
Although it is hidden, this bar has managed to gain a reputation for excellence. In 2024, Muddy Stilettos listed Bar-OH as a finalist in its award for the best bar in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
Dinky Doors
These minute, intricate structures are dotted around the city. You may have spotted one or two Dinky Doors, described by their creators as “petite portals into other worlds”, while walking around.
However, you are unlikely to discover them all without following the walking tour or taking a look at the map of doors, both of which can be found on the Dinky Doors website.
