Each week our Pub Spy goes undercover to give his verdict on a city watering hole. This time he visited the Cardinal's Hat, believed to be Worcester's oldest pub.

IT'S very easy to fall head over heels in love with the Cardinal's Hat in Worcester.

With its oak panelling, broad fireplaces and flickering candles, the inn has a cosy, convivial atmosphere which entices you inside, especially on a dark winter day.

Fortunately my jumper is relatively fire retardant, drastically reducing my risk of self-immolation before the food arrives should I stray too near the naked flame.

Despite its narrow facade, the Friar Street inn has a cavernous interior as if giving up its secrets reluctantly.

A narrow corridor extends towards a spacious back room where plenty of seating affords a welcome refuge from the hustle and bustle of the main bar which can get crowded, particularly at weekends.

I must warn you, at busy times you may still have to stand. If you have varicose veins or arthritic hips you might want to try somewhere else.

The Cardinal's Hat, said to be the oldest pub in Worcester, is so redolent of an English tavern in Tudor or Elizabethan England that the clientele look almost incongruous wearing modern clothes instead of donning doublets, codpieces and ostentatious gowns.

I've yet to see a cardinal, sober or drunk, at the inn but then I've never seen a firefly at the Firefly or a cricketer at the Cricketers so I mustn't grumble.

This is perhaps not surprising when you consider that the licensee is history enthusiast Nigel Smith, also the landlord of the of the Fleece Inn at Bretforton, another beautiful inn, that one managed by the National Trust.

Naturally an inn as old as the Cardinal's Hat (it traces its roots to the fourteenth century) is haunted and the ghost of a young girl is said to drift about on the second floor in a flowing white night gown though I haven't seen her myself.

The warmth of the atmosphere is only matched, perhaps, by that of the staff, especially manager Marek Kryskiv, always a friendly and charming host.

The staff are some of the friendliest I’ve met in any pub in Worcester and take the time to speak to their customers and look after them, bringing a smile to even the most curmudgeonly among us.

I chose the award winning hot Fladbury butcher's pork pie which cost £5.95 and a North Cotswold Winter Solstice for £3.10.

The pie was not large but the quality was excellent and the ruby beer very tasty.

My only gripe was that it took 40 minutes for the food to arrive which, on a quiet lunchtime, might be considered too long to wait by some though it gave me more time to savour the atmosphere.

The food at the Cardinal's is not perhaps your typical pub grub, offering instead high quality, 'artisan' snacks.

These include a cheese platter with a wide variety of local cheeses and a ham platter offering a wide selection of cured meats.

Also on the menu are scotch eggs, olive dipping platters, soup and pate.

The pub has an excellent choice of beers, ciders, wines and spirits far too numerous to list here.

Like King Charles House in New Street, the Cardinal’s Hat makes a bold feature of its history and is a welcome antidote to Worcester's anodyne and somewhat generic modern bars.

Even the ugly multi-storey car park which looms over the Cardinal's Hat fails, despite its best endeavours, to murder the ambience of this delightful pub. This surely must be a measure of its charm.

Scores:

Atmosphere: 10/10

Decor: 9/10

Staff: 10/10

Drink: 8/10

Food: 8/10

Prices: 8/10

Overall: 9/10