In Chapter 68, Strike decides to take his laptop to the pub to work. The Tottenham is too busy and The Angel doesn’t allow mobiles and laptops to be used, so he then heads for The Cambridge.

“His craving for beer increasing with each thwarted attempt to get some, he came to rest at last in The Cambridge, a large and noisy pub situated on the edge of Theatreland, where he’d no sooner sat down with his first pint of Doom Bar than Robin had called, asking him to take over as Buffypaws in Drek’s Game.” (The Ink Black Heart, Chapter 68)

He then spends the next “two hours pretending to be Buffypaws in the company of successive pints, and a burger and chips.” (The Ink Black Heart, Chapter 68)

Nutley calls from King’s Lynn and gives Strike an update on his surveillance of Kea Niven’s night out with some friends. Shortly afterwards, Robin calls to say she’s just left Pez and that she’s sent him a recording of their conversation.

This is the second time The Cambridge has featured in a Strike novel. In The Silkworm, Strike and Robin have lunch there on Strike’s birthday in the upstairs bar. You can read more about that occasion here. 

Strike leaves The Cambridge and goes back home to his flat to listen to the recording.

You can find The Cambridge on the map below:

Address: Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0DP