I was in a pub yesterday and saw what looked to me like a couple of keg fonts on the bar counter. luckily I was with the more observant Maldenman, who noticed the word "cask" on the side of one of them. The barmaid said that there were in fact working handpumps hidden behind them, and we could see that there were what looked like wooden handles in place. As the beers in question were Young's Bitter and Courage Best we declined to test the operation of the equipment.
Has anyone else seen these things, and are they really operational handpumps? And what is the point of disguising them? Is it to dupe unwary keg loving beer drinkers into drinking cask conditioned ale? I would have thought it more likely to prevent real ale drinkers from realising that they are attached to casks. Luckily we saw some traditional handpumps so were satisfied in that respect, but if these really were the only real ale dispensers in the place, we would not have recognised them as such and would probably have turned tail and walked out.
I have attempted to attach a photograph, but am not sure that I have succeeded. The pub in question is The Running Mare in Cobham, and I have uploaded a photograph of them on the pub's page, which I guess Conrad will approve any time soon.