Worksop is called home by around 44,700 folk who get to enjoy being from the same place as Bruce Dickinson, John Parr, Donald Pleasance and one-time England manager Graham Taylor.
It's the gateway to the Dukeries, handy for Clumber Park and the Welbeck Estate, although the old mining town itself hasn't yet become a cultural hotspot.
I'm following my usual protocol and starting in (a very red) Spoons.
Apparently the name derives from liquorice being widely grown around Worksop during the town's agricultural days, rather than sweet treats being manufactured here.
Opened in 2002, this branch of Wetherspoon's is located in what was once an ironmongers.
But forget what it looks like or what it used to be - the issue of the day was the lack of breakfasts!
Delivery issues - fridge freezer breakdowns? Who knows - they could offer little except porridge, an avocado muffin or scrambled eggs on toast. It would have been handy to print off an explanation and note of what items were available to take the pressure off the staff, as a succession of folks returned from the bar disappointed.
Oh well, just a half of the Welbeck Abbey 'Portland Black' for me (Wolf 'Granny Wouldn't Like It' being the other guest beer). That locally brewed dark porter was delicious and served on good form.
I'm unlikely to be taken on as an ambassador for Visit Worksop.
I did find a good hardware store...
The old council offices are an architectural gem, now repurposed as retailers of vintage stuff...
There are some cracking pub signs without pubs to go with them...
Delivery issues - fridge freezer breakdowns? Who knows - they could offer little except porridge, an avocado muffin or scrambled eggs on toast. It would have been handy to print off an explanation and note of what items were available to take the pressure off the staff, as a succession of folks returned from the bar disappointed.
Oh well, just a half of the Welbeck Abbey 'Portland Black' for me (Wolf 'Granny Wouldn't Like It' being the other guest beer). That locally brewed dark porter was delicious and served on good form.
I'm unlikely to be taken on as an ambassador for Visit Worksop.
I did find a good hardware store...
 |
| Looks like there was a bit of paint left over from the Wetherspoons job. |
There are lots of signs of closed pubs - a 2023 article on the Worksop Guardian looks at "27 pubs we've loved and lost over the years". Twenty-seven! It's not that big a place.
Of the ones remaining, the CAMRA website shows many listed as 'no cask ale'.
But they've got a top class beer bar and you don't even have to leave the train station to visit it.
Of the ones remaining, the CAMRA website shows many listed as 'no cask ale'.
But they've got a top class beer bar and you don't even have to leave the train station to visit it.
Right in the centre of the station buildings in what used to be a buffet room, the Mallard is a super little pub where I could happily have passed the afternoon.
The striking Jacobean-style railway building was built at the turn of the last century replacing the previous structure. The ale bar was opened within it in 2001, recently having celebrated 25 years (with a beer festival, how else?).
They offered a couple of boxed ciders, a Kirkstone keg beer, big-name lagers, and four cask ales: Marble 'Draft', Stocks 'Old Horizontal', Bang the Elephant Pop Goes the Weasle' or Pentrich 'Ether Elemental'. A great - and 75% strong - range.
The Bang the Elephant stout was sweet and moreish. The Stocks old ale was simply superb - a revived recipe from an '80s Doncaster brewery, now concocted at Welbeck Abbey.
The Mallard has a total of 6 tables, all filling up shortly after my arrival, with a fair few folk opting to sit out front. There's no music and a no-phone's policy which was enforced for the one chap making a call, whilst taking pics of pump clips and scoring your beers on Untappd appeared to be okay.
The Mallard has a total of 6 tables, all filling up shortly after my arrival, with a fair few folk opting to sit out front. There's no music and a no-phone's policy which was enforced for the one chap making a call, whilst taking pics of pump clips and scoring your beers on Untappd appeared to be okay.
Cask ale seemed to be the order of the day. A French bulldog became best friends with anyone who ordered the homemade sausage rolls. The chat flowed and the Mallard was quite marvellous.
Right, let's have a look at the Station Hotel, just on the other side of the road.
Right, let's have a look at the Station Hotel, just on the other side of the road.
The front door took me into a long lounge bar with chequered carpet, some brightly coloured armchairs, grey paint-job, and modern light fittings and decorations. There were around a dozen folk in the bar, the big restaurant billed as 'Platform 3' sitting empty in the next room - I've rarely found bank holiday Monday's good for pubs.
The Station Hotel offered two cask ales - a Bradfield 'Farmers Cherry Beer' and Abbeydale 'Moonshine', three other hand pumps unused.
In the interests of trying new stuff, it had to be the garishly coloured cherry beer - at least the jam jar let you know what you were letting yourself in for.
I had time for one more pub visit in Worksop before making my way to the ground, so headed right back down south to pop my head into the Shireoaks Inn.
I had time for one more pub visit in Worksop before making my way to the ground, so headed right back down south to pop my head into the Shireoaks Inn.
Shireoaks is a nearby village where the first of Worksop's collieries opened in 1859, paving the way for more mining in the region. This pub, converted from an old row of cottages, has had a relatively recent refurb (by the same folks who run the Station Inn).
Always trust a pub with a handy set of steps propped against the wall...
But beware of those with West Ham memorabilia....
Although the laminated pudding menu is a good sign...
They do usually serve one cask ale, but the landlord apologised that this wasn't ready yet, having already anticipated that's what I'd be looking for being as he'd spotted me in the Station earlier.
So, a Stones bitter it was...
So, a Stones bitter it was...
Right - time to head to the football ground, the bustle of activity in the vicinity and the very pleasing signage confirming I'd got the date and time right.
The Windsor Stadium - KC Sofas Stadium, if we must - is a neat little National League North ground with a decent retro covered seating stand along half one side of the pitch and plenty of terraces with protection from the elements. The turnstiles are ultra-modern, part of the relatively new clubhouse which contains changing rooms, an award winning bar and a shortage of toilet facilities for the 672 in attendance.
The first half was an entertaining affair with action at both ends of the pitch and some good chances missed or denied by the linesman's flag.
A decent away support for Oxford relocated at half time to a covered stand by the corner flag and made a fair bit of noise when Scott Pollock broke the deadlock. Then grumbled to the referee when a goal from a corner was ruled out for a foul on the keeper. Then directed outright fury at the poor fella when he sent off Tyrone Marsh for a dubious second yellow.
"Worksop's man of the match is," boomed the stadium announcer..."Referee Jonathan Chadwick" quipped a City supporter.
In the hunt for an equaliser, Worksop were running the endless mile (yes - I'm desperate to squeeze in a John Parr reference, even though no-one knows anything except St Elmo's Fire). But in the end, Oxford City saw the game out comfortably and created several chances to increase the lead despite being a man down.
"Worksop's man of the match is," boomed the stadium announcer..."Referee Jonathan Chadwick" quipped a City supporter.
In the hunt for an equaliser, Worksop were running the endless mile (yes - I'm desperate to squeeze in a John Parr reference, even though no-one knows anything except St Elmo's Fire). But in the end, Oxford City saw the game out comfortably and created several chances to increase the lead despite being a man down.
A win for my local team - leaving them 3rd in the table.
Despite no Spoons breakfast, some dodgy characters in the town, someone driving around playing Limp Bizkit at top volume with the windows open, and a shortage of cask pubs, I'd had a rather nice day in Worksop.
Despite no Spoons breakfast, some dodgy characters in the town, someone driving around playing Limp Bizkit at top volume with the windows open, and a shortage of cask pubs, I'd had a rather nice day in Worksop.
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