Sawley Pub Research Trip

The first Friday in July saw a group of pub enthusiasts gather on the Notts/Derby border for a trek around half-a-dozen venues in the village of Sawley.
This is home to over 6,600 folks, a marina, a golf club, and an impressive nine pubs plus a couple of clubs.
And it comes with hazards from up above...

Braving the birds, we made the one-mile walk down Tamworth Road into Old Sawley and the (unofficial) starting point for the day.

The Harrington Arms (392 Tamworth Road, Sawley, NG10 3AU)
Originally called The Blackamoor's Head, this 18th century coaching inn would have offered a refreshment stop whilst waiting for the ferry across the Trent, prior to a bridge being built in 1790.  The name was changed in 1807 to honor the local Stanhope family who were given the peerage as Earls of Harrington.

It's a building of three distinct bits, as can be seen on the picture.  In contrast to the  bright sunshine outside, the bar area was so dimly lit that I found myself bracing for a step that I couldn't see, which turned out to a be a small ramp.

It wasn't half gloomy around the bar counter, where you could find the following cask selection...

I picked the local Dancing Duck 'dcuk'.
Not on top form.

It was just a short walk along the road to catch up with the rest of today's researchers, numbering 11 in total.  The Leicester contingent was highest, joined by folks from Sheffield, Stafford, the High Peaks and Kent.  Plus myself from Oxford - the White Lion graciously playing Radiohead especially for me. 

The White Lion (352 Tamworth Road, Sawley, NG10 3AT)
This is another pub which has a history going back to the 17th century.
It was briefly home to the Old Sawley Brewing Company which lasted from 2013 to 2024, the brewery outbuilding now home to an events space for the pub.

Cask available when we arrived was Greene King 'London Glory' or Drone Valley 'Coal Ashton Porter'.  The Bass had just reached the end of the barrel and a new one was about to be pulled through, so a half of the porter would have to do.

A good malty flavoursome dark brew which I took on a stroll circumnavigating the pub.
The Lounge bar to the right of the front door was a nice enough space, with that odd pub feature of coat hooks full of coats and hats that don't appear to belong to anyone.

Plenty of interesting pictures on the wall including various frames of cigarette card collections.
I'm none the wiser as to who any of the sporting types in the one I pictured are.  Possibly all the players being linked with a multi-million pound move to Spurs this summer.

I returned to the bar and drained the last of my porter just as the Bass was declared back on.  Which ensured that I wouldn't be one of the splinter group leaving early to make a diversion to the Nags Head.

We had a fairly long trek ahead of us to get to the Trent Lock, where the Erewash Canal meets the River Trent.

When we reached it, the queue at the Trent Lock pub stretched out the front door, so we opted to return later when less lunch ordering was taking place.
Just a couple of minutes away is the Steamboat...

The Steamboat Inn (Trent Lock, Sawley, NG10 2FY)

The Steamboat Inn was built in 1791 by the Erewash canal company.  It's previously been called The Erewash Navigation and The Fisherman's Rest, before having a novelty red funnel added on the front and taking on the Steamboat moniker in 1970. 

No funnel any more.  But there is plenty of novelty tat to marvel inside...

Best pub dalek I've seen since the Crown in Aldbourne.
Amongst other things, you'll also find mild smut...

Carousel horses...

And an interesting beer selection...

Reports suggested the best of the bunch was just out of my shot - a Front Row 'Land of Hops and Glory'.  Not so many rave reviews from our group for the other beers.
I picked the Bang the Elephant 'It's All In The Hips', a chocolate brownie stout, although I'm not sure the sharpness it had was intended by the brewer.

A no-nonsense laminated menu offered some good priced pub grub, so I took the opportunity to get a jacket potato to ensure I had the energy for the walk back up Lock Lane.

But before that walk, we popped back into the Trent Lock - now without a queue - but suffering a cask ale identity crisis.

Trent Lock (Lock Lane, Sawley, NG10 2FY)
They'd had Oakham 'Citra' on the hand pull until just before I arrived.  Except it wasn't Oakham Citra in any form you've seen or tasted before.  In fact, it wasn't Oakham Citra at all.
Shawn convinced the staff to go and check the barrel in the cellar and they discovered it was actually Bass.

Bass on pretty good form, as it turned out.
Stafford Paul moved straight on, not patronising a pub that couldn't get the pump clips right.  I think he was still rattled from having accepted a taster in the Steamboat!
The Trent Lock is very much food-led - a pub where folks will form a polite queue to the bar to order their smoked haddock fishcakes, then settle in tub chairs with garish patterned fabric whilst dull pop plays quietly in the background.

Stunning location, though, with a wonderful garden in front leading to the riverside.
We loitered on the terrace, where we didn't take long over our Bass.  Still long enough for me to catch a bit of sun and acquire a 'glow' for the journey home.

Contrary to what the CAMRA website said, the golf club had no cask ale available, so we skipped straight past making our way through residential streets to the Bell Inn.

Bell Inn (Tamworth Road, Sawley, NG10 3GR)
An original Bell Hotel was located a short distance away, that being demolished and this replacement being built on the main road in 1900.
There were a fair number of customers making the most of the weather on the benches out front beneath the world cup bunting.

Inside, we found tennis on TV.
Pool being played to the rear of the pub...

And a quite spectacular picture above the fireplace...

This was painted by artist Nick Hugh McCann, who lives across the road, featuring the faces of 148 regulars in what he's titled 'A Few Down the Bell'. 
Lots of pubs would be over-the-moon to have 148 regulars to put in a picture.

But forget that art work - behind the bar you get a picture of dogs in Forest shirts!!!

Cask ale options were Greene King 'Abbott' or Dancing Duck 'Ay Up'.  Dancing Duck fared much better here than in the first pub, this 3.9% straw coloured session pale proving to be a lovely pint.

I thought The Bell was a bit of a winner.  Good beer, plenty of mid-afternoon punters, and the chance to play guess the country with the less recognisable world cup flags.
We even had a chap in a cowboy hat and red shirt unbuttoned to reveal his medallions come and address the group to tell us a story of a lost and found gem stone. 

Straight up the main road and under the railway bridge took us to the final pub of this trip.
It may not be the prettiest of the day but please appreciate my picture as it involved a death-defying road crossing to the island of the roundabout to take it.
Crikey...that road junction was busy.

Sawley Junction (176-178 Tamworth Road, Sawley, NG10 3JU)
Once inside - and at the back of the line to the bar - I discovered a pretty superb micro.  One single room with nine tables, plus a couple of uncomfortable-looking perching spots. 
A beer board above the bar, listing craft keg, beers and ciders, was impeccably well organised and colourful.

Even if some of us would look no further than that red triangle.
The pub was about to start a Bristol Beer Factory tap takeover, explaining the dominance of their beers.
I went rogue with the keg list, ordering a half of Bang the Elephant 'Benjo Bironga'.  Brazilian lemonade and guava gose.  Crikey!
A 'benjo' is a riotous holiday celebration; 'Bironga' is Latin slang for beer.  I tripped over my tongue trying to order it.  Gose was a style which originated in Germany despite diverting from the Reinheitsgebot - so Will was right when discussing how 'gose' should properly be pronounced.

I couldn't end a day out in Derbyshire on crafty keg.
So returned to the bar for a final Bass🔺 - in great form - almost as good as that second one out the barrel at lunchtime in the White Swan.

Another fine day out.  Thanks - as always - to those who come up with these destinations and devise the itinerary for the day and for everyone who makes this odd-bod from Oxford feel welcome.

Stourport Pub Explorations

A diversion from Kidderminster pubs and football to make a debut visit to Stourport-on-Severn, where I planned to call in to the two 2025 Good Beer Guide pubs.

The town was built around the terminus where the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal and Birmingham canal converge.  Prior to the waterways there was nothing but a sleepy village here, the influx of barges, business and people warranting a new name for the place. Stourmouth at first, then Newport (which was thankfully changed because we've got enough of those and it's already confusing), finally settling on the name Stourport in 1771.
It now has a population of over 20,000, a couple of frustratingly busy roads through the centre, and a surprising number of amusement arcades.

I escaped the initial traffic chaos and challenging road crossings, making my way to the Holly Bush...

The Holly Bush (54 Mitton Street, Stourport-on-Severn, DY13 9AA)
I always think I must be getting close to completing all the Black Country Ales pubs.  Even with two more the day after this, I'm still nowhere near close.
I am a fan of them.  Yet how many beers are too many?
Eight in this case.  My pick of a Zest 'Timelord' was way past its best and almost certainly should have been returned to the bar.
The Guinness beer mat is past its best too...

At least the cob was a winner.  Onions in tuperware on the bar for you to add to your taste.

The Hollybush is a sizeable pub cosisting the bar room, two snugs, and a lounge on a lower level to one side, TV showing sports at the far end to an audience of none.
That lounge area used to belong to a cottage next door, the original fireplace at the end retained when the pub expanded into this space.

There were a handful of locals in a table by the bar and a couple of families in the snug, the Holly Bush busier than my pictures make out, but not busy enough for all those casks of beer to be drunk swiftly.
The crowds were up the road in the Black Star...

The Black Star (1 Mitton Street, Stourport-on-Severn, DY13 8YP)
In a great location, with the best outdoor seating lining the path overlooking the canal below.
Stepping through the main entrance the impressive snack display is the first thing that stands out.
The centrally placed bar has counters facing three ways into the small lobby and rooms either side.  Different handpumps depending which way you went, necessitating some back and forth for the fussy beer drinker. 
I settled on the Woodcote Brewing Co 'XPA' from nearby Bromsgrove.

 

Also available were brews from Wye Valley, the common-round-this-way Ludlow 'Gold, a Hobson's seasonal ale, and another from the Woodcote Brewing Co.
I avoided the more food orientated tables in the chapel-side, but was left perching on a stool by the window ledge in the busy boozier trad pub side.
And completely failed to get a picture to show what either room was like.

The Black Star is a pub I probably would have appreciated more with a decent table and the music a notch-or-two louder.  Top quality beer, mind.

Glass returned to the bar, I strolled through the streets down to the River Severn and the canal basins.
Not what I expected at all.

There were a host of ways to entertain yourself here from crazy golf to skateboarding to eating ice cream in rowing boats.
The Treasure Island fairground was a slice of seaside resort in landlocked Worcestershire.  I resisted agitating the dubious Zest beer by riding on the Freak Out frisbee or Sky Flyer.  I resisted a visit to the big Davonport's pub.  Instead walking a little further down the river to the more peaceful surroundings of the Angel.

The Angel (14 Severn Side, Stouport-on-Severn, DY13 9EW)
This is a Grade II listed red brick building standing above the river with some fine al-fresco tables.  It dates back to the mid 18th century with the different brickwork of the 3rd storey suggesing someone decided it needed to be one floor higher and added this at a slightly later date.
It's lovely inside: a central passage with the Georgian Bar to the left and a dining room to the right.

On the bar were two options from Stourport's own BOA Brewery: 'Peace Out' or 'Lock n Load'.  Or Banks's on keg, or ciders from the box, should you prefer.
I ordered the 'Peace Out', a light pale ale hopped with Citra and Enigma, at a very sensible 3.6%.  An enjoyable pint served in good condition.

Why do they put cushions on the front of bars?

All-in-all, a pleasant visit to the Angel.
'Last Man Standing', 'The River', 'Racing in the Street', and 'Thunder Road' making for a bit of a Springsteen fest whilst I was there.

Back up on the High Street I spied a bar bistro that was reputed to serve a well-kept ale.

Fedoras (6 York Street, Stourport-on-Severn, DY13 9EQ)
This was a fine micro (sort of) - a rectangular room with regular tables at the front by the window and some high stools towards the back where most of the Tuesday afternoon custom had gathered.

Here's your beer choice - three ales very frequently seen in these parts, plus the local Bewdley Brewery 'Baldwin IPA'.

Just a half pint of the very tasty IPA for me, drunk whilst sat next to Marlon Brando.

I grabbed the wifi code from bar, typed it in wrongly several times as per usual, then checked the bus times.  5-minutes until the next service to Kidderminster or face a long gap in buses.
I quaffed the ale too fast and felt a bit guilty about my visit to Fedoras being so short.  I was gone in the time it took Counting Crows to sing 'Mr Jones'.

Cheerio Stourport.