Telford - Oakengates and the All Nations

An early September Tuesday trip to Telford with a National League North game to look forward to in the evening.

Having arrived just before noon, which bit of Telford should I head to first for a beer or two?
Oakengates is the no-brainer with three Beer Guide pubs within a few meters of one another on Market Street, all scoring to the top-mark three pint pots on CAMRA's website.

These must be three of the closest GBG entries in the country, providing a great short pub crawl, although in the town's industrial heyday you'd have been able to tackle 16 pubs along this road. 
My first point of call was the Station Hotel.

Station Hotel (42 Market Street, Oakengates, Telford, TF2 6DU)
This is a Victorian-era pub that - despite the name - isn't especially close to the station and never operated as an hotel.
Despite it being early doors on a Tuesday, the front room was already full, with a few folks picking their spots in the two rooms to the rear. 

Some would say ten real ales is too many, although it looks like they get through them fairly successfully.

My pick - the Bank Top 'Drayman's Draught' - was in great condition and made for a wonderful first pint of the day.
Served in a Station Inn glass, with a good head, on a Theakston's beer mat, accompanied by a cheese & onion cob...

This is a pub that I could happily settle in for the afternoon, sat amongst the railway decorations on a comfy cushioned bench, with ample beers to try at prices a good couple of quid cheaper than Oxford.
But I need to know what I'm missing next door.

Not quite next door - Just Jackie florists separates the Station from the Old Fighting Cocks. 

Old Fighting Cocks (48 Market Street, Oakengates, Telford, TF2 6DU)
The Fighting Cocks appears to have the longest history of the surviving Oakengates pubs, dating back way before the industrial revolution.  It originally had a thatched roof until fire broke out and destroyed that in 1884 and the building we see today was constructed.  By 2008 it was closed and boarded up, eventually saved by Everards who reopened it as one of their Project William pubs in conjunction with Rowton Brewery.

Hence, cask from Everards and Rowton was no surprise to see across the eight hand pumps, along with Oakham 'Citra' and a Fixed Wheel mild.
I opted for the Rowton 'Ironbridge Gold', although needn't have worried about missing out on the local brewery, which I was going to see a fair bit more of throughout the day.  At £4 a pint, this 4.4% hoppy golden ale proved another fine ale.
The front room was a bit bare-boards, a few locals sat on the couple of tables, so I headed to the back where there's a bit of wood panelling and a trad red-carpeted snug.

I found a comfy spot next to a couple of chaps who were complementing the ales they'd picked, then complementing themselves on identifying Creedence Clearwater Revival playing in the background.  I probably didn't need their John Fogarty impressions, especially singing a different song to the one actually playing, but never mind.

Right...straight across the road to the Crown - looking good in the sunshine, but bereft of anyone singing along to Tears for Fears when I arrived.

Crown Inn (Market Street, Oakengates, Telford, TF2 6EA)
This pub opened in 1835 as a beer house, later becoming part of the local Wrekin Brewing Company estate.  After several mergers, Wrekin was eventually gobbled up by brewing villains Greenall Whitley who closed the Crown in 1994.  Thankfully it was rescued, refurbished and reopened and went from strength-to-strength as an independent real ale pub. 

There were four cask ales on offer, plus a decent draft range in a pub that seems to mostly shun the big brands.
Local ales came from Bewdley Bridge, Hobsons and Green Duck, whilst the Bude Coastal 'Honey Bear' had travelled much further from the Cornish shores.

It was the Bude Coastal that I picked - I really don't know why - honey doesn't belong in beer and I drank enough Fuller's Honeydew in the '00s to come to that conclusion.
The Crown opened a little later in the day than the neighbours across the road, which may explain why it was the quietest of the three, just a couple of other folks on the patio to the back, no-one but me enjoying Kim Wilde's 'You Keep Me Hanging On' in the main bar.

Drinking up, I made my way back to Telford central.

I was expecting to berate Telford - a town I've only visited once before on a grey November day when it really didn't win me over.
After all, it's a new town with a network of dual carriageways, endless roundabouts and a big square shopping centre in the middle.  A shopping centre that the first-time visitor is bound to get lost in, Primark and Flip Out well-signposted, your escape less-so.
But at least the shiny new-builds are making the walk from the train station a bit more palatable.

And Telford Town Park would make for a lovely place to stroll the following morning.
Plus, the historic towns and villages that make up Telford are more interesting than those in some other similar urban sprawls.
The one I was off to next was Madeley, where you'll find some charming buildings and greenery on the way towards Blist Hill museum.  And you'll also find this cracking pub... 

All Nations (20 Coalport Road, Madeley, Telford, TF7 5DP)
The All Nations opened in 1789 and began brewing their own beer in 1832.  It was run by the Baguley family for 103 years, then taken over by the Lewis clan, tea-drinking Mrs Eliza Lewis becoming a one of the more famous licensees.
One of only 4 brewpubs when CAMRA was founded in the '70s, the All Nations remains family run and continues to brew on-site. 
Here's the certification that they appeared in the first ten Good Beer Guides...

Five hand pumps served Castle Rock 'Screech Owl', Oakham 'Bishops Farewell', Green Duck 'Bostin' Mild', Wye Valley 'HPA' and their home brew.
I had to try the beer made in the back of the pub, ordering a pint of the 'Home Brewed Ale', a 3.8% trad pale ale.

I received a lovely welcome here, the lady behind the bar chatting about what had brought me to Telford and what other pubs I was heading to.
The All Nations is a no-nonsense old inn with flagstone floors and big bench seating, outdoor toilets, and no distractions from chatter and beer drinking.

The All Nations is a real stunner and a pub I'd highly recommend finding your way to.

For the only time on this day, Arriva buses let me down, a no-show service from Madeley scuppering my best laid plans.  That caused me to miss the Unicorn Inn at Dowley and caused a mild bit of "where's it going now?" panic on the 100 service which I eventually caught, despite not knowing exactly where it was taking me.

My final pint in Telford was after dark in the Wetherspoon's at the side of the shopping centre.

The Thomas Botfield (Central Square, Telford Shopping Centre, Town Centre, Telford, TF3 4BW)
Thomas Botfield was a one-time High Sheriff of Shropshire who patented gas ignition systems which would be used in blast furnaces.  I think Spoons should have named their central Telford establishment after local footballer Billy Wright personally, but perhaps they didn't want to get mixed up with the Wolverhampton pub of that name.

There were three guest casks available when I visited, with a fait few pints being poured despite it not being especially busy late in the evening.

I grabbed an Exmoor 'Stallion', having been drawn in by what's by far the best pump clip.
Then settled in a corner booth where I could ponder how one group on the other side of the pub could be having such a noisy and wild Tuesday night.
I need to return to Telford to tick off the Ironbridge micro and the one the buses denied me today.  Oh, and the football match I'd come for...I'll waffle on about that in the next post.

Worksop - Stopping the Lions Roaring

Another glamorous away trip with Oxford City in the National League North, this time into North Notts for a bank holiday Monday fixture against Worksop Town.

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.

The Liquorice Rooms (1A Newcastle Street, Worksop, S80 2AS)
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...

Looks like there was a bit of paint left over from the Wetherspoons job.

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...

 

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.

The Mallard (Station Approach, Worksop, S81 7AG)
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.

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.

The Station Hotel (Carlton Road, Worksop, S80 1PS)
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.

The Shireoaks Inn (Westgate, Worksop, S80 1LT)
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...

Okay, so the Shireoaks wasn't about to challenge for my favourite pub of the day, but the welcome was good and it had attracted a reasonable lunchtime crowd of diners and a few folks seemingly engrossed in a rerun of a Sunday Premier League match on TV.

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.

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.

All Points East 2026

The August 2026 instalment of my annual standing in a park watching noisy bands series.  PropUptheBar was off to Victoria Park for the Outbreak day at All Points East.
But before frazzling my brain and making my ears ring, a few pubs and bars were in order.

My day started with 'Spoons - a line I should just cut and paste for 50% of the blog posts.

Goldengrove (146-148 The Grove, Stratford, E15 1NS)
This time in the heart of Stratford, the pub with a respectable hanging basket display and pavement seating where you can watch the multi-lane road junction.
This is a relatively early JDW, opened in 1993 as the chain was expanding throughout the capital.  It has graced the Good Beer Guide in the past, but coffee or Carlsberg was the order of the day from a decent midday Sunday crowd

The 'Cowcatcher' American pale from East London Brewing Co. was my pick.
A bit flat and dull, probably because of the lack of use the hand pump was getting, but drinkable and who am I to complain at £2.40 a pint in London.
The outdoor space to the back and side of the Goldengrove looked good, although I opted to sit inside and watch the coffee machine break down and people complaining about dirty cutlery.

When I wasn't taking really poor pictures of carpets and knees, I was tenuously sketching out a mini-crawl of Stratford pubs.  But this was instantly kyboshed when I walked to the GBG-listed Old Black Bull and found it closed in contradiction to opening hours online.
So I set my sights on Hackney Wick instead, under-taking the West Ham walk...

Hackney Wick was once an area of derelict factories and auto repair shops that few folks would have cause to come to.  It's changed a bit.
I visited Crate when it first opened here in 2012 with the smart new Olympic buildings having been constructed across the other side of the canal.  Fourteen years later, with the West Ham crowds descending each matchday and general gentrification demanding old run down areas have brewery taps and cool bars, Hackney Wick is alive with colourful graffiti and hipster vibes.

Crate looked busy, but just around the corner, Howling Hops was still getting going on a Sunday afternoon, a handful of folks outside, inside practically empty.

Howling Hops Tank Bar (Unit 9 Queens Yard, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, E9 5EN)
Howling Hops began life in the cellar of Hackney's marvellous Cock Tavern in 2012.  They soon outgrew that space and moved three years later to the 'Wick, setting up in an old brick warehouse. 
The main bar is 10-meters long, beer poured direct from a run of 10 tanks lining the back of it.

I picked the Howling Hops 'Shadow Boxer', a 5.1% brown ale, other options including a sour, a Dortmunder pilsner and several varieties of tropical and hoppy pale ales.
You ideally need lots of folks on those long benches.  So, a little bit lacking in atmosphere on this occasion, but I did have a superb beer and I had Cedric Im Brookes belting out 'Give Rasta Glory' in the background, so all was fine.

A short walk past the station took me to the current Good Beer Guide entry, the taproom for online retailers Beer Merchants.

Beer Merchants Tap (99 Wallis Road, Hackney Wick, E9 5LN)
Opened in 2018, this is real world manifestation of the 'great beer to your door' website store.  
Where you get the opportunity to bust your budget perusing fridges full of cans and bottles to take away or drink in, as well as having plenty of stunning draft options from 20 keg lines. There are a couple of handpumps, just one of these in action on my visit, serving Beak 'Luma' table beer. 

At £7.25 a pint for a 3.5% hazy pale, I'd rapidly increased in beer cost since my start in Spoons.  But the beer was good, served in decent condition, with a pick of the quiet benches inside the old warehouse space, or a seat in the sunny yard outside.
I somehow resisted the temptation of the 16% imperial stout on draft.

I'd heartily recommend a visit to Beer Merchants.  A great beer list.  Possibly best tackled when you don't have a day at a music festival ahead of you.

There are plenty of other spots to eat and drink here, but none quite as stand-out colourful as the Lord Napier.

The Lord Napier (25 White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, Homerton, E9 5EN)
Go back in time and this pub would have served as a local for the factory workers when this bit of the city was a hive of industry.  What would those drinkers think if they could be transported into the future: seeing it full of hip young folk, painted colourfully, featuring a karaoke room and roof garden, with weird beer that costs an-arm-and-a-leg?  Not a lot, probably.
Opened in 1868, it spent most of it's years as an Ind Coope house.  It sat boarded-up and un-loved from 1995 until it was resurrected in 2021.
A Five Points pump clip was turned around, so I opted for the local Neckstamper 'Bluffer' on keg.

I'm glad I paid the Lord Napier a visit, but suspect I may have liked it more in the 1980s with a Double Diamond in front of me.

The nearby pedestrian flyover took me across the A2 and into Victoria Park, skirting the barriers which made up the back of the music festival site.
Gate opening times seemed a little too close to the first bands of the day and I didn't fancy shuffling through a big queue, hence the short diversion to a trad pub in the side-streets.

The Eleanor Arms (460 Old Ford Road, Bow, E3 5JP)
Being one of the closest pubs to Victoria Park, this was doing a roaring trade with festival goers, the old-boy propping up the end of the bar eying the invasion of blokes in black band t-shirts with suspicion.
It's a cracking old two-roomed pub with pool table in the back and a few surviving period features, including some lovely wood panelling.

Sadly, the influx of customers didn't mean they were racing through the barrels of real ale.  I ordered some Tayto crisps and an East London Brewing Co. 'Foundation' (the alternative being a Southwark 'Mayflower').  In ropey condition, almost in as poor a form as the Aston Villa team being hammered by Brighton on TV.

Right...let's get into that festival...

Through the gates remarkably easily with no queue, no phone mishaps retrieving my ticket, and nothing setting off the metal detectors.
I headed straight into the big tent to watch San Francisco blackgaze metallers Deafheaven.  

You'll be wanting to see a picture of Liam's son Gene Gallagher playing one of the smaller stages...

And you'll be wanting to see my favourite t-shirt of the day (although with something in the region of 3,000 Deftones shirts, competition was thin on the ground)...

And you'll be wanting to see the beer list...
If you weren't put off this festival by my mention of 'blackcore metallers', you will be once you see the beverage prices.

Much less 'craft' than what I'd gotten used to at Wide Awake festival for the past couple of years.  Madri possibly not 'excepcional' enough to warrent costing 5p short of eight quid.
At least there were a couple of interesting alternatives, the 'Space Hops' by Beyond Belief the one that caught my eye.

But...hells bells...that frothy head of indeterminate size within a cardboard cup is irritating when handing over £8.25 for a 'pint'.
Talking of hells bells, I was off to watch punk-rockers Amyl & the Sniffers who've been credited with taking the baton from AC/DC as Australia's prino heavy-riffin' rabble-rousers.

Yet I enjoyed old favourites Idles more.
A band I've now seen three times - each and every one of them in Victoria Park.  I'm led to believe they do play in other places.

I didn't catch nearly as many bands as I intended to, the heat and the swirling dust blowing up from what was once grass making it less appealing to be racing from one end of the site to the other.
The day ended watching Deftones from a distance, then a march to Mile End station and the painful Oxford Tube bus trip home.  At which point the pre-festival pub crawl seemed like a much more foolhardy idea than it had done at 11am.