Golazo! in Gedling

A second post from Nottingham, containing a quartet of pubs outside the city centre, a superb pub dog, hanging baskets, live music, and a 6% strong premium ale from Tyne & Wear which slowed me down somewhat.
After visiting several central pubs, I elected to explore further afield, catching a bus eastwards to Gedling.
This one'll do...

Gedling was once a village on the southern edge of Sherwood Forest, although it has long been swallowed up into the city, a busy collier operating here throughout the 20th century.  Gedling Borough is huge, but Gedling itself is home to around 6,800 folk who are very limited pub-wise.  Just the Gedling Inn at one point, which explains why Castle Rock spotted this as a location to expand to.

The Willowbrook (13 Main Road, Gedling, Nottingham, NG4 3HQ)

The Willowbrook was a club for many years before being purchased by Castle Rock in 2014, refurbished and opened as their 20th venue.
It's one of the city's Art Deco pubs, although not as striking as the likes of The Crown or Vale.

There were four ales on offer from Castle Rock themselves: ''Harvest Pale', Elsie Mo', 'Preservation' and 'Screech Owl', plus an Adnams football special and Timothy Taylor 'Landlord'.  I returned the Preservation as undrinkable and despite an inistance that it only went on that morning this was switched graciously for the Adnams 'Golazzo!'

Most of the late afternoon customers had chosen to sun themselves with a choice of benches out front or a patio area to the rear.  So it wasn't especially thrilling sat inside in front of the tennis in what was a very quiet visit.

I strolled back down to the Burton Road, crossing the boundary into Carlton and making my way to the magnificent-looking Old Volunteer pub.

The Old Volunteer (35 Burton Road, Carlton, Nottingham, NG4 3DQ)
You'll have to trust me that the frontage is magnificent - the direction of the sun meant I ended up with a picture focussed on a bright white wall.
The first record of a pub on this site dates back to 1832.  It's been tied to Ind Coope and Ansell's breweries over the years until falling into disrepair in the early 2000's.  New owners took over in 2014 and revitalised the pub.

There were two banks of 5 hand pumps stretched across a big bar counter from which I picked a Jolly Boys 'Supa Citra', brewed up in Barnsley.

A fine pint, in a cracking pub with Stevie Wonder playing from the speakers and an uncontested best pub dog of the day...

Leaving the Volunteer, I caught a bus to take me a little way along Carlton Hill for a new Wetherspoon's tick and a spot of tea.

The Free Man (334-336 Carlton Hill, Carlton, NG4 1JD)
This building spent over 40-years as a Co-Op store before being converted into Carlton's JDW in 2010.
Being a supermarket conversion it's pretty plain - a mainly rectangular room with little natural light and regimented tables and chairs.
Beyond the expected Spoons cask ales only Moorhouse 'Pendle Witches Brew' and Maxim 'Maximus' were showing on the app.
So it was a foolhardy 6% Maximus strong ale that I ordered to accompany my food.
If ever a beer could look like it's capable of causing damage in a picture, it's this one...

 

I grabbed a table by the open front doors - the best of both worlds as it was too hot for me on the benches out front in direct sunshine and too hot within the depths of the pub.

One sweet potato chickpea and spinach curry later, straining at the belt a little, I was ambling along the road and deciding it would be a good idea to duck into the Lincoln Green-run Brickyard pub, a recent Good Beer Guide entry.

The Brickyard (1A Standhill Road, Carlton, Nottingham, NG4 1JL)
The second pub on this post which used to be a social club.  In this case, the Latvian Social Club which sat empty for a couple of years before Lincoln Green stepped in, opening in the spring of 2018.  It's almost as if something utterly catastrophic happened in 2016 causing the Latvians to abandon their club...hmmm.

The pub is neatly designed with a central bar creating several seating areas out of a single room.

The name is a nod to the big Thorneywood Brick Works which supplied the bricks to build St Pancras station, and would have been nearby prior to the 1960s when the works were replaced by housing.

Here's the beer list...

A Lincoln Green 'Meadow Song' for me - the one they've put the most effort into, utlisiing all the colours of chalk pens to recreate flowers of the meadow.  Unsurprisingly, a floral pale ale.
This is a pub I was comfy in - a decent number of punters in early evening, the odd Forest shirt and pub dog, a bit of decent '60s music, and a staff member who recognised the obscure band on my t-shirt and began talking to me about psyche rock and music venues in Brussells.

As is often the case, there are a couple of less obvious pubs I'd like to have visited in Carlton, but time was flying by.  Another bus took me back to Sneinton market where I hopped off and made my way to this stunner...

Bath Inn (1 Handel Street, Nottingham, NG3 1JE)

I wondered how I'd never been here before, but then discovered the Bath Inn only reopened in 2021 after a long period of closure.
Well...they're making sure no-one will miss it now with an extravagant display of hanging baskets, flags, bows and whistles.  Possibly not whistles.

I didn't really explore the interior of this pub properly because it was fairly busy and the effects of the Maxim Maximus hadn't worn off.  It's a place that deserves a return visit.
Cask beers available were all local: Pheasantry 'Best Bitter', Black Iris 'Endless Summer', Lenton Lane 'Twist & Stout' and Blue Monkey 'BG Sips'.
An 'Endless Summer' for me - it's beginning to feel like one - the Basford brewery's session IPA.

Enjoyed on a comfy side table with plenty of quirky pub decorations to look at whilst the soundtrack was Glenn Miller, Sinatra, Bobby Darin, and The Andrews Sisters.
Great music, great pub.

A short walk took me to Billy Bootleggers, proudly advertising itself as a Dive Bar.

If you think Billy Bootleggers is a dubious name, it used to be called Percy Picklebackers!
No cask ale, so I sat with a Goose Island 'Midway IPA'.
I ended the evening here - rather than in Nottingham's central cask ale pubs - because the bar offered a couple of live bands playing on a corridor free-of-charge.

In the picture above is a band called Skorts from Brookyn, NY, playing a sort of nineties shoegaze/post punk mash-up.

That ended a good day out in Nottingham, a city I've visited so many times yet still manage to find new venues.
Including the next morning's breakfast stop in the Spoons by Trent Uni.

A very average breakfast, if I'm honest, in a pub that was maybe resting on it's laurels since the students went home for summer.
But it fuelled an epedition to try and find football stickers for all the European clubs that had visited the City Ground last season...

Ah well, not all of them.
I really should have gone to some of those games.

Nottingham: Lions, Falcons and Dragons

Back in Nottingham.
Home of Castle Rock, stone lions guarding the old council house, a higher proportion than usual of folks in heavy metal t-shirts, and plenty of houses on the market vacated by ex-Premier League managers.

On the agenda for the day were a few 2026 Good Beer Guide pubs that I've missed previously, a Spoons I've not been to before, looking weird taking pictures of football stickers on lamp posts and a bit of live music in the evening.

Right...let's head up to Canning Circus.
This confluence of roads heading to the city centre is a bit of a hotspot for pubs, where I really thought I'd done them all.
There's the Lincoln Green Sir John Borlase Warren, the Good Fellow George in an old bank, and Blue Monkey's Organ Grinder.
No-one's resurrected this one yet though...

My target on this occasion was the Falcon...

Falcon Inn (1 Alfreton Road, Nottingham, NG7 3JE)
An early arrival meant the landlady was pottering around outside rearranging pavement tables, following me in as I examined the available beers with a soundtrack of 'Under the Boardwalk' (the original, not Bruce Willis, who I seem to remember did quite a job).

There were two Lenton Lane beers available on cask: '200 Not Out' and '36° North', plus Oakham 'Citra', Ossett 'White Rat', Titanic 'Chocolate and Vanilla Stout'...
But I can't come to Nottingham without having a pint of Shippo's...

The Flacon was purpose-built in 1853, spending most of it's life as a Shipstone's pub.  When the brewery closed in 1991 Greenall Whitley's took over and converted old living quarters on the first floor to a dining room but thankfully didn't fiddle with the trad two room layout downstairs.
The old Shipstones pub sign has pride of place in the side room.

I took a seat on the bench seating in front of the bar, where it took until I was about halfway down my pint for the landlady to decide that I probably wasn't that suspicious (despite taking pictures of pub signs and pump clips) and that she could do some jobs away from the bar.
The 'Gold Star' was in great condition and very easy to drink. 
'Under the Boardwalk' turned out to be just one of a Drifters greatest hits soundtrack.

I can't believe I've walked past The Falcon and paid it no heed previously.  A lovely pub.

My next destination, next to the Theatre Royal, is another pub I've passed many a time yet never thought about stepping into.

Lillie Langtry's (4 South Sherwood Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BY)
"Lillie Langtry's est. 1761" says the sign on the front of the pub.  There may have been a pub on the site that far back although the current building isn't quite so ancient, and Victorian actress and socialite Lillie Langtry wasn't born for another 92 years.
Lillie, a reputed mistress of Edward VII, who was encouraged to act on the stage by Oscar Wilde, performed at Nottingham's Theatre Royal in 1885.  The pub was formally known as the Peach Tree until naming itself after her in 1981.

Local cask brews came from Welbeck Abbey and Castle Rock; Ossett providing a stout; St Austell the beer everyone has heard of; and there were two ales from Barnsley's Stancil Brewery on offer.
I picked the Stancil 'Rutherford', priced at a hefty £3.20 for the half pint.  This time I really should have waved the CAMRA card for the discount they offer.

There was a diverse cross-section of customers in this pub - a surprising number of obvious regulars - my surpise being that you'd make this your local if the cask at over 6-quid a pint.
It was just a little too busy for me to wander around taking pictures of the Lillie Langtry portaits and memorabilia.
Instead I sat on a high bench to the side, supping the reasonably well-kept pale ale.  Turns out it's a World Cup brew, named after the location of the stadium that will host the final and hopped with US Willanette hops. 

Football was the topic of conversation by the locals at the bar: "Ramsay got one for winning it, Southgate got one for losing it", one chap stated as it was pondered what honor could be bestowed upon a German manager for success in the tournament.

I coundn't really give two hoots about the national team and am tired of pubs being draped in flags.
Time to move on to two pubs that had resisted the urge to decorate themselves for the football. The first one being down this alley...

I have visited the Barrel Drop before, but didn't recognise it at all.
"Have you moved alleys?" I asked identifying myself as a complete numpty before I'd even got a beer in my hand.

Barrel Drop (7 Hurts Yard, Nottingham, NG1 6JD)
This city centre micro opened at the end of 2014 and was proudly boasting of selling some 700 different beers by the time they celebrated their first birthday.
They're now run in partnership with local Magpie Brewery with handpumps replacing the original racked casks on gravity.

A Red Dog Ales 'Pit Black' for me, I think, as I fancied veering to the dark side.
Although I could quite happily have sat and worked my way through all those - no idea what the beer's like but that's four excellent pump clips.

The layout is U-shaped with two sections of seating leading off either side from the beer menu.

Probably best not to let me look at what's on offer on the keg list.  Sat in the corner reading the local Left Lion magazine with a soundtrack of Fontaines DC, Biffy Clyro, and Jimmy Eat World, I was quite happy.  Get me started on the Billionaire Shortbread Stout and I may never have left.

It was a very short distance from Hurts Yard to my next Good Beer Guide pub on Long Row.
Looking great...

The Dragon (67 Long Row, Nottingham, NG1 6JE)
This is a pub I instantly really liked and even a flower arrangement to one side of the bar couldn't dent my enthusiasm.
The frontage is magnificent.  The interior is an odd shape (narrow, set on two levels with a kink in direction midway through).  And they're even connected to the Nottingham sandstone cave network

 

The Dragon traces it's history back to the seventeenth century when it was known as the Green Dragon.  It was rebuilt in 1879, spent many years serving up Shipstone's beers as the George & Dragon, then became the City Gate Tavern for a while.

From the choice across 4 hand pumps I opted to stay dark with a Lenton Lane ' Sample & Hold', a rich dark chocolate porter brewed with five different types of malts.

This was quiet, customer-wise, on a weekday afternoon with just a couple of solo drinkers inside and a few more making the most of a hidden hanging basket-laden outdoor space to the back.
Roots Manuva, Curtis Mayfield and Phylis Dixon was a sample of the music being played whilst I sat contentedly in this wonderful city centre hostelry.

The clock had ticked past 3pm enabling me to check-in and drop my bag off at my hotel.
Time for a cup of tea and a short break before heading to the bus stop to explore a little further afield.
More from Nottingham in the next post...

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.