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.

Lincoln - Your Handy Cask Ale Guide for the Walk to Sincil Bank

Having initially made a beeline for the pubs in the shadow of the cathedral, I set out to discover what was along the southern bit of the High Street - the flatness of which is welcome after a few treks up and down Steep Hill.

There are a fair few pubs dotted along this road between the level-crossing and South Park, including three 2026 Good Beer Guide entries.  All very handy for supporters of those little championship sides like West Ham who'll be making the trip to newly-promoted Lincoln in the 26/27 season.

Let me start (not again!) in Wetherspoons.

Ritz (143-147 High Street, Lincoln, LN5 7PJ)
The Ritz cinema opened in 1932 with seating over two levels for 1,750 people.  It became the Odeon from 1956-81, then an independent venue which was able to put on live acts as well as show films, playing host to Sister Sledge, Saxon, Tangerine Dream, and 10cc amongst many others (some of whose pictures feature in frames around the current pub).  In 1995 it was sub-divided into three smaller screens in the age of the multiplex, before closure in January 1998.  A few months later Wetherspoons opened in the lower section.

It's not one of those conversions where you actually feel like you're in an old cinema, but it does have a nice sweeping bar counter, a couple of steps down from the main seating where the stalls would have been., The art deco woodwork is great too.

You really need to head to Retired Martin's blog for extensive Spoons breakfast coverage, but I did photograph my veggie full English for the sole purpose of applauding the satisfactory extra portion of beans.

So often the £1.08 extra beans add-on is just a second micro pot of the same size you get on the plate.  The thimble pot is not a portion!

Guest ales on my visit were Oakham 'Root and Branch' and Burton Bridge 'Top Dog Stout', plus two World Cup-themed beers: Grainstore 'Metatarsal' (you named your football beer after an injury?!) and Pheasantry 'It's Coming Home' (is it?).
I ordered the Pheasantry, a perfectly pleasant golden ale brewed 17-miles away in East Markham, Nottinghamshire.  Easy-drinking, although it still feels rather decadent washing down breakfast with beer, however late I leave it in the morning.

Back-tracking a short way to the pedestrianised bit of the street close to the railway level crossing is the intriguingly-named Treaty of Commerce.

The Treaty of Commerce (173 High Street, Lincoln, LN5 7AF)
The Treaty it is named after is the 1860 Cobden-Chevalier Treaty (ah, that one!) which reduced tariffs and encouraged trade between England and France.  Apparently it's called this to reflect the High Street's commercial character - current commerce either side being slot machines in Mirage to one side and mobile phone's brought sold and fixed in Mobile Zone the other.
The orange signage under the pub's front window tells us that this building opened as a tea retailer in 1862.

The front section was bright from sun streaming in the windows, ten-or-so customers glued to the cricket on TV.  Through an archway beyond the bar is a rear section ending in a few tables under a barrel vaulted ceiling.
This is a Batemans house with their 'XB', 'Gold', and the dark mild now abbreviated to 'DM' available, plus Timothy Taylor 'Landlord', the compulsory real ale of 2026.
The 'Gold' for me, which I don't think I've had before, in good condition and most enjoyable.

Heading away from the centre, part-way down the High Street is the Tiny Tavern...

The Tiny Tavern (107 High Street, Lincoln, LN5 7PY)
"You'll walk past twice trying to find it," insisted a chap I met in another of Lincoln's pubs earlier, as he recommended a visit to this micro as essential.
I didn't think it was that hidden, but it was good to be forewarned about the need to ring the bell.  Entrance is via the door to the right, admitted by the bar staff who lead you through a cluttered store area into the bar next door.  When you come to exit later, you let yourself out through the other door.
Converted from two 17th century cottages, this small pub opened in March 2020 one week prior to the country being plunged into pandemic lockdown.  Unfortunate timing.

I have to commend a pub that is playing Faith No More's 'Epic' on arrival - you don't hear that very often.
More musical satisfaction for me came from the Hawkwind beer mats - you don't see them very often. 

Rather alarmingly the same fella who told me I'd miss it and walk past was stood at the bar and greeted me like an old friend, draping his arm round my shoulders, and informing the lady behind the bar that we're CAMRA members and beer connoisseurs.
"We get a lot of those," she replied patiently.
I did take his recommendation of the 'Scarth' by Trig Brewery, - who I'd not heard of before.  Other options on an impressive line-up came from Ampersand, Beermats, Small World and Milestone.

My friend at the bar had other people to chat to, enabling an unsociable retreat to the bench seating.  The alternative was al-fresco drinking in a lovely little garden to the back.
Top quality beer, friendly staff, folks to natter to, and a good music playlist...the Tiny Tavern was great.

A little further along the road is the pub closest to the football ground.

Millers Arms (88 High Street, Lincoln, LN5 7QW)
This is a L-shaped pub with three sections to it, plus a courtyard garden to the back which was full on this warm afternoon.  The front sections were a hubbub of noisy conversations in a pub doing a very good weekend trade.
Four hand pulls on the bar with just one in action for a heavily Carling based crowd.

But "one's plenty" as someone once said...and the cask Pheasantry 'Lincoln Tank Ale' was a pleasing sight.
"What does it taste like? Newkie Brown? Murphy's?" asked a young chap stood next to me at the bar.  Neither of the above.
He agreed he'd try the real ale at some point but not today as he was sticking to cider.  We had a nice football chat, until I upset him by refusing to agree that Ronaldo was the best player ever.

The beer was a sessionable smooth malty amber ale - another one on respectable form despite this clearly not being a real ale stronghold.

Even though we're just a few minutes away from Sincil Bank - actually the LNER Stadium these days - the local football stickers aren't immune to being scraped off the cistern in the WC.

I did have a walk around the ground which has changed a great deal since I was sat inside for a Forest pre-season friendly in July 2004.
Each corner of the ground was a summer building site, with a new development behind the Rilmac Stand...

Apologies for not being able to include a better ground pic.  I was planning to make a quip about views from the new stand being poor due to the old stand in front of it, but have since discovered this is a new event and hospitality area.

Back on the High Street, it was a just a short distance onward to a modern micropub which is noted as being busy on match days.

The Imp and Angel (417 High Street, Lincoln, LN5 8HX)
This became the city's first micropub when it opened as the Hop & Barley in 2016.  It was refurbished and reopened by new owners in 2019 when it became the Imp & Angel.
It's much tinier than the tiny tavern.
One single room that would feel busy with a dozen folks in, but had more than that when I visited.  The old wooden pews lining the walls are great.  The botanical wallpaper is not.

There were three handpumps on the bar, with two beers on: Little Critters 'Mount Hood' and Ossett 'Trip Hop 6'. A very reasonable £4 brought me a pint of the Little Critters pale ale, one of a single hop series from the Sheffield brewery.  Lovely stuff in excellent condition.

The Camden Town design team have gone all-out with their red post box dispenser, almost tempting me to stay for a Helles.
A lovely modern micro with a friendly local crowd.

Nearing the end of the High Street, close to South Park was the Golden Eagle.
My local for a couple of nights, with my great-value lodgings being just around the corner.

The Golden Eagle (21 High Street, Lincoln, LN5 8BD)
A pub that once had a Lincoln City player as the landlord - left-back Yaffer Ward clocked up 129 appearances for the Imps, taking over the Golden Eagle in 1931 when his third spell at the club came to an end.
A 17th century inn, it's now part of the Castle Rock portfolio.

The chalk board propped by the archway advertised a beer festival.
Beer festivals and pub explorations are not good bedfellows.
I would quite happily have worked my way through all five ales on the bar, let alone diving into the marquee at the end of the garden.

A pint of Kerr's 'Summer Special 2026' for me.
A fruity, hoppy 5% pale ale from Scotland which was packed full of all sorts of unusual flavours.
The front room was the quiet spot, probably lovely in the winter with the fire lit and the St George flag gone.

On my visit everyone had gravitated to either the garden or the back room where the football was on TV and the pub quiz was in full swing.
It took a great deal of effort to not blurt out the beer and brewery round answers to the team next to me...they frowned in deep concentration and muttered "I know it...I can picture it...erm, erm..." to the question "Which brewery from Bury St Edmunds produces IPA and Abbott Ale?"
GREENE KING!!!!
I'll get me coat - well actually I'll leave you in peace and see what I can drink in the beer festival tent.

The High Street from the railway station to the Golden Eagle delivers a great run of pubs in a straight line.  The Shakespeare and The Anchor are also on this route for anyone not fussed about cask ale, but I didn't have time to try them.
Some fine ales and pubs, before you've even ventured up Steep Hill.