North Nottingham Pub Crawl

In which I make the most of a £5.60 Robin Hood area day pass to visit a few locations in the north of Notingham.  I found myself admiring the spectacular buildings of not one, but two of the cities old brewing giants.  And drinking in heritage pubs, community locals and regular beer guide entries.

To begin with, I traveled up Mansfield Road to Daybrook and a pub worthy enough of having a bus stop named after it.

The Vale Hotel (Mansfield Road, Daybrook, NG5 3GG - web)
This pub was built between 1935 and 1937, designed by local architect T.Cecil Howitt for the nearby Home Brewery.
It's all gorgeous shapes on the outside and wood panelled loveliness within.  The Smoke Room, with original woodwork, doors, windows and decorations is where I settled, with heritage pop hits on the music system starting with Belinda Carlisle.

Real ales on offer were a Blue Monkey 'Infinity' or Acorn 'Old Moor Porter', with a possibility there may have been a couple more hidden on another part of the bar.  I was happy with the porter, which was on great form and very drinkable.

Roundels bear the Home Brewery initials

Just a few minutes walk up the main road from the Vale Hotel is the old Home Ales brewery office building.
It's a stunner...

Home Ales Brewery Offices, built in 1936

Home Ales was a family owned brewery until it was sold to Scottish & Newcastle in 1986, along with their estate of 450 pubs.  Brewing was scaled down and moved to Mansfield, before the site closed completely in 1996.
The 'N' for Nottingham County Council replaces the word 'Ales' on the signage, with this listed building now providing the council with office space.

Right, enough admiring brewery architecture - let's walk up through Arnold and visit a one-time Home Ales pub.

Robin Hood and Little John (1 Church Street, Arnold, NG5 8FD - web)
Fair to say this wasn't the central hub of Arnold's afternoon action, as I doubled the customer numbers on arrival.

The pub is one of Everard's Project William jobbies, run by the local Lincoln Green Brewery.  They offered up a huge range of beer - some would say too many. 
I picked a Lincoln Green 'Buttermuch', a 5.5% sweet dark ale, mainly to make the absent Mrs PropUptheBar jealous that I was drinking butterscotch beer.  However dubious it may sound, it was very nice.

Fans of breweriana will be very happy here - the walls were covered with frames full of old beer mats and bottle labels, alongside trays, signs and mirrors.
Another very good pub named after Robin Hood - I'm telling you, all Robin Hood pubs are great!  

Retracing my steps, I popped back to Arnold's main shopping drag where I'd spotted the signage of Nottingham's Blue Monkey brewery.

The Organ Grinder (133 Front Street, Arnold, NG5 7ED - web)
'Close to Asda...frequented by shoppers during the day' says WhatPub, and to prove a point a chap came in just after me, dumped his shopping bags on the barrel by the door, recaptured his escaped orange cordial which went rolling across the floor, ordered a beer, and joined the locals around the corner. 
This was a nice little town centre pub with a L-shaped room and garden to the rear.  
On the bar were six real ales.  I figured I should really have a Blue Monkey beer in their pub, although the North Riding 'Rum and Raisin Mild' was sorely tempting.
I plumped for the 'Infinity Plus 1', a stronger version (5.6%) of their standard IPA, which was most enjoyable.

I ambled round the tables looking for all six pieces of the Blue Monkey jigsaw beer mat, until the lady at the bar told me, "if you want the whole set there's a stack of them at the end of the bar".   And there I was thinking I was being subtle and no-one was watching!

Happy beer mat collecting!

I hopped aboard Bus 25 which more by luck than planning happened to take me to Mapperley, where there was a pub I'd hoped to get to.
It's actually in a run of three neighbouring pubs on the Woodthorpe Drive junction: The Plainsman, Woodthorpe Top (Spoons) and the Bread and Bitter.

Bread and Bitter (153-155 Woodthorpe Road, Mapperley, NG3 5JL - web)
This is located in the site of the old Judge's bakery.
Here's the old ovens, retained in the back room...

Being Castle Rock, you're assured of a strong beer range including both their own concoctions and guest ales from mainly Midland brewers, and a big digital screen listing all the craft kegs, bottles and cans.
I picked the Little Critters 'Sleepy Badger' oatmeal stout, diligently tasted by the barman before he served me to check it was okay.  Which probably meant it had been on for a few days, but it tasted just fine to me.

Finishing my beer at the Bread and Bitter, I caught a bus back into the city, then switched to a number 28 to Bilborough.

Someone who knows what they're doing much better than me is the person behind Pub Gallery - check out their blog post on Art Deco pubs for some great pictures from Nottingham.

Then browse the rest of the site and question how on earth they've managed to go everywhere in the sunshine?!!!!

That site inspired me to try to get out to another of the cities early 20th century Art Deco pubs. 

The Beechdale (483 Beechdale Road, Bilborough, NG8 3FE - web)
This looks wonderful from outside - just don't hold your hopes out for inside.   Similar in design to the Vale Hotel, it shares that distinctive rounded projection at the front, with the pub name emblazoned around it.
It was built in the 1930's at the same time as the surrounding Beechdale housing estate and was originally run by Hardy & Hanson's Brewery.

Greene King these days.  
This wasn't somewhere to come on the ale trail - when I reluctantly opted for the sole hand pump dispensing GK IPA, I was told this wasn't on and pointed in the direction of bottles of Old Speckled Hen or keg 'Icebreaker'.  Just a half of Icebreaker, then.

Unlike the Vale, any historic fixtures and fittings are long gone and it's a spacious, modern community pub within.
There were a fair few folks in, despite my picture suggesting otherwise.  Including the locals outside who'd given me some very dubious stares having clocked me taking pictures of the pub.
On the left side of the building is more seating and a big games room with darts, two pool tables, and - a first for me in a pub - punch bag arcade machines...

Revitalised by Icebreaker, I caught a ridiculously busy bus along Ilkeston Road to a tram stop in the centre, then traveled northbound to Shipstones Street.

The Lion (44 Mosley Street, New Basford, NG7 7FQ - web)
It's been a long time since I've made it up the tram line to this cracking Victorian pub.  Walking from the tram stop I could see the grassy slope of the pubs sunny beer garden, with the Black Iris Brewery their next door neighbours.   
As the sun had come out, the garden was busy, leaving barely a soul inside.  No-one admiring the bare-brick walls and old well in the middle of the room.

Super beers on offer at the Lion.  As we were next door to Black Iris, I picked their quite fantastic 'Ngaru Nui' 6% NZ IPA, fearsomely easy to drink for that strength.

Let's bring things to a close with a shot of the magnificent Shipstone's Brewery, just around the corner from the Lion Inn...

And some Home Ales breweriana...    Cheers! 🍺