The Buxton Line: Part 2, New Mills and Dove Holes

Day 2 on the train from Buxton, where we departed on the same 11:46 service but paid more than the previous day when we travelled further.  Simplification of train fares seems no closer.
This time we made our way to New Mills Newtown, the second station in the High Peaks hotspot, which is handy for the Swizzels factory, but a bit of trek to the bits of town you really want to be in.

The last time I was in New Mills was on a grey day in January 2022 when I grumbled that I'd wanted to see the Millenium walkway and Torrs with a blue sky background.
We had blue sky this time.  Crikey, a bit of cloud cover would have been nice.

Tucked 40 meters below the town in the Torrs is the old cotton mill which was built in the 1780's by Daniel Stafford.  It's been restored and now contains an events space and preserved trad machinery which visitors can occasionally see in action.  There's also an artisan cheese shop.  Cheese wasn't going to survive the day in the backpack in 30°+ heat, so we headed straight to the beer bar.

Torr Vale Tap (Torr Vale Road, New Mills, SK22 3HS)
This was previously a bar called the Shrub Club, which changed hands in 2023, rebranding itself as a tap house and eatery in a characterful corner of the mill.
There were two handpumps but neither were in action, leaving us with a keg selection from local heavy-hitters Torrside Brewing and an Ossett interloper.

Mrs PropUptheBar was happy enough with the Szechuan pepper enhanced 'Torr Vale Pale' for a second one to be required alarmingly quickly.

I opted for the 'Callista', a 4.5% single hop pale, although I'm not sure this German hop is my favourite.  The 'I'm Spartacus', billed on the pump clip as the "inevitable US IPA" was much more to my taste.

We enjoyed a slow afternoon in New Mills, the hot weather and a tired dog put paid to any walks longer than the stroll up and down the Goyt.
We loitered in the lovely High Lea Park until the clock ticked 4pm and the micro pub would be open. 
Or should be.
There seemed to be someone pottering around inside, but the door was locked, the closed sign was on display, another fella trying the door and walking away.  No-one paid any heed to the oddbods peering in the window. 
The micropub perogative of unbolting the door when you're ready rather than at the advertised time.

Instead, we ambled along the road to the Pride of the Peaks...

The Pride of the Peaks (59 Market Street, New Mills, SK22 4AA)
This pub was built around 1865 at the same time as the New Mills Central station opened and deposited thirsty travellers at this end of Market Street.  Originally it was called The Railway, a name it kept until 1979 when the owners figured it needed a name change to go with a modernisation and refurb.  A Mr Mick Patterson won £10 for coming up with The Peaks, changed some years later to Pride of the Peaks.
I hate to break it to them - there's a lot of lovely pubs in the Peak District and this one isn't the pride of the region.

Timothy Taylor 'Boltmaker' was the sole cask on offer, served with a smile by a lovely lady.
The beer wasn't lovely though - right on the edge of drinkable, but as there was nothing to switch it for I persevered.
We sat on big sofas in the far corner of the L-shaped layout, near the DJ booth which suggested this would be much livelier on a weekend evening.
I didn't rate the decorations....

Let's go back to the Beer Shed and see if they've opened and if they can do wall-mounted decorations any better.
Yes it was and yes they can...

Back in 2022, fans of drinking in small places could enjoy the Rock Mill brewery tap room (now sadly closed) on its unusual opening days of Monday and Tuesday, then patronise the Beer Shed when that opened from Wednesday to Sunday.
So on our previous visit we enjoyed the brewery but missed out on the micro.  It's taken us four years to return to get this tick, so I'm glad they eventually unlocked the door.

Beer Shed (47B Market Street, New Mills, SK22 4AA)
The Beer Shed opened in November 2016 in a former shop unit.  A very narrow shop unit...

There is some more conventional seating in a seperate area on a lower floor, but sticking around the bar you'll find some exceptionally small tables that you wouldn't want to order a pizza to.
There were plenty of interesting options on keg plus three cask ales from Big Trip, Thornbridge and Eyam.

A  Big Trip 'Fozzie' for me - just as pale and murky and hoppy as you knew it would be.

Drinking up at the Beer Shed, we walked back along the road to the New Mills Newtown station and caught the next Buxton-bound train.

Alighting this time in Dove Holes.

Dove Holes, a village with around 1,200 residents, is 3-miles and about 5-minutes on the train from Buxton.  It's the home of the mountain rescue team, one pub, a neotlithic earthwork, a cricket club and not a lot else.

Mrs PropUptheBar skipped the walk to the neolithic earthwork and grabbed a pint and a seat in the pub.
I was going to tell her it was amazing, better than Avebury: but my photograph suggests she didn't miss much

An aerial view would do it more justice.
Known as the Bullring, this late neolithic henge measures around 90 meters in dimension.  It would almost certinaly be better known if it still had a stone circle, but any stones were removed for farming and building many years ago.

Brief antiquarian sight-seeing done, I joined the Mrs PropUptheBar in the village's remaining open pub...

The Queens Hotel (Dove Holes, Buxton SK17 8BJ)
The CAMRA website entry suggested Bass was the regular beer, so it was disappointing to see the hand pump serving an ale from Macclesfield's Storm Brewing.
The landlord confirmed they hadn't had Bass for about a year-and-a-half, being as only one fella drank it.  From what he was telling me, I had the impression that the Storm beers keep better rather than sell better, which isn't great.

Yet I've no complaints about the 3.9% amber 'Desert Storm'.
The Queens is a nice village local with three rooms leading off a central servery: pool table in the front room where all the Wednesday evening custom had gravitated; trad lounge to the side... 

...and a modernised dining room to the left of the bar.
I was rather fond of the signage to the toilets and the opportunity to browse the bookshelf should they prove to be particularly busy.

Shame they didn't have Bass, but I'm still glad we got this pub tick a little off the beaten track.

There's a bit of an evening gap in the trains from Dove Holes, so we kept an eye on the time and ensured we were back on the platform in time for the next service to Buxton.

Once we reached there, we headed for two bars on Cavandish Circus right next door to one another...

Beer & Bean (8 Cavendish Circus, Buxton SK17 6AT)
This is very much the cafe/bar, specialising as much in coffee and waffles as beer.
As far as well-known European brews go though, there are some good'uns on a stylish beer menu, black & white pictures of the building in a lesser state of repair beneath it.

I picked the Belfast-brewed Bullhouse 'Road Trippin'', a fruity 4% extra pale ale.  A refreshing  beer washing down a bite to eat.

Straight out one door and into the next, we bowled into the much more beer-orientated micro pub.

Frog on the Bine (9 Cavendish Circus, Buxton SK17 6AT).
Opened in 2024, seating is set over two floors in this tidy little bar.  Just three or four other customers - obviously regulars - as we approached their early closing hour.

Mrs PropUptthe Bar was delighted to get a new Vault City concoction here and keen to rebuff my insistence that they all tasted the same.
Just the one cask ale available: 'Midas', a golden ale brewed by Sunderland's North Pier brewery.  A decent pint, just a little on the warm side.

I kept glancing at the beer list and that Rivington/Sudden Death 8% double IPA collaboration.

But the local signage knew perfectly well what effect that would have on me...

That proved to be our last port of call in Buxton.

Next up: Chesterfield.
"Why are you going there?" asked the neighbour in our holiday let as we packed the car.
Because they've got a LOT of pubs.

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.