Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Mansfield

  • Blindspot in Mansfield

    Blindspot in Mansfield

    Blindspot

    Address: 7-8 Handley Arcade, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire

    Local Council: Mansfield

    I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.

    For the moment, here’s my list of Good Beer Guide pubs visited. And for anyone interested, which I accept isn’t likely to be many people, my favourite pub so far is the Hop and Vine in Hull. Untappd is a handy place to see where I’ve been recently (and feel free to add me, the more the merrier).

    I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..

    This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.

  • Mansfield – Stag and Pheasant

    Mansfield – Stag and Pheasant

    Located just around the corner from another Wetherspoon pub, the Widow Frost, this pub takes its name from another licensed premises which once stood on the corner between the two venues. The current building dates from 1910 when it was opened as Palace Electric Theatre and later the Palace Theatre, but it closed in 1949. A new frontage was added to the building in the 1960s, hence the rather strange look of having a modern exterior and an older interior. Its time as a theatre came to an end and it was then converted by Wetherspoons into this pub.

    The pub didn’t have any dark beers, but this one seemed an interesting option. The branding of this beer confused me a little, it wasn’t clear to me what Chapter 8 was and the barman was equally unsure, but it seems that the beer name was the Jammy Dodger and the brewery is Fuggle Bunny. The beer was excellent, a sweet taste with some caramel flavours, a very drinkable ale.

    I hadn’t realised when I visited here that Mansfield were holding their Christmas lights turning on, so I abandoned staying any longer in the town as I thought it’d be too busy. Certainly, Wetherspoons was nearly full, although I noted that they seemed to have more customers than the number of people listening to the live acts in the market square.

    It’s a Lloyds pub and so I assume that there’s a vibrant atmosphere on weekend evenings, especially since Wetherspoons have the advantage of another pub around the corner for those who prefer something quieter. The inside of the pub has an historic feel and there are a couple of tables on the upper tiers which look out onto the ground floor. Service in the pub was also helpful and friendly, there was a relaxed atmosphere despite how busy it was.

  • Mansfield – Widow Frost

    Mansfield – Widow Frost

    Some thought went into the naming of this Wetherspoon’s pub located on Leeming Street, with the company saying:

    “This pub is named after the 18th-century landlady of The Mason’s Arms which stood on this site. Widow Frost was probably the first to run The Mason’s Arms after its name was changed from The Horse and Jockey in 1780.”

    A 1913 advert in the local newspaper noted that the pub was being refurbished, with the stabling still in operation and the entrance for where this was is still visible on the pub’s frontage. The advert also informed customers to enter via Clumber Street, which happens today to be the location of another pub, the Stag and Pheasant, operated by Wetherspoon’s. More on this in another post, but this is a complex site and the original Stag and Pheasant pub was located on the corner of Leeming Street and Clumber Street.

    The Sleepy Badger beer from Little Critters Brewery, an oatmeal stout, which I thought was much better than some of the on-line reviews suggest. Malty and not inconsiderably chocolatey, an impressive beer at the usual low Wetherspoon’s price point.

    I had a little look at their TripAdvisor reviews, which are mixed, pretty usual for Wetherspoons. I liked this one:

    “My partner and I have ordered the skinny steak and quinoa salad since 2006-but standards have slipped think armageddon!!!”

    I’m not entirely sure that Armageddon is really being used appropriately here, but, as the staff member politely replied, the pub chain had only served quinoa salad for a few months when this review had been written in 2018 and the poster didn’t realise skinny steak meant it came with salad, not that it was skinny.

    Anyway, service in the pub was warm and friendly, with no real delays at any point. It wasn’t the cleanest pub I’ve seen, but it was warm and comfortable. Certainly a decent selection of beers and the pub deserves its listing in the Good Beer Guide.