Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Nottingham

  • Punch Bowl in Nottingham

    Punch Bowl in Nottingham

    Punch Bowl

    Address: The Punch Bowl, 214 Porchester Road, Mapperley, Nottinghamshire

    Local Council: Nottingham

    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.

  • Northern : Nottingham to Chesterfield

    Northern : Nottingham to Chesterfield

    The train journey from Nottingham to Chesterfield cost me £5.50 for the 38-minute journey, not a bad price, although this is only available as an advance fare. I hadn’t realised that the Northern Rail name was no longer in use, the company is now referred to as simply Northern. Since 1 March 2020, so just over a week ago, the company is now operated by the Department of Transport. The ‘Northern by Arriva’ branding appears to have been removed, simply now saying ‘Northern’.

    The service began in Nottingham and carried onto Leeds, not being particularly busy between Nottingham and Chesterfield at least. The train was clean and there were table and standard seats available, with power available at the seats. The guard who checked the tickets was quite an exuberant character, pleasant and keen to help customers. The train departed and arrived on time, with no delays en route.

    Arriving into Chesterfield railway station where there were no ticket barriers or ticket checks. As a keen supporter of the rail network, I’m pleased to be in Chesterfield, the burial location of George Stephenson, the “father of the railways”.

  • Nottingham – Graves at St. Nicholas’s Church

    Nottingham – Graves at St. Nicholas’s Church

    It’s fortunate that this church has survived at all, since there was talk of demolishing it in the 1960s. Due to slum clearance and the construction of a huge road right to the side of the church, the parish manages to have absolutely no parishioners within its official boundaries, which isn’t an ideal way to run things. It’s also positive that it’s clearly now a vibrant church, but I am saddened a little to see the state of the graves in the churchyard.

    These aren’t great photos, as they’re from 2016 and they’ve been compressed by Google Photos, but they tell a sad tale of their own. I like to think that the trend of embedding gravestones into pavements has long since gone, something seemingly relatively common in the 1970s, but I’m sure it won’t be the last time they’re treated in such a way. Someone at some stage likely paid out money that they couldn’t easily afford to pay for these stones for a loved one, a state of affairs that perhaps shouldn’t be forgotten in haste.

  • Nottingham – Gooseberry Bush

    Nottingham – Gooseberry Bush

    A big part of the reason for this blog is solely for me to remember where I’ve been, as I had forgotten that I went here back in 2017. Which isn’t exactly that long ago, but there we go….

    This pub was named Varsity for a while, primarily because it’s next door to Nottingham Trent University, but the Gooseberry Bush name is far better, named after the old maternity hospital which was previously on this site. The pub was opened in 1984 by Mansfield Brewery, a now defunct company which was formerly a major player in the area, although now subsumed by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, now better known as Marston’s Brewery. Wetherspoons acquired and modernised the pub in 2011 and it’s a slightly complex building as it has been built onto the site of a slope.

    It’s a pretty bland interior, but all entirely functional. I can’t remember the choice of real ales (I struggle to remember for more than five minutes, let alone over two years), but I do know that I had a pint of Guinness, but this was before I became stupidly obsessed with the range of real ales and craft beers that were available in pubs…..

    I had a little look on TripAdvisor for any reviews that intrigued me, and this one is actually quite good in terms of my being able to build up a picture of just what happened. Someone signed up for the site just to leave this review…

    “I was waiting just fine in the line for proper 15 minutes waiting for the lady who served me earlier to come back to her place in the till. Then this thin lanky short guy turns out of nowhere and starts using the draft beside the till. I politely asked him where the lady was and he was proper rude and replied saying he was busy. I was thoroughly disappointed with that male who started insulting me for just trying to talk to a lady staff member who had served me earlier. Honestly I wasn’t even talking to him. He was proper rude and started moaning about how his day has been busy and all. All I wanted to know was where was the lady who was there before him cause she looked more skilled. I did not want to be served by him and I saw no point in him shouting at me for asking him to serve me. Where as I wasn’t asking him to serve me in the first place. I did not sign up for that. This one star is only because there was no option for no stars. Also I did not want to be served by him anyway cause he looked like an armature by the way he was using the draft beer taps. The pitcher he made for us later was terrible and I wish I could’ve asked for a refund. Everyone agreed with that. Also he kept on moaning to his coworkers about what happened. What a big petty drama seeking liar. My mate was too drunk to see what exactly happened. The guy beside me just literally entered when this happened. I did not bother explaining myself to any of the people who were drunk there. I kept that bar tender to mind his own business as I wasn’t even talking to him in the first place but he kept on and on. The other staffs were good. Security guards were pleasant.”

    At least he was happy with the security guards.

  • Nottingham – The Company Inn

    Nottingham – The Company Inn

    I’ve visited this Wetherspoons before and it’s one of the quietest that I’ve been to in the chain, so I’ve wondered before whether it’s one which might get sold off at some point.

    Looking down over the bar area and ground floor. The pub is located in a former warehouse belonging to the Trent Navigation Company, hence the Company Inn name which was chosen by Wetherspoons.

    This pub was in some difficulty when I visited as the temperature had gone out of control, it was like being in a sauna and I’ve never been in such a warm pub environment. Apparently there was a temperature issue, which had also caused problems in the male toilets as the water from the taps was not far off boiling. A customer commented to a staff member that some of the surfaces in the female toilet were hot to the touch, so I dread to think what the pub’s heating bill was for that day. There’s a TripAdvisor review from the day after my visit which complains that “it’s like a fridge”, so I imagine they decided to turn everything off.

    The pub has a friendly environment and I waited here for my train, drinking numerous cups of coffee to help me stay awake for the train journey back to Norwich.

  • Nottingham – Canalhouse

    Nottingham – Canalhouse

    I had a couple of hours to wait in Nottingham for my train, so I couldn’t resist going back to one of my favourite pubs in the country. Located in what was originally a canal museum, the Canalhouse became a pub in the year 2000 and is the only location that I know of which has a canal barge in the actual pub.

    The Black Band porter from Kirkstall Brewery, an above average dark beer with a rich flavour.

    There are discounts for CAMRA members and it’s one of the more unusual drinking environments. I’m entirely unsure why this pub isn’t listed in the Good Beer Guide though, it’s quirky and charming, but I’m sure there’s a reason why the denizens of CAMRA Nottingham decided against it.

    Looking out onto the barge. I didn’t have anything to eat on this visit, but there’a food menu and this is available throughout the day.

    A photo taken from the bridge which is inside the pub.

    Tynemill pubs no longer exist, they were renamed as Castle Rock in 2007, one of the better pub chains in the country and I’ve been to many of their Nottingham locations.

    Service in the pub was in line with my previous experiences, which was friendly, polite and helpful. The prices charged are reasonable and the selection of beers was excellent. It’s quite a spacious pub internally, but there aren’t a huge number of tables inside, although the external seating area is relatively extensive.