Having goaded Alan Winfield the other day, I’m on safer ground with this trip to rural Notts, about 10 miles north of Alan’s turf.
And about five miles north of the scariest place on earth,
the divorce capital of the world. Owing to an amendment to our marriage contract, Mrs RM must always make trips to Ikea on her own.
I’d been to a number of proper locals around Kimberley and Eastwood over the years, mainly before Greene King closed Kimberley, and the former mining villages like Brinsley have great well signposted walking a short distance from the A610.
My touching moment of the day came when a young man picked some of that cherry blossom for his girlfriend. Never underestimate the romanticism of youth in the hometown of D.H. Lawrence, though I suspect it was an illegal act.
No-one else was out walking; they were all scoffing giant Sunday lunches in the pub.
The Lion looks your traditional village local from the outside;
but the inside is all “posh modernised village dining pub”, with only a few high posing tables for drinkers in an area full of uncleared plates (at least they were plates).
All totally unremarkable, and four pumps in a pub of lager drinkers didn’t inspire confidence.
But to show, again, that the Good Beer Guide is rarely wrong, that Blue Monkey Infinity was spot-on. Cool, clear and with a perfect head (NBSS 3.5), and only £3 a pint. My best Blue Monkey for ages, on draught at least.
On the downside, I was trapped amongst a warren of West Notts Manchester United fans, though at least I had some great Forest memorabilia from the last century to capture for Alan.
And of course, that tell-tale sign of a posh pub, the Baylis & Harding Midnight Fig & Pomegranate Hand Wash.
No, I didn’t nick it for Mrs RM.
retiredmartin 
I am proud to say that I have never set foot in a branch of IKEA. A question about the Enfield branch once generated an essay in the form of a rant in a rather pointless General Studies examination.
Assuming the cherry tree was growing on public land, then as I understand it the blossom collecting young lad is in the clear and I wish him a very happy life with his girlfriend. If it was privately owned then he is done for.
Is the handwash, sorry soap, designed only for use at midnight or is midnight fig a variety of fig?
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Interesting point, is there any better indicator of beer quality than the GBG? I’ve found Casque Marque a poor indicator, and brewery’s own accredation schemes hard to apply more widely (e.g. does a Guinness ‘perfect pour’ or an Oakham certificate of excellence necessarily mean beers from other breweries will be of good quality). I’m not sure how CAMRA’s LocAle accreditation scheme works in terms of withdrawing it if beer falls below an acceptable quality?
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There’s plenty of good cask, and great pubs, outside the Guide, just few reliable ways of knowing what they are.
My acid test of the Guide, and CAMRA branch, is that well-loved pubs drop in and out of GBG (strictly, better pubs beat them on beer quality). Examples – the Radegund (poor beer for a while), and Three Stags Heads in Wardlow Mires.
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For a minute I thought it said Barnsley at first! Let me know if you ever visit, I’ll tag along as interpreter. I also thought I’d tried the Midnight Fig and Pomegranate at Indy Man? I also could be mistaken there, me duck!
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I have done all pubs in Brinsley and some more that once.
They are great photos of the Tricky Reds,my wife had a crush on Robbo and he was a great left winger,you done seem to get proper wingers anymore.
The other Forest great are Brian Clough,Peter Shilton,John McGovern,Physco,the best player to put a Forest shirt on,i can remember him making his debut at Forest after a double signing from Coventry City and they paid more for Ian Butterworth in the signing.
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