Another Matt-inspired night out in Notts for you.
“Are you doing anything Tuesday night?
Can you take me to Nottingham to see Sleeps?”
Young people today. eh ?. Whatever hppnd to txt spk ?
“Sleeps” is “While She Sleeps”, of course, in the way that “Oblivion” is “Better Oblivion Community Center”. Or something.
Anyway, this is Sleeps, who are so enormous you’ve never heard of them. That’s how it works.
You got the idea after three seconds of that video, didn’t you ?
Matt picked the “pub“, Annie’s Burger Shack having made some impression on our last visit. No GBG place anymore, and I played safe with something murky from Tiny Rebel.
I know how much you like pictures of food.
Now, Matt will tell you that stodgy burger and curly fries is not good preparation for an evening in the “pit”, but I had a more sedate gig in mind.
Nottingham was looking its usual lovely self. I almost spent the evening in the VAT & Fiddle.
But there was a new Guide tick on the next stop up the line.
And who can resist the lure of Ilkeston.
The train journey was BRAPA-tastic, a collection of motley youths competing to deliver the most outrageous excuse for not having bought a ticket.
A journey of 15 minutes see the temperature fall by ten degrees and you emerge to a suspicious acrid smell that says “You’re in Derbyshire now, m’duck“.
Ilkeston is a Proper Place, with some good pubs, but it’s quite a shock entering the pedestrianised main street to total darkness.
But then a group of joggers run past, stopping for breath at Heron Foods, and no doubt wishing they were joining me in the Prince of Wales.
Entertainment options in Ilkeston are limited now the Ritz is closed.
But they’ll always be the pubs and bars of South Street. I can’t ever remember walking past the the Prince and thinking “Oooh, pre-emptive !” but it looks obvious now.
Simple but stylish seating,
and a simple but effective beer range.
Mainly Carling flying out, and I immediately wished I’d had the Pale as the ale drinkers all went for the one they’d heard of and the Falstaff was just OK enough (NBSS 2.5).
But the Prince isn’t a pub for ticking, it’s a place to hide from joggers, play pool and hurl abuse at politicians on the telly as the possible Brexit postponement was floated.
Now, what do you do to kill half an hour in Ilkeston before the train back to Nottingham…
retiredmartin 
You had me a little confused there for a moment with a new gbg entry for Ilkeston. Previously the Poacher and made the gbg in 2010 and 2009 (by my reckoning).
LikeLike
Thanks Mark ! I knew I’d been to one pub that side of the road opposite the Spanish Bar, but the Beer Guide descriptions confidently says “a welcome new entry to the Guide” which threw me. Still, an hour in Ilkeston is never wasted, is it ?
LikeLike
Of course an hour in Ilkeston town centre is fine, but it was really decent of Network Rail to open a station right by the Dewdrop Inn in April 2017 too.
LikeLike
Yes indeed, and in the next month or two I shall probably use the Dewdrop on my £6.50 Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket.
Then, rather than the town centre, it’ll probably be Humphrey’s Brown Bear.
LikeLike
Wise choice.
https://retiredmartin.com/2018/10/24/the-brown-bear-is-back/
LikeLike
But overall, a very decent place to kill time for which I can only dream!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Vat and Fiddle looks quite pretty.
LikeLike
Dave,
Yes, quite pretty, and very busy when I was last there four years ago.
LikeLike
Closest Proper Pub to the station, though not sure its custom is rail travellers. Haven’t been since it opened as the Castle Rock flagship.
LikeLike
Does Matt get any compensation for appearing in the post? Beyond the generous meal and the ride?
LikeLike
Don’t give him ideas Dave ;=0
LikeLiked by 1 person
I went through a stage of listening to bands like that when my lad was a similar age to yours about 15 years ago -the shouty element of it gets a bit much though after a while ! Sitck to Folk mostly these days although off to see Metallica in summer -I can still rock
LikeLiked by 2 people
Metallica are the Coldplay of metal aren’t they ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ugh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh -harsh ! A bit old school I agree but it had to be done -it is compensation for not being able to get tickets for Rammstein
LikeLiked by 1 person
3 seconds of the video was more than enough.
The Tiny Rebel murk looks rather moreish.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Evil keg. No-one was looking.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You gotta live dangerously sometimes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The video was fine until he started “singing”.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The band sound pretty good to me apart from the shouty bloke with the long hair. There’s always one who
spoils it for everybody else isn’t there?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Bizzarely I’ve not been to Ilkeston….it looks tremendous and that pub is a classic….no beer gubbins chat and general chaos
LikeLike
Go!
LikeLike
Do the seating and curtains remaining in place suggest that the installation of a dartboard is to avoid paying a window cleaner ?
LikeLiked by 1 person