November 2023. Long Eaton. Derbyshire.
Catching up with the blog now; what on earth will I do when I’ve no more pubs to write about ?
The late, great, Alan Winfield used to tell us about pub crawls of 21 or more halves like this one in Mexborough.
Alan was a proud man of Nottingham, and my last Notts GBG24 tick took me close to his home town of Stapleford. Only 40 minutes by rail to Long Eaton, which as Alan would have told you is very much Derbyshire.
As usual a journey in a dangerously overcrowded compartment where the light relief came from young lads discussing vomit.
I’d only been to Long Eaton a month ago for Rowell’s, and felt a tinge (?) of guilt I hadn’t done the place justice, neglecting to bring you pictures of the Erewash canal,
and the “unfussy” street art along the canal walls.
I particularly like this festive contribution.
It was 11:50, my Attenborough micro opened at 1pm, so I reckoned I could squeeze in a bonus pre-emptive on the way.
Now, I’m not saying that Will the Sheffield Hatter is a natural successor to Alan, but he did do a memorial crawl around the area back in 2018 and had this to say about the Mill & Brook.
Looks OK, a 6 from Will isn’t bad, but research on the hoof revealed Lincoln Green had taken the place on this summer, and Hucknall’s little brewery run some lovely pubs.
Like the Mill and Brook, in fact.
I enter to “Fill Me Up, Buttercup”, leave to “Mr Brightside”, and in-between enjoy a gorgeous Porter and Pizza combo with the mix of locals the best pubs conjure up.
It’s a civilised, unfussy, pub that brings in folk of all ages,
the brewery tat isn’t overdone,
and the snack menu is baps and pies and the like, which is perfect.
And no-one is going to rub their cultural supremacy down your throat just because you have pineapple on your pizza. For £8, it’s fantastic value.
A chap in a Man Utd tracksuit won’t sit down, I’m a bit like him outside pubs, and moans when his wife wants a second hot chocolate, though of course that means he can stay for a second beer.
I really, really, like the way they take on board customer feedback.
I’m no canine fan myself, but they seem to prop up pubs in some places so I can live them, as long as they don’t lick Mrs RM.
retiredmartin 
Looks like a good un. I like the unfussy pub clips too – a bit Thornbridge-esque, which is never a bad thing.
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Yes, the Tuck clip is black which sort of implies it’s a dark beer. Don’t know much about Lincoln Green but their pubs are good.
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When I finally cement my position as dictator of this island, one of my first decrees will be to introduce a standardised clip colouring system, similar to what that of crisps (before Walkers messed it up with green for salt and vinegar). So, green for Best, red for strong, yellow for Golden/Blonde, black for Stout/Porter, brown for Mild, blue for Pale/NEIPAs etc.
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Yep.
Green for cheese and onion, blue for salt and vinegar.
That said, Walkers can be forgiven almost anything for producing crisp-yet-tender, non-mouth-lacerating Potato Delicacies. And for using Gary Lineker.
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That Jubilee Stout was from between1962 ( the combined Hammond’s United Breweries Ltd, Hope & Anchor Breweries Ltd. and John Jeffrey & Co. Ltd that had become United Breweries Ltd merging with Charrington & Co. Ltd of Mile End London to form Charrington United Breweries Ltd ) and 1967 when CUB merged with Bass, Mitchells & Butlers to become Bass Charrington Ltd.
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I wish pubs around here would offer, good value and simple food, such as rolls and pork pies. £3.95 for a bacon or sausage bap is an absolute bargain, and unheard of in the south-east, where the concept of a simple filled roll or sandwich, has vanished.
A couple of weeks ago, I fancied a sandwich in a pub, but because it was served up with chips, crisps, plus an unwanted sprinkling of salad, the management felt justified at charging nearly a tenner for it.
These unnecessary “trimmings” are just an excuse to bump the price up, so I remained hungry, and picked up a supermarket sandwich instead, on my way home.
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I thought the flat bread pizza at £8 would be a snack portion, but as you may see it’s the sort you’d pay £11 elsewhere, very filling. And Long Eaton isn’t a bargain place by any means.
I agree that unwanted embellishments put you off sandwiches. The £2 cob in the Midlands is still a rarity elsewhere.
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Paul,
I think a proper meal can still be had for £3.95 in the Bull and Bladder.
And the Great Western isn’t much dearer.
Not that we go to those pubs to eat.
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I was rooted in that very area from my arrival in the 1950s until I sold my Long Eaton house in 1992, and so I must literally have rubbed shoulders with Alan at the bar quite often, whether for a pint of Bass at the Chequers in Stanton-By-Dale, one of Burton Ale at the Carpenter’s Arms in Dale Abbey, or a Kimberley at the While Lion in Bramcote.
As for dogs and the notice, I’m not sure that it would always have much effect. The problem owners are those, whom if you said “Remember not everyone likes dogs” they would say “Yes, we know, and if they come in this pub then we’ll use our dogs to find out who they are and make them suffer for that fact.
As this poor soul apparently discovered:
https://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/39/39216/Old_White_Beare/Halifax
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I pressed “reply” in haste there, Martin
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We all knew it was you, you dog hater, you.
When I catch up with you again I’ll tell you what I didn’t write here. If I remember.
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Another thing, I don’t really know those three villages you mentioned in west Nottingham which always irritates me as I need to have a view on everywhere.
In contrast, the boom in micros over the M1 mean I’m an international expert on Kimberley.
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Mrs. E had a much-loved springer spaniel, Martin.
But yes, although I drank in pubs all around Beeston, Long Eaton etc. I seldom did so in Stapleford itself.
Long Eaton was, in those days, rough, it must be said, but its standing in that way against Beeston has perhaps been reversed of late, having largely escaped the brutalist purge, which pretty comprehensively eradicated Victorian Beeston.
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Long Eaton looks plain rather than rough to me. That Lincoln Green pub by the canal, Rowell’s and a few other places look quite smartish but the shops are workaday.
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If only you could have gone in the Lord Nelson – now The Barge Inn (as opposed to Stumble Inn I suppose) – circa 1977, Martin.
Long Eaton has come a long way.
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“Long Eaton has come a long way”.
That might be how it’s so named.
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Yes Paul it’s managed to stray about fifteen miles from Little Eaton.
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Think Fill me up Buttercup was the X-rated follow up to the Foundations big hit and was banned on Radio 1 for lewdness. Good find, added to my list.
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May have been an East Midlands dialect version.
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Always churn in Long Eaton. The one in this year that used to be the Spoons Twizzel looked tenuous.
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“You told us … you’re too expensive … So we’re reducing our draught prices.”
That seems remarkably easy! Maybe there should be a pressure group for beer drinkers doing this nationwide 😉
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Would never work, they’d get diverted defining cider or arguing about boundary issues.
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