HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY COUNTY. No. 8 – DERBYSHIRE.

I should have told you before I started this little series that there are actually seventy-three (73) GBG counties, so we should be finished by 2027, by which time 98% of pubs in Derbyshire will be selling superlative Bass and it’s ALL Wickingman’s fault.

Sadly, the Bass wasn’t on when I visited Ian in his second home.

Youlgr(e)ave – The George (last visited 2022).

But despite that I thought the George was a classic village local, with high quality cask and a high class fuss free lunch.

Typically, the George quietly left the GBG straight after my visit; perhaps it wants to keep the tickers at bay.

Derby – The Woodlark (last visited 2023)

Also new in the Guide, I first popped in the Woodlark in 2018 and

“Pint of Bass please”

“Handle or straight glass”   “Straight”

“Sparkled or flat”  “Wow. Flat please”.

“Get it in the Beer Guide (they offer CAMRA discount if it helps).” I wrote. It took 5 years.

I thought next one probably won’t get in the Guide, at least until CAMRA have another Re-Revitalisation and vote to allow keg emporia like Torr Vale Tap in the GBG.

New Mills – Torrside (last visited 2023)

But now I read that the former Shrub Club (keep up) does have a handpump, though not a Torrside one.

But anyway, tucked away off the Millennium Walkway it’s one of the best located bars in the UK, and Torrside’s beers are very strong, so don’t fall in.

Chesterfield – Chesterfield Arms (last visited 2023)

Back to the Bass for No.4, though I could have chosen any of half a dozen in Chesterfield, so great a pub town that we held the 1st annual pub ticker AGM there. They don’t seem to have invited me to the 2nd AGM in Stalybridge because it’s blown away my ticking has been so poor in 2023.

It’s a smart, cosy, pub with lots of great seating and a lady at the back who looks quite angry.

Oi, Mrs RM, that’s my pint of Bass !

Which brings us to a pub that a decade ago I’d definitely have named my favourite in the UK, in underrated Amber Valley countryside near the Denby pottery (we still use the dinner service we bought there in 1997).

Holbrook – Dead Poets (last visited 2014, I think)

An adult pub, which rather scuppered family visits, but flat Bass (or Pedi) from the jug by the scary fire in this rustic looking Everards gem is one of life’s pleasures.

Glorious Bass from the jug on my first visit, and in and out of the Guide this last decade, but from memory it’s as essential as the Holly Bush up the road, which I suspect some of you will pick as the sixth pub.

Or possibly not…

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

34 thoughts on “HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY COUNTY. No. 8 – DERBYSHIRE.”

  2. I first knew the George for its Home Ales in September 1974 on my way home from five pints of the proper Barnsley Bitter through the return trays of the Keel Inn.
    I’ve since had six nights at Youlgreave Youth Hostel and 130 others in Derbyshire.

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  3. At last we reach one of the Top 10 pub counties. I’d certainly nominate the Holly Bush, plus the Barley Mow at Kirk Ireton.

    And the Olde Dolphin, Alexandra and Brunswick in Derby itself are all worth a shout.

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    2. They’re all excellent.

      Obviously his is definitely NOT a series of the “best” (discuss) pubs, otherwise the picks would be far more skewed towards Derby, or Cambridge, or Sheffield when we get there, and I think you need a bit of variety.

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      1. Agreed, the whole point of this series is a celebration of good pubs. If I say “here’s some more”, it doesn’t mean I’m disparaging your suggestions 😀

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  4. I recall you dropped into the Old Poets at Holbrook in May 2019, having dropped off BRAPA (and myself Mark Daniels) for his GBG tick at the Spotted Cow.

    See your blogpost 22 May 2019 re Top 100 Pubs – Holly Bush at Makeney.

    Cheers

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  6. I agree wholeheartedly with your inclusion of the Chesterfield Arms – what a cracking pub. But there are so many good ones in Derbyshire – several mentioned by pub curmudgeon – so I will just mention the Red Lion in Litton and leave it at that.

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      4. Talking of Bass, it’s now in Lichfield again at the Horse and Jockey.
        That’s from seven pubs in the city before the 2.35pm bus home yesterday, the new Pedigree having been drinking unexpectedly well.

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      5. Are you allowed to say the new Pedigree is good, Paul. It assumed it would have been a matter of treachery. I wonder if the excellent pints of Pedi I’ve enjoyed in Marston modern diners are from that new system.

        I don’t agree with Peter E your near namesake on all matters but I do agree on the Unions (and the Crooked House).

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      6. Another week, another new quality Bass outlet.

        It’s not inconceivable, especially if Wetherspoon leave the cask market, that Bass will at some point re-join the Top 10 selling beers (with TT Landlord at the top). Now that would be a story.

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      7. Talking of “unexpectedly well”, Paul, the Brains bitter at the Romilly today – there’s only one – would have been a 5 if I were a CAMRA. Tracy who served it me was wearing her Motörhead T-shirt too.

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      8. Blimey, I haven’t had a pint of Brains I’d have score a 4, let alone a 5, for 25 years, but that does look good. It’s a year since I had a very average pint with you on a distracted night in Cardiff.

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      9. Well, my consecutive Pedigrees in the Queens Head, Earl of Lichfield and Kings Head didn’t last long resulting in me being forty minutes ahead of schedule. I could be wrong but it’s as if the Unions had always ‘cleansed’ the body out of Pedigree and it is now a less refined but fuller bodied and tastier beer. That’s what I remember happening to Draught Bass in 1981.

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      10. An interesting debate will ensue on the quality of Pedi and Bass I’m sure. Except it won’t; very few on Discourse really care about beer quality per se.

        A topic for quite another day, perhaps over a pint, is the pace of beer consumption varies SO much between CAMRA members. I’m always amazed at how long some folk make a half (a half !) last and am eternally grateful that Mrs RM can drink 2 pints of 5.5% Sheffield beer at the Gardeners Rest quicker than I can on Sunday without falling over.

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