November 2024. Derby.
Back in Derby I found myself with 24 minutes ’till the train home and a 26 minute walk to the station.
Now, I’m no Dick Southworth but do the math, that’s plenty of time for a pub.
Derby has lost a bit of lustre as a pub town these last 15 years since I ticked the Old Silk Mill and Flowerpot and Falstaff, replaced in my own pub town league by Sheffield, Newcastle and Preston.
But they still sell a lot of Bass, right ?
Well, the Silk Mill, that one with gorgeous mural by the river, seems a bastion of Guinness and Amstel, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Graham on Pubs Galore sums it up best.
Yes, a smart 7/10 all-rounder of a town pub, 7/10 Robbie Williams soundtrack, lots of 7/10 banter about Derby’s 2-1 humbling at Stoke,
and a 7/10 pint of Bass.
Cool and tasty, if not as memorable as the Dolphin across the road.
A group of lads encircled my table, poaching space by stealth, I rushed for the Gents,
and realised with horror I needed to do that 26 minute walk back in 16*.
*Never in doubt.
retiredmartin 