MANSFIELD DARK AT DUSK

February 2025. Mansfield.

3 pints into my Mega Mansfield March I suddenly felt alive, released from the burdens of recent months,

and one of our most maligned market towns looked gorgeous looking down from the parks on the ridge to the south.

My last Nottinghamshire GBG tick would be the Pavilion, a club house on the former racecourse, typical of the variety of Guide entries in 2025.

5 pm openers are the curse of the tickers, and this one wasn’t opening early, even for me.

So with 20 minutes to kill, it was either a chip barm from Barn Lane chippy, or a half of keg Mansfield from a flat(ISH) roof estate pub that looked alluring at dusk

Honest, it did, despite the smokers standing at the door.

Inside, this Marston boozer looked the smartest of the day, drawing in couples as well as the Hi Vis.

I have no idea who makes these unloved keg beers from a different century now Wolves don’t, and I just don’t care.

The Dark was a reminder of simpler times, cool and rich and bargain,

and the Ling Forest had the weirdest soundtrack.

Sadly, due to neolithic CAMRA policies it’ll never make the GBG (boo), despite those lacings,

and “John” and his Northern Soul nights.

You’ll miss pubs like this when they’re gone.

Unknown's avatar

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.

31 thoughts on “MANSFIELD DARK AT DUSK”

  2. I’ve been getting modern videos of Northern Soul dance nights on my Facebook feed for a while now. I think clicking on one once has now meant I’ll be forced fed them forever!

    If you like the music, I recall the Lower Angel in Warrington has it on permanently.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      9. Yes indeed Will, and without which Bob Dylan wouldn’t fifty years ago have recorded “Now the beach is deserted except for some kelp”.
        I’m remarkably revitalised after a trip to town – a Bass in the Coach and Horses, a ticket for tomorrow bought from the railway station, a burger, a Davenports Mild in the Butlers Bell and a Pedigree in Hogarths – all between noon and the 828 bus departing Gaol Square at 1.10pm. ‘No good leaving things too late in the day’ is what I’ve always thought.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Mansfield beer is as it was fifty years ago, no real ale, but brewed elsewhere.
    The cask was discontinued several weeks ago and I’d expect “these unloved keg beers” to finish when Carlsberg close Banks’s Brewery by the end of the year.

    Like

    Reply

      2. My recollection is that real ale was reintroduced in 1982 as the 1045 OG 4XXXX which for years was a “trial” in about a tenth of their 200 or so pubs. It was renamed Old Baily before Riding Bitter and Riding Mild were also brewed.

        Like

      4. Well it should be Etu, and I think that new that Triple fff brewery should be 9F except that it might then be confused with a class of locomotives.

        Like

      5. I remember drinking Old Baily and Riding Bitter in the Mustard Pot in Leeds in the early 90s. I wasn’t as critical then as I am now.

        Like

  5. For some reason, probably the malts and sugars used in them, darker beers like mild and stout seem to stand up better to nitrokegging than paler ones, especially if they’re not served too cold.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  7. Reminds me of afters shift at crown farm. Up pit at 20.00. In the ling 20 minutes later, 4 pints, then 4 pints then 4 pints then 2 on last orders, then
    stagger home up the hill to jubilee way

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Neil Cancel reply