March 2026. Nottingham.
The Americans were in town in early March, giving me as busy a gig schedule as I’ve ever had. Actually, Leith Ross is from Ontario, but since Russ is taking a break from commenting I can confidently tell you that Canada is now part of America, and who wouldn’t want to be ?
Back from gigs in London, straight off to see Leith (as in Sunshine on) in Nottingham, where I’d promised myself a dry day since I’d completed the GBG entries there.
But a group of four lads were heading towards the Olde Trip at dusk, and I felt duty bound to overtake them and win the battle for the bar.
Folk dress for battle on a Friday night in Notts.
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem may rely on the tourists and burger market at lunchtime, but evening sees it as firmly on the “lads weekend pub crawl circuit” as it was 30 years back.
“Down in one !” shouts one.
“I’m too old for that !”. He is.
I seem to have skipped a pint when giving Matt a guided tour of the Trip in 2022, so time to see how cask is holding up here.
The chap in front looks bemused at the choice (and there were four more pumps round the corner), so nervously picks the one with “Nottingham” on it. It’s an approach I intend to adopt in Tashkent if I get there.
It’s a manically full pub. There’s a table for two under the rock ceiling with a Moretti glass that seems to deter the ditherers so I pounce, and get the joy of proximity to a group of four perusing the menu with bewilderment.
They’re drinking coke, orange juice, rosé and lager,
that pint of lager barely touched by the time I’d finished my EPA (NBSS 3.5, drifting to 3) 15 minutes later.
It’s a fun place, perhaps even more fun if I’d seen the Old Peculier first,
and unlike Sam Smiths you won’t get told off for taking photos.
But your readers may chide you if your pictures suffer from glare, and next time I’m taking Mrs RM. She’s got a better phone, you know.
NB For the avoidance of doubt, I care not one jot about the history or age of the Olde Trip
retiredmartin 
I think you’ll find that certain parts of the US are desperately hoping that their area can become a Canadian province.
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Minnesota would go. We’re still recovering from the US assault.
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And so would Chicago. The rest of the state may not want to do it.
Dick
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In Russ’s absence I’ll take up the nitpicking duties and point out that Canada has always been in America.
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Easy to add them to the US, then.
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Most people in the USA do not know that fact or believe it when told.
Dick
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The line up when the Trip was my local in 1975/6 was Bass, Pedigree, OBB, and Old Peculier.
The building of the Trip marked the end of legally-defined Time Immemorial, incidentally.
In English law, “time immemorial” refers to the period before the beginning of the reign of King Richard I on July 6, 1189. Fixed by the Statute of Westminster in 1275, this date serves as the limit of legal memory for proving customary rights, such as land ownership, right of way, or common land usage. (Says AI.)
I find it to be rather more recent, personally.
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Yes, I’ve forgotten what you posted yesterday.
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I’ve forgotten what I posted yesterday, come to that.
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I complemented Chicago Steve on his review writing, Will.
But was that only yesterday?
Heck.
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That’s an almost perfect beer range in 1976 (though the summer heat probably played havoc).
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I’m not sure you’d find many pump clips with “Nottingham” on in Tashkent. There might be something from Kent Brewery though, their beers seem to travel. And are always good.
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Nottingham was the most oft-mentioned place name in the black-and-white, 405 line, American-produced Robin Hood, which I watched in the late 1950s and 1960s as a wee un.
The castle (In which’s rock the Trip is built) was shown as standing on level ground in a forest clearing).
This always confused me when the bus went by and my Mum pointed out the castle to me.
People in lesser cities were spared this intellectual challenge during their formative years, however.
This particularly shows in places “a little further north” I think.
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Yes ! I wondered where the trees and forests and Maid Marian were.
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Thanks for showing the interior since I only saw the outside. Interesting ceiling.
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Really hard to photograph inside, and not just because there’s people inside.
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