SAWLEY SUPPING – (6) SAWLEY JUNCTION

July 2026. Sawley. Derbyshire.

The pint of Abbot in Pub 5 was a mistake. I sensed a dash to the station and a return to the warm embrace of the Sang Lung was called for.

But our last pub was just across from the trains, and I ought to save my casketeers a table in a place notably short on seating.

I’d been in Sawley Junction a couple of times, this was the view on my 2023 visit;

YOU said p***y m***o, not me !

Most of the space is taken up by steam train stuff,

and I doubt Old Mudgie would have appreciated the toilet arrangements.

But it’s a cheery place, and let’s focus on beer, just for a change.

I mean, I wasn’t going to be dawdling for long with a train to catch, and that final pint of silky smooth Bass slipped down (VERY GOOD/EXCELLENT).

I’d found lots of random tat, but lost my glasses. Both pairs.

It turned out I was wearing one pair, and the other appeared on one of the Junction’s 227 different ledges, just before I retraced my steps back to the Trent.

Anyway, great day, thanks again Shawn for organising such a top crawl. I mean, survey.

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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.

17 thoughts on “SAWLEY SUPPING – (6) SAWLEY JUNCTION”

  1. I didn’t see the notice on the door but observed that the toilet door was locked, so waited for it to open. When the person emerged she told me it was disgusting that I had been stood outside the door while she was inside. She said the word several times, though I had heard her perfectly well the first time.

    Seeing your photo, I can’t understand how I missed it, but I did.

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    1. Mudgie was definitely right, on that score, but this is an old chestnut, as many people, myself included, are under that impression that businesses that sell food and drink to the general public, are legally obliged to provide adequate toilet accommodation for both sexes, or genders.

      I suppose it depends on your definition of adequate. As for gender, I’m steering well clear of that, although I do recall seeing, but not using, a “Gender Neutral” toilet, on my last visit to the United States (2018)!

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      1. It’s not a legal requirement and there’s often nothing the pub can do about it but it certainly detracts from a lot of people’s experience, which is why so many people compliment Spoons on their loos.

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      3. The Supreme Court have made the law clear to the great relief of the vast majority of the public, Paul.

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      4. Yes, it’s not a legal requirement, hence no toilet at a Hartlepool micropub, BUT if there’s more than one toilet at least one of them must accommodate disabled customers which would of course more than double the space.

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  3. I agree about Spoons, and their often exemplary toilets, which reminds me, I called in to the recently, reopened Humphrey Bean, yesterday.
    I didn’t need to use the facilities, despite the two flat whites I enjoyed. It was a scorching hot day, even at 10 in the morning. (My car was in for an air con, re-gas, in case you were wondering).

    Full report in due course, but people’s thoughts on the revamp, including my own, are overwhelmingly positive.

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    1. I’m always wondering, Paul.

      I thought the Tonbridge Spoons was good already, though my father in law had a difficult experience with the noise levels in there last year.

      We really need a Proper Day out in That Tonbridge.

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      2. I know what you mean Paul, but toilets in other countries are just as bad, if not worse. Munich is a bad example, where more often than not the facilities are either up, or down several flights of steps.

        The pub that really took the biscuit was the Mauritania, in Cobh, Irish Republic, where according to Mrs PBT’s ,the steep, and narrow staircase, leading up to the equally cramped “Ladies.” was a real endurance test.

        BTW. I later discovered that the Mauritania was one of Professor Pie Tin’s locals, when he lived in the town.

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      3. Yes Paul, “toilets in other countries are just as bad” and I stopped going to France long ago because they can be just a hole in the floor there.
        I don’t get to a lavatory by a flight of stairs at home and, in old age, don’t expect to when using a public house.
        A friend tragically suffered severe life changing injuries from falling down steep and narrow stairs having used a toilet abroad. Another died, a couple of years later, from a fall on stairs in a Birmingham pub.

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      5. “prefarably in the next post code as in Spoons” just might coincide with food ordered from a gadget and delivered to that numbered table in the next post coded Spoons !
        Yes, a return to outdoor toilets – and I was surprised to find two close together last month reached by leaving the front door and going round the side of the pubs.

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  4. I follow and attend a bunch of Zoom shows featuring railroads. One from the U.K. I can recommend is run by *John Raby* of the _Linesiding_ concern. It is mostly orbiting steam railroads; while I prefer *electric railroads*, but what is significant about his presentations is *he does not pay for a Zoom premium account*. His shows are a compound of 40-minute episodes (the maximum time for non-paying accounts) on a weekday evening in the U.K. (afternoon in UTC-5).
    He is off for the summer; and I believe he is in Japan as I scribe, but he continually seeks more people to present a show for him. Check him out.

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