September 2026. Chesterfield.
When a new Beer Guide comes out each September the temptation is always to look for trips to towns with lots of new ticks, even if that means a train to Newton Abbot or Carlisle.
But my priority on Monday was nursing my gammy leg I don’t like to talk about, but still will, and it’s a sign of approaching late middle age that I was prepared to wrap my puffy fingers around a bus ticket from across the road to start a journey to Chesterfield.
Any disappointment about yet another Chez adventure dissolve at the station,
as I get to join gentlefolk complaining about heroically late buses in the direction of Bakewell.
My destination is the Victoria out in Brampton, but you can’t ask for a bus ticket by pub name, though I often give directions by them. I look for the name of the closest bus stop.
“Walton Road End, please“.
“Where, never heard of it ?“. 10 minutes later there will be an announcement “Next stop Walton Road End“.
I settle on “Brampton”, and from the top deck enjoy the glories of this underated Derbyshire town,
including the church spire whose wonkiness is, I read, an optical illusion.
I kid you not, every third word on that bus was “duck“. “See ya duck“, “Ta, duck“, “Mind yer head, duck“. Better than Chelmsford, where every third word is “****“, I suppose.
December 2022 saw the inaugural (only) meeting of the Honourable Society of Beer Guide Tickers, when we walked the length of the Brampton mile.
You’ll note how the pubs really hug Chatsworth Road along that route, and you’ll also see the three red “P”s just above Morrisons. That’s where I disembark,
met with a lovely floral display that continues at the Victoria.
Typically new Beer Guide entries are assumed to be shrine to micro, independent (ugh) beers, but the Vic tips up with beers you’ve heard of.
has an ornate Stella Artois display, and finds local arguing over the merits of Aspalls.
It’s the sort of pub where it’s still 1987, and so you get Dolly and Kenny’s “Islands in the Stream” and the Mac’s “Everywhere“.
And it’s all so calm and comfortable and low-key classy.
The guvnor pulls the Black Sheep vigorously through; it’s a cool (almost too cool) VERY GOOD pint, and still CAMRA folk berate themselves for not getting the right pubs in the Beer Guide.
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One of the advantages of the senior bus pass is that you don’t have to give a destination or buy a ticket. That’s unless you are travelling early in the morning on a weekday. Where i live most of the buses don’t have announcements for the stops which can be awkward if you are going to a new destination.
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