retiredmartin

October 2026. Derby.

Mrs RM has been down in RTW, as the kidz call it, arranging care packages for my father-in-law. Just because it’s been on the horizon for ages doesn’t make it less draining.

I’d had to take the morning train (like Sheena Easton) back to Sheffield to get the boiler serviced, clear out the fridge, and take the campervan for a service that always picks up invisible problems.

Plans for a weekend exploring Dumfries or Dunbar were on hold; instead I asked ChatGPT for options to take in a local game last Saturday, perhaps with City’s imminent expulsuion from the League in mind.

Liversedge v Stocksbridge would have been perfect, that awkward GBG newbie at Cleckheaton is next door. But 2hrs 38 seemed rather outside the definition of a “local” match.

Instead, pubs beat football and it’s Derby again.

After Sheffield, Derby is the station I pass through most often, generally with exactly 17 minutes between trains, which is perfect for a pint in one of the three (3) Beer Guide pubs outside the station,

but as I approach middle age I need variety, not the safe option of the Brunswick, Alex or Victoria.

I’d found a walking route to my next GBG newbie in northern Derby; 2.4 miles should take 52 minutes says Google. If I can beat that with my gammy knee, then I’m back in the game.

What pubs will distract me on that 2.4 mile hobble ? Well, not many, as the footbridge to the Smithfield’s Bass is blocked,

and from then on I barely pass a pub on the way up Mansfield Road. Passing a Beer Guide pub is even harder.

Take a look at the pub map and spot the red GBG entries. The only central Guide pub is the Spoons, and the Standing Order was heaving on Saturday, defeating the efforts of the glass collectors (top pic).

Nottingham is similar these days; the best pubs all outside the inner ring road (noble exception The Dragon), the suburbs full of micro and brewery tap life.

Crossing the Derwent the once lauded Royal Standard looks a bit less regal than in its mid-2010s heyday,

and the very first micro near Chester Green hasn’t graced the Guide in an age.

Not much else on the approach to Darley, though it looks like I missed Draught Bass in the Coach & Horses,

and with today’s news about Marston’s (well, Carlsberg) closing its Burton brewery who knows how much more “real” Bass we’ll have to look forward to.

Chester Green itself is a delight,

and although half a dozen buses whizz past I’m glad to be on foot, £3 saved.

How else would you get close-ups of all the weird art ?