Derby
"Exercise! I never heard that he used any: he might, for aught I know, walk to the alehouse; but I believe he was always carried home again." - Samuel Johnson.
Derby describes itself as the Real Ale Capital of England, and you know, they might just be right.
You'll find a particular kind of pub in Derby. From the outside, they may seem like ordinary pubs, but once in they open up to reveal mazes of connecting rooms and an abundance of beer choice. Pubs seem to compete to see how many hand pumps they can cram onto the bar. Decorations tend to be minimal, perhaps basic. These aren't fancy pubs; it's all about the beer.
Fierce rivals for regional supremacy they may be, but on the beer front, it's impossible to choose between Derby and Nottingham - they're both great places for a pint, and our visits should be eagerly anticipated by beer drinkers. Alas some of the following descriptions aren't all they could be. Because... well, you know why. In fact I could only recall the details of our seminal FA Cup triumphal visit in December 1999, when at each turn we ran into daft folk dressed as Santas, because by chance I found my folded, faded and stained beer map when I was looking for something else.
The good news is that there are two absolutely cracking pubs by the station. Come out and turn right to find the Brunswick, on Railway Terrace. This is a first class drinking establishment, boasting an extraordinary choice of beers, including those they brew themselves. They're reputed to have something like 17 hand pumps! It's no longer a free house, having been sold to Everard's of Leicester a couple of years ago. Thankfully doesn't seem to have changed it much, apart from Everard's Tiger finding its way onto the crowded bar, and the brewery is still going. All their own beers are good, including Second Brew, but I could never leave here without having a pint of the dark, serious, yet not overly strong Railway Porter. Excellent beers from other breweries are also available, and you can get some basic rolls to keep you going. This was apparently the first ever railway pub, being part of a railway village built near the station, and appropriate memorabilia adorns the walls. I am no trainspotter, but I have noticed that this is rarely a bad sign. It's quite a large pub, but with several rooms it always feels cosy.
Almost literally next door, on Siddals Road, is the Alexandra Hotel. We've all done harder pub crawls than this. This is part of the excellent Tynemill pub group, and they offer more guest beers, more train stuff... are we spotting a pattern here? It's a bit more basic than its near neighbour, perhaps; although they have a nice conservatory bit at the back, and the beer is always excellent. Small breweries will be to the fore, it will mostly be stuff of sensible drinking strength, and you should get a mild. We knew it was going to be our day in December 1999 as they stocked the perfect omen of Moorhouse's Black Cat.
The bad news is that, while both these pubs have always been the drinking establishments of choice for discerning Derby supporters, they are a lot busier since the club moved closer to them. Both will be rammed with home fans, and are likely to have men on the doors. If you want to go to these pubs, it's best to go early and move on. The Alex definitely has a door policy these days. Before the match in September 2002, that front door closed very early; while afterwards, doormen were looking to admit only home fans (with tickets to prove it).
Rather more disappointing back in December 1999 was another pub close to the station, the reasonably-named Station Inn, on Midland Road. When they realised we were football supporters, they refused point blank to let us in. It was about two and a half hours after the game by then. It's supposed to be a good pub, but miserable bastards say I.
From the Alexandra, you could take Pride Parkway to guess where - and more of that later - but if instead you cross over the River Derwent and go left, you'll come to Meadow Road, and the very pleasant Smithfield. This was a nice tidy pub that again was selling lots of local beers I'd never heard of. I was in here shortly before the match in 2002, and it was heaving with home fans - but all very friendly. I like this place. You can walk to the ground from here, although you need to give it twenty minutes to the away end, and they offer matchday parking.
You'd only be heading further away from the ground after this point, but if you had the time it would obviously make sense to start at some of the following.
On Nottingham Road, off the main road of St Alkmund's Way, you'll find the Peacock, which was an unremarkable locals' pub selling decent Marston's beers when I called in a few years back. I don't know who St Alkmund was, either.
There is a clutch of more interesting pubs I've been in close to the Cathedral, on the other side of the Derwent. These include the Old Silk Mill, Full Street. Evidently I went in here in December 1999, but it's a bit of a blur. Was this the one that was a bit hippyish inside with a bad mural on the wall outside?
But I remember the Flower Pot, on nearby King Street. Bloody hell, here was a pub. From outside, it looked like anywhere else, but it just kept going back. It was huge, it had many rooms, and it sold a lot of beer. They literally had a wall of beer, with casks lined row on row between glass. I'm amazed I ever found my way out.
Pretty much next to the Cathedral, on Queen Street, you have the Olde Dolphin Inne. Yes, I know, that 'Olde' and 'Inne' are rather off-putting, but it does date from the 16th Century and is on CAMRA's list of historic pubs. Apparently this is Derby's oldest pub. I found this quite an endearing place - a nice, rambling sort of pub. My beer was Caledonian Deuchar's IPA, and they had other good ones. Just down the road is the local Wetherspoon's, the Standing Order, on Iron Gate, if you're after some fast food and maybe a decent pint.
A little west of this bunch, on Friar Gate, was, oddly enough, a pub called the Friargate. This was a roughnecked sort of pub, selling more than one beer from the excellent Oakham brewery, and a fine pint when I visited. This has apparently now rebranded and gone upmarket as the Bishop Blaise. Hmm.
Further down from here is the Crompton, on Crompton Street. It looked unpromising, but wasn't. It turned out to be a really basic but friendly pub. In most towns, pubs like this would be smooth only. In Derby, they had on four real ales. Possibly the best pint of the day in here in September 2002.
On that same day, I was supposed to be calling in a pub called the Captain Blake, on Agard Street, off Friargate, but ran out of time. One eager beaver who did was underwhelmed by uninteresting, mediocre quality beers.
Between the Crompton and the former Friargate, on Newland Street, is the Drill Hall Vaults, which I have an idea was a scruffy, comfortable, curiously empty pub, although my December 1999 post-match memory is hazy. Beer was from Marston's.
I also have a vague recollection of not liking the Old Spa, on Abbey Street, much. Perhaps my pint wasn't up to scratch, or the pub was a bit too polite for the fun, raucous people we wanted to be after that FA Cup win, or perhaps I was just annoyed at how long it had taken me to get back from the ground. It should be noted that this is nowhere near anywhere else, anyway.
Apologies for the vagueness of some of the above, but the Derby branch of the Campaign for Real Ale has a website, which may help to fill in some of the gaps.
Now, to our new favourite ground. There's good and bad in it. Pride Park is at least easy to find, being more convenient to get to than the Baseball Ground. This is quite unusual, with the post-Taylor Report wave of new grounds tending to take football out of the centre and into the suburbs, so be grateful for that. You can see the ground from the station, and you go right past it on your way from London. It's probably a bit further than you think, but you can walk it. Apparently it's signposted, and, with the ground being set amid a barren wilderness, you're unlikely to lose sight of it. Pride Parkway is your unsurprising road. So far, so good. Of course, it looks like everywhere else, and you can't help wishing Derby had more colourful colours so the place would have a little more visual appeal. Inside, it's black seats and breeze blocks, but a decent view (which is more than you could say for the away end at the Baseball Ground).
Before the game in December 1999, we slipped out of the Alexandra and followed the crowd on a pleasant walk by the river. We resolved to come back the same way. Unfortunately, the police had other ideas and blocked the route, apparently for our own security, even though we'd all stayed in the ground for some time after the end to applaud our team. By then it was dark and there was little light, apart from that provided by searchlights from police helicopters - they were going in for overkill. It was also muddy, and we were on a river bank. Not fun. Our way forward blocked, we followed the other Burnley supporters and ended up, eventually, at the away supporters' car and coach park. This is not near anything much, and as we slithered onto tarmac we found we were a long way from the city centre - and the pubs. Fortunately, to prove that this was indeed our day, just as we were getting to grips with a bus timetable a black cab appeared from nowhere and whisked us to a pub. From our September 2002 visit, it's clear that common sense is prevailing, as it was possible to follow the grumpy hordes disappointed at another Burnley win back to the centre, so it looks like they've cleared that one up.
For those wanting to take a break from the beer and do something around town, take a look at the Derby tourism website. It includes a city centre map. Derby was once famous for its porcelain. It was also the most southerly point reached by Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, while Dr Samuel Johnson, who wrote the first dictionary of English, got married here. If you do one cultural thing, go to the Derby Museum and Art Gallery, on Strand, to see the works of Joseph Wright of Derby, one of the greatest British painters, a master of in the handling of artificial light and chronicler of the English Enlightenment. Then have another pint.
Firmo
Last visited: September 2003
Last updated: November 2003
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