How To Avoid Shorter Opening Hours In South Derbyshire!

Opening hours for punters are always a problem but I may have found the answer to having an afternoon drink in South Derbyshire.

Fellow members of the PUB (Pub Union of Bloggers…I intend to get a membership form drawn up soon enough) Martin, Duncan and Si are often driven to distraction after their lengthy quests to reach the holy grail of a GBG pub are met with ‘quirky’ opening hours making it nigh on impossible to visit.

The answer is to inadvertently gatecrash a wake!  That’s not strictly true as I had no idea what the opening hours were for 130 – The Brookfield  DE73 7HG in the village of Barrow on Trent;

I was hunting for a post box with my kids after a trip to the ever expanding Swarkestone Nursery Centre, which is (un)officially “South Derbyshire’s No1 retail plant nursery” according to their website…clearly beating off tough competition from Staunton Harold and Bretby but it’s a cut-throat world in the garden centre business!

Never let it be said I pass up the opportunity of a pint whilst on holiday or out shopping and, as this was during the Christmas break, then the opportunity for a pint in a boozer was too good to miss!

However, I subsequently discovered that this solid two roomed boozer with a pool table and Derby County memorabilia everywhere usually opens at 4pm in the week but it looked as though the lights were on and the doors were open just after 1pm.

It was open and the boozer was full, as I had walked into a wake of one of the regulars so there was a sombre mood that was warming up and it was noticeable that nearly every punter was sinking Pedigree (Marston’s).  https://twitter.com/oldmudgie wrote a really good post recently about the perils of ignoring pubs with  just one ale on as that is reflective of more local boozers than pubs with ten or eleven ‘wickets’ behind the bar. http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/meanwhile-back-in-real-world.html.

https://twitter.com/NHS_Martin also waxed lyrical on his very readable blog about a recent visit to The Woodlark in Derby with locals drinking Pedigree and being perfectly happy at the choice as quality trumps quantity every time https://retiredmartin.com/2018/01/10/derby-provides-real-choice/ 

This is the only drinking option in the centre of this growing village and whilst its signage makes it a slightly different looking boozer from the norm externally it has the feel of a well-used local inside.

(What year did Derby have a Marston’s shirt sponsor? )

A pool table, sky sports, framed football shirts and a community noticeboard all added to the mix and whilst it did feel a little bit like we were intruding, everyone seemed too preoccupied to be concerned about me and my kids in the corner.

As mentioned before, the wall was adorned with football memorabilia and one here for Lord Sugar and Karen to get excited about…

…whilst a Roy Keane number showed this pub is definitely not one for the prawn sandwich brigade…

A good local pub with good beer on and it looks as though it is the sort of place that knows its market and plays to that audience.

https://twitter.com/BoakandBailey have written some well debated posts on the death of the backstreet boozer and it is undeniably true but this definitely has the criteria for a backstreet boozer as its tucked away between lots of houses and you wouldn’t reach it if you were driving on the main road.

Martin also mentioned recently that Derby is almost unique in being so well stocked with ‘proper’ backstreet pubs serving ale …you can add this one to that list and I fully intend to go in different circumstances next time!