Hunting Down The Beerhunter In Aston On Trent

Derbyshire Evening Telegraph pub legend – The Beerhunter – has been promoting boozers in Derbyshire for decades.

I am happy to confirm I will often visit pubs on his recommendation and his column is still the essential read in the local rag.

The word on the street is that whilst he is a man who likes to visit pubs in Derbyshire he can occasionally be found in the watering holes of Aston on Trent.

I say watering holes, there are in fact two, which isn’t bad for a village with a population of around 1,700 people and a football club, Aston On Trent FC, so this might well be one for Duncan  https://twitter.com/mackay_duncan to visit in the future.

(British village life)

Arguably Aston’s biggest event is the annual Well Dressing Festival in July, which brings in a lot of extra punters and no doubt the pubs in the village cash in during this period.

The recent sunny spell will have been welcomed too after profits at Marston’s recently took a dip with Beast From The East one of the chief reasons (apparently) so the boys in Burton/Wolverhampton will be pleased to see punters drinking in 221 – The White Hart DE72 2AF on a Sunday afternoon.

(the old fake bookcase routine…)

The village’s second boozer, The Malt, is within spitting distance of this Marston’s pub so it was pot luck as to whether or not I could locate the Beerhunter.

There had been a 50^th birthday party the night before which the barmaid described as “messy…”

(Messy, apparently)

…and the fact it was used by locals for a party and it had a specialist corner seat suggests this place is used by locals.

It wasn’t packed by any stretch of the imagination when I rolled up with my youngest after his football game but what it lacked in numbers it more than made up for in warmth.

A really friendly barmaid went above and beyond in feigning interest in Super Mario Bros, which happened to be the game on his Nintendo, and they had a good chat (for quite some while bless her) on the merits of the game.

She was also chatting with locals about how the gaffer was out on a date and the place was happy although it had the feel of a morning/afternoon after the night before a bit as one or two punters looked a little bleary!

Another father and son combo were playing pool and there was also a dart board in there along with a beer patio and it felt like a solid local pub.

(secret garden)

I had a more than decent pint of Saddle Tank (Marston’s) which will be known as Burton Bitter to anyone who was around before the rebrand and it was relaxing – Super Mario conversations aside – to sit in the sun in a quintessentially British village and watch the world slowly meander by.

No sign of the Beerhunter though so he may well have been engaged elsewhere sourcing some excellent articles for me to glean a whole host of info from!

There is still one pub left in Aston on Trent though…so you never know…