Pink Coconuts, Pink Mohicans and Draught Bass

 

“We’ve always got Bass on…it’s the only cask ale that sells well,” said the gaffer of 248 – Metro Bar DE1 2DS.

Bearing in mind this is a bloke in a city centre pub with a pink Mohican (flattened down during the day!), glitter balls on the ceiling, DJ’s on five nights a week and a legendary Pink Coconut reunion night looming, then that is some statement.

It shows how unique Derby is as I can’t imagine any other cities (Burton is a town) whereby a city centre boozer would have Bass on as it’s cask ale option.
Mind you, I can’t imagine many other city centre boozers full of sports screens and bouncers of an evening that would have cask ale on (I stand to be corrected of course).

The Pink Coconut was, apparently, a top nightclub back in the eighties and nineties in Derby and a couple of my pals who worked there at the time often mentioned that was the place to visit for all the international bright young things.   It also had Den and Angie visit and there was no bigger claim to fame in that era!

However, this is now 2018 and the gaffer was working on his impressive England chandelier whilst I ordered a £2.70 pint of Bass.

As World Cup displays go, it was quite impressive and whilst we now know France won it, this was a pub owner, quite rightly, promoting his boozer as a place to visit for the football.

It was 1.00pm on a Tuesday so I am guessing I was the first Bass out of the traps and therefore it was decent but not award winning.

Nonetheless, it was good enough and it felt like this place was just warming up for the day as there were three other punters watching the world go by and the big glass doors thrown open.

Disco lights, fruit machines and a pool table suggest that this place is very much a town centre boozer and the funky Athena style eighties art…

…

mean it is probably catering for the thirtysomethings as opposed to the younger market.

Derby never ceases to amaze me with the amount of pubs it has tucked away in various corners of the city and whilst Birmingham or Nottingham it most definitely isn’t as a shopping destination, it more than holds its own as a drinkers destination.