Owzat! A Classic Micro In Giltbrook

I blame Mrs BB.  Sending me out on a rare Friday off to IKEA to exchange some bed slats is way above the call of duty.

With Giltbrook (home to Blue Monkey Brewery) glistening in the sunshine and my chore complete after some remarkably good customer service what is a beer blogger supposed to do?

Anyone worth their salts would ignore the signs for M1 and instead head off towards Giltbrook and the Nottingham Road which, lo and behold, has a very nice new boozer.

I blame the Co-op. Apparently their newish store put paid to Giltbrook newsagents, which had been run by the Patel family for the best part of 30 years.

However, rather than give up they decided to show that great British entrepreneurial spirit and turned it into a Micropub!

This area of Nottingham is fantastic for disused shops being turned into boozers so full credit to the local authorities in here and Eastwood as this is rivalling Middlesbrough for Micropubs.

Anyway 357 – Caught & Bowled NG16 2GG which is on the Nottingham Road, is a cracker and a real blast from the past in terms of its owner.

Former sportsmen were often taking over pubs (Larry Lloyd springs to mind) and the PFA even ran a publicans course out of Henley College in Coventry for would be landlords.

(on the wall to help Joe Root with tactics in the Windies)

Akhil Patel played for both Nottingham and Derbyshire with his older brother, Samit, still plying his trade at Trent Bridge.  The newsagent was originally his parents but he has taken on the role of landlord and, from what I saw, was doing a pretty good job of it.

It really is tiny and reckons it can shoehorn 50 punters in, I reckon that’s optimistic, but it was full of life at around 3pm and with a landlord under 30 then he has energy to burn.

It is a Micropub but feels more like a boozer as there are two toilets, lots of cricket memorabilia on the walls and a lot of the punters were drinking Rattlers cider or Birra Morretti.

Don’t get me wrong a good percentage were drinking cask too but it was packed and a real mix of characters with children inside too.

With kids welcome, which isn’t always the norm in a small pub, this place felt as though it was catering for the community and a hub for chat – just like a newsagents was beforehand.

The Co-op also replaced The New White Bull which was knocked down so it was a double whammy and fair play to the Patel’s for spotting a gap in the market.

I had a cheese and onion cob and a fantastic half of Pale Ale (Hawkshead) and one of the local punters even squeezed up to let me sit on the bench seating.

There was a good crew of people outside when I arrived as well and I get the feeling this place caters for all ages and there was a real vibrancy proving that Micropubs aren’t stereotypical as they evolve and replace boozers.

I blame Mrs BB but will be volunteering for many more trips to IKEA for visits to Caught & Bowled shopping expeditions.