Before I start this blog post I have to give a big shout out to Adil Rashid….with England set to drag defeat from the jaws of victory in the fourth ODI against the Windies he produced a remarkable over and took four wickets in six balls to secure an England win.
Loosely speaking, this ties in with recent glut of Micropubs in the vicinity of Nottingham IKEA as at least one of them is heavy on the cricket theme.
There have been quite a few theories around as to why this area of Nottingham has so many new boozers but I have to say I reckon Martin’s is the best.
FACT: There are now 87 micropubs within a half hour’s walk of Nottingham (Kimberley) IKEA you can visit while your husband/wife is buying Swedish crispbread and giant posters of cats. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
The only possible incorrect fact is that IKEA is in the Giltbrook suburb as opposed to Kimberley. Everything else is factually correct – no doubt about it.
I mean who wouldn’t want to open a watering hole in a shop that has been closed down due to the fact it can’t compete with IKEA’s prices?
Following the success of the Nottingham model and the 87 new boozers opened up in recent times expect to see similar outbreaks of a blizzard of Micropubs (Copyright – Pubmeister 2019) in Coventry, Croydon, Warrington, Wednesbury, Milton Keynes and Aberdeen.
There is no escaping them in Eastwood and after spending a bit of cash in the coolest shop on the main Nottingham Road (for gents of a certain age)
(they sell retro beermats)
then it was off to 360- Mellor’s Mews NG16 3NQ
This was a friendly place and has been open for around 18 months with its claim to fame being it is the first purpose built Micro in Nottingham as opposed to a former butchers/bakers/candlestick makers.
(sun drenched)
It does beg the question…who is Mellor?
Nonetheless, this is a place that likes its sport and this makes no bones about its Forest connections as they have an evening with Bryan Roy looming whilst there was also a bit of Tony Woodock memorabilia on the wall.
I recently watched “When English Football Ruled Europe” on ITV and it was a classic throwback to my childhood, as English teams won the European Cup an unprecedented seven times in eight years (that’s the Champions League to anyone under 30 or Russ)
Of course, Forest picked the trophy up twice with Woodcock playing a major part and he is arguably the only player who looks younger now than he did in 1978!
The bar had some great beer on with a good range of Oakham Ales but I plumped for a cracking BBB badged as Mellor’s Mix, which I think is from Abstract Jungle Brewery.
There were a handful of people inside minding their own business, but the barmaid was very chatty and bubbly and moved on to cleaning the windows whilst I moved outside with my half pint.
I was joined on my table by another sun seeker and it turned out he had spent a lot of his time in Worcester after choosing to live there as opposed to Dudley with his previous job – a wise move!
As he drunk his Peroni, always a good sign that this is a proper pub alongside male and female toilets, he was waxing lyrical about the pub scene locally and recommended The Gamekeeper’s, pub, which proves I have good taste!
It just oozed chilled out sunny Friday afternoons as more punters arrived and filled up the outside tables and meandered inside for a drink.
(this way for beer)
Well worth another visit but there are so many to choose from in this region that it almost seems wasteful to return …well worth a visit and the shadow of IKEA might hang over the shops but it seems to be doing wonders for the wet led pub trade n Eastwood – long may it continue.
Been at the Etihad so missed cricket. Will just go for a lie down having seen the scorecard and come back.
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Nail biting stuff! Well done on another win…back to back titles are definitely on ⚽
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5 for 85 🙄
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Ignore his first eight overs 😀 the ninth won it!
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Isn’t Mellor a nearby village? Got 5 micros I think.
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It was five when you wrote but two more have sprung up in the last minute ..no wait…it’s now eight!
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Mellors was the name of Lady Chatterley’s Lover which fits in with D H Lawrence being from around those parts…well, that would be my guess.
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That must be it 👏 I knew I could rely on you Pete to lift this blog to higher literary levels!
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Hence the other two literary references in Eastwood – “Gamekeeper’s” micro and JDW’s”The Lady Chatterley”. Up in Hucknall the local scribe theme continues with “Byrons Rest” micro and Byron Bingo !
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Ah! Great knowledge Pete and I didn’t realise Hucknall and Eastwood were such a literary hotbed!!! I particularly liek the fact a Bingo Hall is on the list!
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Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire – although apart from a bit of thoughtless bowling from Wood in his last over, I never thought it was in doubt. I backed Windies at long odds at the end of England innings, knowing they would come out firing on all cylinders, cashed out for nearly 2-1 just before Windies lost it to naivety. If Gayle could\would run Windies could have knocked the runs off.
Not sure about someone else’s beers badged as ‘house ales’, why pretend? Stew & Oyster near me do it and call it Nowt baht hops. Really it’s Kirkstall Pale with a handful of dry hops. A couple of years ago someone else brewed it but they negotiated a better deal, what’s that all about?
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I don’t have a huge issue with it as supporting a local brewery and three Oakham beers on as alternative
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Agreed. I just prefer the Ronseal philosophy – exactly what it says on the tin!
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“Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
Of course not. It merely indicates women are finally getting it into their heads that their blokes don’t like to shop the way they do. 😉
“expect to see similar outbreaks of a blizzard of Micropubs”
My lawyer has advised me to inform you that the use of the word ‘blizzard’ to those of us from Canada constitutes a microagression. 🙂
“(they sell retro beermats)”
And what appears to be a nice collection of beer mugs.
“(sun drenched)”
That looks familiar (from one of you lot obviously).
“(that’s the Champions League to anyone under 30 or Russ)”
Ta. Wouldn’t have got that on my own. 🙂
(oh… UEFA! I would’ve understood that)
“he was waxing lyrical ”
Blimey. I just used the phrase ‘waxing lyrical’ in a comment at Mudgie’s blog. 🙂
“but it seems to be doing wonders for the wet led pub trade n Eastwood – long may it continue.”
See my first comment. 🙂
Cheers
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Waxing lyrical is one of those oft used phrases in good old Blighty Russ!
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I’m the proprietor of the vintage shop mentioned here on your site so I just want to say a big Thankyou for including me!!!
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Ha – now worries pal. It’s a class place. We need more Independent shops like this. I’ll get round to some more Nottingham boozers soon…
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