A Further Ten Towns To Drink In You May/May Not Have Heard Of

It’s that time again…Dave will hardly be able to contain his excitement keep awake as a series mooted in a throwaway comment by my transatlantic chum reaches Chapter 4.

With more thrills than a Birmingham City season/Brexit campaign trip to a Wetherspoons toilet, here are ten more towns/suburbs/villages/hamlets you might just want to visit if you’re at a loose end.

Of course, when you start something then you have to invent silly rules criteria and the only one that matters in this is the fact anywhere named must have (at least) three boozers.

Loosely speaking, you might actually have heard of most of these (it’s number 31-40 for heaven’s sake and I’m not Martin or Duncan) and the second ruling is they must be in the Midlands.

Previous instalments number 1, 2 and 3 can all be read here but there are plenty of pubs still going strong.

However, since it’s a quiet week, in no particular order, here are another ten Midlands towns to drink in you might not have heard of

Uttoxeter

Stafford Paul’s favourite pub town and Fry and Laurie’s favourite pisstake town as well as being home to the famous Vaults boozer with a remarkable array of pump clips.

A racecourse, Wetherspoons, Micro pub as well as solid boozers with dogs called Elvis running amok along with an average pugboing age of around 65 means this East Staffordshire town is a mecca for trad beer and ‘proper’ pubs.

Etwall

A South Derbyshire suburb which despite its size possesses an impressive four boozers. Spread Eagle is a proper local along with Hawk & Buckle, which has some terrific beer.

Seven Wells is still the winner of the most packed pub on a Thursday afternoon award as the grey pound filled their boots and with this place on a bus route from Derby then it will no doubt be featuring on a Southworth travel bonanza soon.

Kegworth

This Leicestershire village is just off the M1 and has some fairly spread out boozers in the village. Cap & Stocking is an archetypal backstreet boozer with flat Bass from the jug…

…a new Micro is threatening to drag people back into the centre whilst The Red Lion is also a Bass based proper old school trad pub extravaganza.

Alvaston

One of the best Derby suburbs for old school pubs situated just off the A6. A marvellous Art Deco M&B boozer to rival ‘Spoons in the shopping centre with The Needles and James Wyatt both proper estate pubs alongside a new build next to McDonald’s that is morphing into a ‘pubbier’ place on every visit.

Chuck into the mix two more backstreet boozers not yet visited and this is one of the go to suburbs who like a bit of grit, edge and raucous life from their pubs.

Melton Mowbray

A big Leicestershire Market town en route to Oakham and definitely has the full range of bars as well as world famous for pork pies.

A Bass house in the centre as well as a Micro and some fantastic traditional old buildings such as The Boat mean this really is a must visit place.

Thornton

A valuable addition to the LE67 scene, which is the best pub postcode in Britain. This Leicestershire village possesses three pubs and a terrific Reservoir walk.

Not sure how easy it is to access apart from by car but a real throwback to old school village life.

Newcastle Under Lyme

Everyone knows this place, which is not in the North East but, in fact, next door to Stoke. It might well paint itself as the upmarket neighbour to its better known Potteries brother but it has some stonking pubs.

Old Brown Jug is a blast from the past and with pubs such as The Museum and The Cask Bar then there really is something for everything.

Part of the best pub walk in the Midlands ‘The Hartshill Mile’ takes place through ‘Castle as the locals like to call it and you might even bump into Matthew Lawrenson or Six Towns Mart on your travels!

Eastwood

A Nottingham suburb and Home to independent shops, D H Lawrence, Tony Woodcock, Jeff Astle and the shop unit converted to a Micropub.

Eastwood’s Golden Mile runs along the Nottingham Road and possesses a huge amount of new pubs along with some longstanding traditional ones. Even a Carry On Film was filmed here back in the day!

Breaston

A village near to the beer mecca of Shardlow, Sawley and Long Eaton on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire borders has three crackers. A well to do kind of place with pubs full of afternoon drinkers and friendly punters.

Shelton Lock

This Derby suburb on the A514 wins an award for the ‘pubs with the most written hand pump clips’ as two out of their three seem to specialise in it.

The fact that one of them was only £1.50 tells you all you need to know as it is earthy and gritty. However, a surprisingly gastro pub has usurped the Hungry Horse and sits nicely amongst the DCFC pubs with pool tables and Pedigree.