Great Inner City Pubs: #1 The Falstaff

I don’t know about panic buying in supermarkets but there is a definite sense of panic pub and pint purchasing amongst beer bloggers.

A potential two month ban on new boozers is looking increasingly likely so any windows for a pint in a ‘new pub’ have to be grabbed.

Forget about queueing at Tesco for bog roll, give me a queue at a bar any day of the week and I thought I’d (potentially) sign off in style.

552 – The Falstaff DE23 6UJ on Silverhill Road in the Normanton region of Derby manages to tick all the boxes.

Estate style backstreet boozer – yes; friendly welcoming locals – yes; an abundance of chimney pots nearby to attract potential punters – yes;

cheese board on a Sunday – yes;

dart board – yes; purple pool table – yes;

juke box – yes; on site brewery – yes; award winning beer – yes; pints of absolute nectar for £2.50 – yes.

If you were going to build a pub now you probably wouldn’t tuck it away in the corner of Silverhill Road but way back in 1886 this was in a prime position.

There is plenty of Offilers’ memorabilia around and the architecture stands out in its surroundings whilst it was named after Sir John Falstaff, a character in a Shakespeare play.

It was flogged off by Allied Breweries in 1995 and Falstaff have been brewing there for 17 years now and there is a good range of top beers.

It’s a three roomer but just the bar and lounge were open and all life was congregating in the bar. I counted 12 punters apart from me, which created a great atmosphere in a small area.

I had a pint of 3 Faze (Falstaff) at the bonus price of £2:50 and a barfly next to me couldn’t have been happier.

“You can’t complain at that price…look how clear it is and you just know it’s going to be good,” he said. He was necking the Stella but was absolutely right and very chatty.

The old boys on the bench seating were chatty or engrossed in their newspapers and occasionally supping or visiting the cheese board.

A couple were on it and they revealed that the friendly lad at the bar was celebrating his birthday and the women celebrated with a rendition of “Covid19” to the tune of Dexy’s “Come on Eileen, “

It was nicely lively and the old boys were watching the birthday celebrations starting to warm up as it was around 3.30 when I got there.

This sort of pub is definitely a dying breed but an absolute classic. I am sure Martin, Duncan and Si have all been here as it is definitely a GBG candidate and it just oozes pubbery.

(backstreet boozer)

As I left virtually everyone in the boozer said goodbye and the core of regulars in this place are as welcoming as they come.

What a place, what a pub. Off the beaten track but well worth a trip into Normanton and when travel plans return to normal make sure you book this as your first holiday destination.