Solid Estate Pubs #6: Vulcan Arms

I have ventured into the Pear Tree region of Derby before which isn’t quite as exotic as it sounds and still has good gritty pub stock.

Images of Pear tree-lined boulevards might be conjured up in the minds of the Southworths and Russ (if he’s not still on vacation in the Rockies) but Pear Tree is more terraced houses and urban beauty.

Thousands of them as it happens from when they housed workers at the old Vulcan Iron works and Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway.
Of course, older readers of this blog, (Duncan), will note that The Baseball Ground was also in Pear Tree, which is probably why this area still has so many boozers despite Derby’s switch to Pride Park in 2004.

Anyway, I’ve previously visited The Chestnut Tree – read here – and whist I was waiting for one of the Beermat juniors to finish playing table tennis at a nearby club I couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit a pub firmly in the Alan Winfield mould.

I’m pretty sure Paul WME will also have been here on his travels, as he is the Wolves version of Alan. The 716 – Vulcan Arms DE23 8RF is one of those places where you’re not quite sure if it’s open but the lights were on and I walked in and disturbed the barmaid who was sitting down behind the bar.

It had been a slow shift apparently but she soon warmed up and even put out the beermats!  John Smith’s Smooth was the option on the bar and at £2.80, it was a bargain!

A bloke walked in who built like a brick outhouse – a bit of an Idris Elba type – and asked where the barmaid was and I pointed him in the direction of the back where she’d just headed.

He looked at me and didn’t acknowledge me but he looked hard as nails so I looked at my John Smith’s and nodded in his direction.

The barmaid reappeared; he bought a couple of cans to take out and had a quick chat with her before disappearing into the night.

It’s a two-roomer, with space for live music and I reckon when this place is full, it is a definitely not for the faint hearted with plenty of lively lads.

It’s great to see these kind of pubs surviving and I can only imagine what this place was like in its heyday when the factories shut on a Friday or Derby were playing at home at The Baseball Ground…