Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come throu...
Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come through with a review at long last. :)
Member since:03.08.2001
Reviews:416
Members who trust:336
I love visiting new pubs and I also love visiting breweries to see how beer is produced (and maybe even get to sample some new beers). So when I can combine the two I am really happy! A recent trip to The Plough Inn at Radford near Nottingham, afforded me the opportunity to do just that ~ a nice pub with a brewery attached to the back…my idea of heaven!
We were travelling there on a trip organised by our local branch of CAMRA, but the pub is open lunchtimes and evenings (for all opening times visit http://www.nottinghambrewery.com/plough.html) and if you can get a small group together they will give you a tour around ~ if you arrange before hand (and for a modest fee of course).
The
Plough (and Nottingham Brewery) can be found at 17 St Peters Street ~ which is just off Radford Boulevard and Wollaton Road. It’s in a reasonably built up area, but it didn’t seem too noisy when we were there. It is the Brewery Tap of Nottingham Brewery, which means that they serve beers that are brewed by a brewery either attached to, or nearby. They also stock beers from others breweries, along with lagers, wheat beers, wines and usually a cask cider.
You can get a good range of meals from 12 ‘til 2 during the week and from 1 until 5 on Sundays ~ they also have curry nights, chilli nights and barbecues in the summer. There’s usually some sort of entertainment going on, ranging from Jazz and quizzes to games nights.
The pub has quite a bit of history behind it ~ there’s been an Inn there since at least the end of the 18th Century. It’s been owned by the old Nottingham Brewery, Tennants and Whitbread, along with various other pub companies and tenants.
The present owners have been there for about two years and they have helped produce a useful web-site that can give you loads more info (http://www.nottinghambrewery.com/index.html). It’s a really comfortable place and has a lot of character ~ it’s not a “Chain Pub” that follows a standard pattern and is decorated according to a company plan!
But, enough of that….on with MY visit!
Our minibuses set off in convoy and after a short trip down the motorway from Chesterfield we arrived at our destination. We all trooped through to the bar to get a pint in before we visited the brewery itself. The Plough Inn is a two roomed pub with a central bar area. It’s a friendly pub that is frequented by a variety of people (ranging from Beer lovers and students to a group of older locals who spent many hours there)…all these different people seemed to mix freely with no bother at all (not sure if this is different on busier weekends though).
All the Cask Beers ranged from £1.70 to £2.10 and the choice was truly excellent ~ our only problem was deciding what to drink first! In honour of CAMRA’s Mild Month, we ordered a four pint jug of the Rock Mild (3.8% ABV) which turned out to be not only great value, but a very tasty Mild indeed!
We were split into two groups for our tour of the Brewery, and seeing that we were in the second group we finished our initial pints and ordered our next round of drinks to take on the tour with us. Our group then made our way through to the brewhouse.
What followed was an extremely interesting and informative tour; and the pints of Legend (4% ABV) that we were clutching was top class too! Philip Darby (who was showing us round) used the right mix of facts, anecdotes and humour to explain the history of the Brewery and the brewing process. There was enough information for the more knowledgeable, but it wasn’t too scary for us Brewery Tour Virgins!
Nottingham Brewery and The Plough Inn are owned by Niven Balfour and Philip Darby. They brew a selection of beers, in their custom built brewery by the side of pub, based on the recipes of the old Nottingham Brewery (which was finally closed in the 1950s). Their beers are sold in The Plough and also in some other local outlets. They use a majority of Hereford grown hops (mainly Challenger, Goldings and Fuggles) and their malt is supplied by the Maltings in Warminster.
The tour came to an end once our pint glasses were empty and the rest of the evening was spent back in The Plough, after all there was a very nice buffet on offer (so I’m pretty confident the meals will be up to scratch) and plenty more beers to try!
Of the seven Nottingham beers available, we tried four of them and I can honestly say we didn’t have a bad pint all night. Judging by the happy faces around us in the bar (and on the journey home), everyone else had as good a night as us. We sampled the Rock Mild (3.8% ABV), the Legend (4% ABV), the Bullion (4.7% ABV) and the Magpie’s Pride (4.5% ABV) ~ all of them were good, but our favourite of the night was the Bullion.
All too soon (and before we could try the Nottingham Supreme) it was last orders at the bar and the minibuses came to take us back home. We set off; tired, happy, but undoubtedly merry! It had been a great night, enjoyed by all!
Pub & Brewery details:
The Plough Inn The Nottinham Brewery 17 St. Peters Street, Radford, Nottingham NG7 3EN
telephone 0115 942 2649
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
very helpful by (98%):
helpful by (2%):
