Pubs the length and breadth of Nottinghamshire are celebrated in the 2023 Good Beer Guide. The 50th edition of the best-selling book is published today, Thursday October 27., by the Campaign for Real Ale.
Beer drinkers can find out who serves the best mild, session bitters, golden ales and IPAs, from the smallest micro pub to bigger establishments with lounges, snugs and sprawling gardens More than 70 pubs in the county feature in the A-Z listings, highlighting the best spots in the UK for a stand-out pint.
Pubs from Arnold to Worksop, in villages, towns and Nottingham city centre are amongst 4,500 across the UK that have all been vetted by thousands of CAMRA volunteers to make sure they're worthy of inclusion. To be listed is hailed "a fantastic achievement" for a pub.
Read more: 'Beautiful' Nottinghamshire pub saved from closure by Shipstone's
One of those making the grade is a quirky micro pub in Kimberley, a town once famed for its brewing. Roots Emporium is like a shrine to Kimberley Brewery, which was the oldest independent brewery in the whole of Nottinghamshire.
Memorabilia, signs and pictures decorate the walls - and the ceiling. That was the only spot big enough to display the original 'Kimberley' sign from the brewery tower, rescued from beneath a pile of debris on the ground.
Teresa Smith and John Harrison turned a furniture and gift shop shop into a micro pub in 2016. It's deceivingly big. As well as room for 60 in the bar, there's space for a further 50 in the garden. It became so popular that last year they extended at the back, transforming a leaking garage into a cosy 20-seater outhouse with a log burner.
"Business is good - up until these last couple of weeks when the weather changed it's been back up to normal to what it was from before Covid," said John. Vintage signs for ales and cigarettes contrast with the sturdy wooden furniture, crafted out of teak, imported from Thailand. The showpiece is the unusual bar with the tree roots for the base and a polished counter.
Six changing beers, mostly from East Midlands' breweries, keep punters coming back for more. Currently Teresa and John are pulling pints of Black Iris's Bajan Breakfast, Thornbridge's Lord Marples and Oakham's Bishops Farewell.
Three lagers, two craft ales and a cider are also on tap. Teresa said: "Black Iris is one of our favourites. It's hard to say [what is most popular]. We've been lucky with all the beers. Thornbridge is a really good seller for us across the board, so is Black Iris.
"We put theirs on and sometimes it will go in one night and the same with Oakham, it's a very popular beer for us, but they like Bristol Beer Factory and Twisted Wheel. It's giving people a choice really."
An entry in the definitive beer drinkers guide doesn't do any harm at all and helps to pull punters in from other areas, who join the regulars whose ages range from early 20s right up to their 80s. Teresa said: "I love it - it can be hard work at times.
"It's a really nice vibe. We have been so lucky here. We've made a lot of friends. Rather than customers it's like having our friends round for a drink. We are so dog-friendly. They walk past and you see them trying to come in when we're shut," she added.
More than 40 Notts breweries are included in the guide. Amongst them are Nottingham city centre-based Angel, located within the pub in Stoney Street, Blue Monkey in Giltbrook, and Castle Rock in Queensbridge Road, behind the Vat & Fiddle pub.
The 50th anniversary edition of the guide has a foreword by King Charles, who said pubs played a vital role during the pandemic, going above and beyond to supply meals to isolating households, selling necessities such as bread and milk and trying to counter loneliness through virtual events and quizzes.
"Pubs truly have been at their heart of their communities, even when they were not able to operate as a business. This book provides an insight into the rich tapestry of UK pub culture," he said.
With nearly 1,000 pages, recommendations consider beer quality as well as the history and architecture of a pub and various aspects such as food, gardens, family and disabled facilities, and special events. CAMRA does not take any fees for listings to ensure the guide remains independent and unbiased.
Steve Westby, the chairman of Nottingham CAMRA, said: "This is the 50th edition of the guide and in that time the pub situation has changed beyond recognition. Back then almost all of the pubs belonged to our local breweries, Shipstone's, Home and Hardy's & Hansons. Mansfield Brewery didn't produce real ales back then although that did change later, with a few pubs selling national brews such as Bass.
"These pubs only offered mild and bitter in draught form, although the quality in the selected pubs was exceptionally good. Nowadays the pubs listed in the guide, and many others, tend to offer a wide range of quality cask beers in numerous styles and from microbreweries near and far.
"Whilst we continue to lose our local pubs almost on a daily basis, there is still a good number of excellent pubs and Nottingham CAMRA has a difficult job in selecting those to go in the limited space available in the guide. However, pubs are currently facing a torrid time with rapidly rising costs and it is important that we continue to support them or we will lose even more."
The first edition in 1974 was just 96 pages in length and listed around 1,500 pubs with a brewery section covering just 105 brewing companies. Today, the Good Beer Guide features 1,864 breweries across the nation.
CAMRA’s national chairman Nik Antona said: “It is a huge achievement that we’re able to celebrate 50 years of publishing the Good Beer Guide, and a real testament to the hard work and dedication of our volunteers, who undertake the assessments.
“What makes the guide unique is that all the entries are compiled and vetted by a huge volunteer team based around the country. We work hard to ensure that all areas of the country are covered and, unlike some competitor titles, inclusion in this book is dependent on merit - not on payment.
“The last few years have been an incredibly difficult time for the industry, and we need more support than ever before to keep our nation’s pubs open and thriving. I’d encourage everyone to use this year’s guide to visit the very best pubs across the UK and support them for generations to come.”
The guide is £16.99 from shop1.camra.org.uk
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