Hardwick Inn, Hardwick Hall Nr Bolsover Derbyshire

Hello,

  tonight I have been out for Fathers Day. Yes, I know, its not fathers Day. But Wee Fatha is as curmudgeonly and impatient as myself, hence, swarms of overly tense hyper expectant non realists makes fr a shit Fathers day n the world of pubs. Much netter than to go the day after, and more specifically to somewhere we know well.

The Hardwick Inn can hardly be called a pub in the traditional sense. The floor size of the bar is insignificant to the warren of rooms large and small for eating in but somehow that doesn't matter. Maybe if we went for just a drink this may be galling but I can't think of an occasion on which we have only gone for booze. its nearly always for a meal, and tonight was another of those occasions.

Hardwick Inn is also an anomaly in the Beefy Household because we seem only to go once a year pr twice maximum, despite having never had a bad meal or pint there. It isn't really even that long a journey from Wee Fatha's near Mosborough, so its puzzling why we don;t go more fem, apart from the fact that it usually warrants a celebration of some kind.

Tonight we found a space to sit in one of the far rooms near the kitchen and were served relatively fast considering the bar was heaving. Notable was the presence of a lot of people with sickening joviality stood around blocking access to the bar wearing suits. Or bellends, as I believe the anthropological term is - a nuisance of suits, is the group identification term.

Our annoyance was lightened when we spotted the bar - its never been a haven of small brewery excellence n here but the (perhaps now gone) Youngers signage shows you it used to be all Scottish and Newcastle, and irrespective f who now or during its numerous incarnations owned the pub it was a surprise tonight to find not one but two independent Locale's on the bar. There are five handpumps to choose from, although one appears to be a strange Black Sheep one suggesting keg through a swan neck? I shudder to think, and given that itg was the oft abused Sheep, I ignored it.

Better though was the range of Theakstons XB and Old Peculier, Bess of Hardwick Best Bitter from Brampton, and the excellent Chatsworth Gold from peak Ales.

We all started on the Chatsworth Gold and it was in fantastic nick, perhaps the best pint of their beer I have had. Alas this emant another jaunt back to the bar, picking our way through th ignorant forest of the thinking bypassed suits, to get more delicious golden ale supplies.

The meals are not too expensive and generously proportioned, and come relatively quickly - am not saying there can't be a suggestion of any reheating but if there is its incredibly well disguised because all three of our meals were tremendously tasty and entirely satisfying, which warranted further Chatsworth Gold. I had the pork steak with black pudding and Stilton and mushroom sauce with chips salad and veg. The black pudding was memorably tender and full flavoured and the pork was cooked to a tea, with a slightly smokey flavour.

After eating Wee Fatha was treated to a dram of Glen Scotia single malt from a lengthy and exemplary whisky list, before I ordered a half each of the Brampton and Peak Ales, along with another half for WF and Wee Keefy. Finishers were coffee and a pint of the Old Peculier for me.

This is a pub we never tire of visiting and despite its food emphasis, its always worth a look - especially now not every beer seems to have to come from a regional brewer. The Peak Ales Chatsworth Gold was fantastic. If you pop in after 21.30 its much more pub like and given the notable vintage of the building (16th century I understand) its well worth a visit.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy 

Wee Beefy's Derbyshire Pubs

Now then,

     I promise this is the last retrospective/regressive look at pubs of my youth (for now at least, until I age ten years or more beyond my last period of pub and beer writing, which started in about 2005...). And can I also apologise for the lack of photo's of any of the pubs listed below.

In 1995, for it was then, I was asked by a friend to produce a guide to my favourite pubs in Derbyshire. I insisted that this would be a mammoth task unless I concentrated on one area, and designated a random swathe of the county "South Derbyshire". Of course, this was entirely erroneous. Its more like mid to South West Derbyshire. Sort of ten miles either side of the River Dove. Ish....

Anyhoo, I listed nine pubs that I liked, probably half of which I got from the GBG, some of which may have been introduced to me by Wee Fatha. I confess that am unsure why I stopped at nine, unless I wanted the list to be printed on one side of A4 only?

A copy of the handwritten list, missing my rather obtuse descriptions, is reproduced below (not in preference order I admit) :

1. Winster : Old Bowling Green, 
2. Kirk Ireton : Barley Mow
3. Parwich : Sycamore
4. Hartington : Joseph Cotton (I know, I know, its the Charles Cotton...)
5. Alstonefield : The George
6. Fenny Bentley : Bentley Brook Inn
7. Fenny Bentley : Coach and Horses
8. Earl Sterndale : The Quiet Woman
9. Chelmorton : Church Inn

What I find interesting about this snap shot is that I was 21 when I compiled it, and it features a lot of very traditional pubs (so seems my tastes haven't changed), and a few that are, quite frankly, still classic pubs. The Barley Mow and Quiet Woman are still firm favourites, remaining unaltered in nearly two decades, and I have been to all of them in the last couple of years, except for those in Fenny Bentley.

Also, as if anticpating the future of village pubs (the good future that is, where they remain open...) I notice that some of the featured pubs have received plaudits for taking a central role in their communities. The Sycamore at Parwich particularly, in having received TV coverage, has made the pub the hub with a shop inside the premises, and the Barley Mow at Kirk Ireton opened a shop in an adjacent building a few years ago. In 1995 I am certain there was at least one shop in each village (in my day, etc). See more info about the Sycamore here from the excellent Gettothepub.com.

Finally, I note that all but the Hartington, Alstonefield and Fenny Bentley pubs were still featured in the 2011 Good Beer Guide (I don't buy GBG's, I inherit them, so will have to wait til September 2012 for Wee Fatha to receive his new 2013 edition), many having been featured for many years now.

Which begs the question, given the ongoing success of most of the above pubs, who's assessment of the best pubs in the area in 1995 was most prescient - mine or the respective CAMRA branches?

Well, I had considerably less resources and pub going experience, so....

Wee Beefy

Pub review - Ladybower Inn

Evenin,

    I don't often do a pub review, but then, I don't often go to new pubs, not in Sheffield anyway (Caveat 1 : given that, despite its grand remote setting, the Ladybower Inn is only 15 minutes drive from Crookes, I'd say this is a Sheffield pub, and further, its one that I have only ever been to once before Monday.)

The Ladybower Inn is actually in a kind of Bermuda Triangle of Dark Peak pubs for me. At one vertex (don't let me down brief Internet search!) is the Snake Pass Inn, it's the furthest point away, and I have only been once, certainly as a drinking adult. At vertex two is the Yorkshire Bridge Inn - I went there when I was in my early 20's and was so horrified by the prices I never went back. The third point is the Ladybower, with a similar number of visits chalked up. Its safe to say then that I am overdue a visit and assessment of all of these pubs, and the first is the Ladybower Inn for a celebration meal - 20 years for my Dad in his salubrious flat! (Caveat 2: I haven't checked on a map to see if there are 3 equal points between each pub, and that's before we consider the different characteristics of different triangles, which, erm, I'll just leave well alone...)

One of the striking things about the pub is that parking up in the car park across the road, its fairly obvious that the lie of the land makes this the absolute best view afforded from the premises (as confirmed when looking back from outside the pub). The above image may well fail to convey this point, being a camera phone photo shot in fading light, but I was already wondering whether our meal could be served in the car...

The exterior of the pub is quite plain and shows quite a few additions to what was presumably the original pub. There is seating outside, and accommodation in converted out buildings on the left. I remembered it looking modern but think I had just returned from a very old traditional pub on that last visit, because to be fair its quite pleasant to look at. Weirdly, its stonework reminds me of a number of Robinson's houses, but I can't really explain how that would be the case.... (except perhaps the red signage?)

Inside is a rather modern bar slightly out of place hiding behind a truly enormous beam leading its length. The right hand room (in so far as it can be described thus, in essence every internal wall has been taken out or at least knocked through ) is a room with slightly more traditional tables and a big fireplace. To the left is a long room leading to the extension which then curves down some steps to the toilets and a fire exit. Its quite chilly down here, and I sense this is the last part of the pub to fill up, unless some diners are after privacy. The decor is country pub with a modern twist, some a little contrived but a lot of the features are plain and understated which is a nice change. And unless this was a failing of my famous lack of eyesight, I didn't see shelves and sides cluttered with "rural" bric a brac either.

We sat on the right hand side and ordered food from a reasonably extensive menu, with quite a few pub staples but a few more interesting options (some of the vegetarian dishes looked interesting, although there weren't that many - and no tomato and basil penne pasta my veggie friends will be relieved to hear). The specials board was very good and all the choices appeared to be available. Me and Wee Fatha had pot roast brisket in Guinness gravy, which came with green beans, carrots, roast parsnip and mashed potato, Wee Keefy had medium rare fillet steak with chips and veg, Chala had gammon steak with local eggs, chips and veg.

The bar was stocked with 5 real ales, one of which, the Acorn Barnsley Bitter had run out. This left Greedy King Ruddles County, Greedy King something else, Brains Reverend James and Bradfield Farmers Blonde. WF was just back from Wales so surprisingly went for a half of the Rev James, Chala was on wine, and me and WK both had pints (several it turned out) of the Blonde. I think it was £2.65 a pint - quite a good price full stop, and more especially so in this part of the peak District.

 Our Brisket was a tenner, WK's fillet was £16.00 but it looked like an £8.00 piece of steak to be honest, Chala's gammon was around the £11.00 or £12.00 mark. When the plates came (about a foot wide), it was clear that there was a very large serving of each, but better still it was also soon obvious that the food was very nice indeed. The pot brisket melted in the mouth and was set off by the Guinness sauce, and the veg were perfectly well done, al dente, but crucially, not cold or raw.

The gammon was the size of a large tea cosy and cooked to perfection, i.e tender but with a crispy edge, WK's fillet was cooked exactly as requested and, having tasted a bit, was packed with bags of flavour. In the end we were all too full to attempt a dessert (£4.85), but luckily me and WK had room for many pints of Bradfield. There was also a decent wine list.

When we had arrived about 19.30 there was only us in, which is not surprising on a lonely road on a cold Monday, but there were several groups of diners in when we left, filling half the pub, with quite a few staying there, so that seems like a good sign.

The beer was well kept and topped up without asking, and to be fair its a decent range for what is a pub with quite an emphasis on eating.

*

I would definitely consider going again for a meal or even just for a summertime pint.

Wee Beefy.


*Caveat 3: I only took 3 photo's all night. I think this is perhaps obvious!