Category: Real Ale Group

Our outing in September was by tram to the town of Beeston, which has many real ale hostelries. Meeting at the tram station at 5pm and using our free passes we travelled to Beeston.

A 6 minute walk took us to a micro pub named ‘The Pottle’ where we sampled one of their offerings. Walking by the back roads after another 5 minutes we arrived at ‘The Commercial Inn’ which having a handpump selection of ten ales gave us another opportunity as seen in the photo above.

The on to ‘The Last Post’ a Wetherspoon’s pub, with discounted beers and being curry night the opportunity for many to have a meal. Another stroll took us to ‘The Crown’ a great old pub of character with small rooms and wood panelling, again a wonderful selection of 8 ales. Just around the corner and we came to our final destination of ‘The Star Inn’, only 6 choices here, but all good quality drinks.
Across the road and catching the tram back to Hucknall after a most enjoyable evening.

Byron’s Rest – Mini Beer Festival – Thursday, 28th July, 2022

Regrettably the CAMRA Beer Festival at the John Godber Centre to be held at the end of July had to be cancelled, mainly due to the current hot weather and not being able to keep the casks of beer cooled.

Pleased to say that one of Hucknall’s micro pubs, The Byron’s Rest ,(voted CAMRA’s pub of the year 2022) came to the rescue and organised a Mini Beer Festival from 28th to 30th of July.

Eleven of our members rose to the occasion and spent Thursday evening sampling a selection of the twelve different beers available, all of which were announced as very acceptable.

We will be having a break in August and gathering in September to make a trip on the tram to visit some hostelries in Beeston

On Thursday, 16th June, Mark and Lynda, two of our members hosted a Beer-B-Q in their garden in sunny Linby. The weather was really kind to us, sunny early doors and keeping warm enough to be able to sit out all evening and enjoy the marvellous barbequed food – hot dogs, burgers, pork steaks, chicken legs, onions and pasta, accompanied by a wondrous selection of Mark’s nine different home brewed beers.

Our July outing will be to Hucknall’s Beer Festival, on Thursday, 28th July, being held at the John Godber Centre, meeting at 7.30pm. Tickets payable on arrival. All welcome.

On Thurs 19th May, 2020, fourteen of us caught the tram and spent the evening visiting and sampling the ales around Hockley, in Nottingham. Starting at the Six Barrels, then onto the Angel micro-brewery, then a very disappointing The Curious Tavern (majority of beers returned), which meant that we had no choice but to end up in Wetherspoon’s Lloyd’s No 1, before catching the tram back to Hucknall, only just remembering to sign our bus passes into the tram network before 11pm. A reasonable evening out, always disappointing when a pub doesn’t sample its own beer before serving.

Our future adventures include:-
On Thurs 16th June, Mark and Lynda have generously agreed to organise a “BEER B Q” at theirs in Linby, starting about 6pm to 6.30pm. Obviously, we will have to arrange our own transport to and from. However, we can catch the 141 bus at 5.59pm arriving at the Horse and Groom at 6.11pm. Taxi’s, walking, spouse pick up or car sharing home.

There will be a cost of £5 each which will cover food and a couple of free beers. Additional beers will be available at substantially below even ‘Spoons prices. On my last visit Mark had 9 beers available, all very good indeed. Alternatively, you may bring your own drinks should you wish for anything other than Mark’s home brew. Promises to be an exceptionally good night.

On Thurs 28th July, it is intended that we attend the delayed Hucknall Beer Festival at the John Godber Centre at 7pm. This is the first night of the festival and has the best beer selection and not as busy as Friday or Saturday. I will send a reminder out in early July.

On April 7th, 2022, a group of us met in The Pilgrim’s Oak, a Wetherspoons pub in Hucknall, to sample a few different beers during their mini beer festival.

On May 19th we are meeting at the tram station and journeying into Nottingham to alight at the Weekday Cross stop and sample the beers around Hockley. Unfortunately, our proposed visits to a display and talk at Nottingham University have had to be cancelled so we are looking at new proposals – always welcome!

In July we will be going to the far off village of Linby to a couple of the group’s house and praying for good weather. We will be having a ‘BEER-B-QUE’ sampling some home brewed beer. If any member would like to join us then we are open to both male and female members.