The Real Ale Group is thriving and now has 40 members, we meet once a month and visit different areas, hostelries and events, always using public transport for our journeys, either Tram, bus or train.
Our outings for the past year are as follows:-
August 2025, we visited the Sneinton/Hockley area of Nottingham, travelling by tram and visited The Bath Inn, The Vine (not a good pint), The King William (Billy) and The 6 Barrels.
September 2025, We were in the Nottingham City area and visited The Barrel Drop, a micro bar, The Dragon, which has a Scalextrix race track, The Bell, (the actual oldest pub in Nottingham, originally the Angel) ending up at The Malt Cross.
October, Mark Thornley organised a visit to a micro bar in Annesley called The Squires Musters, which had a selection of 3 real ales and the landlady put on a selection of cheeses and snacks for us, which was greatly appreciated.
November, Greg Umney organised a trip to Mansfield by train, starting at The Station, The White Hart (a Samuel Smiths pub that has no TV’s Music and allows no mobile phone use or any swearing or raised voices – unfortunately stopped serving real ale), The Garrison (a micro bar themed on the TV show ‘Peaky Blinders’, which also had entertainment on that night)
December we stopped in Hucknall, going to The Baker & Beer, The Hideout, Byrons Rest and Pilgrims Oak.
January 2026 saw us in the Canning Circus area of Nottingham, visiting The Organ Grinder, The Falcon, Sir John Borlase Warren and The Hand in Hart.
February we attended the CAMRA Real Ale and Cider Festival at the John Godber centre, where we had over 80 different beers to sample (but not all of them!)
March we did what is known as ‘The Tram Trail’ using the tram to, between and back The Lion in New Basford, The Fox & Castle in Old Basford, The Bulls Well in Bulwell and finally, Byron’s Rest in Hucknall.
April saw us down the Trent Bridge area, visiting The TBI, Tent Navigation, Embankment and lastly the Vat & Fiddle.
May we were back to the Nottingham Castle area, going to the Roundhouse, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Salutation and finally The Malt Cross, which surprising had a Drag Bingo night, a surprise for all of us.
June and July we had A Beer B Q evening. In June we were at Mark and Lynda’s and in July at Gary and Tina’s, both parties brew excellent real ale and provided us all with exceptional barbecued food, burgers, hot dogs, kebabs, pulled pork, jacket potatoes, roasties, salads and a multitude of desserts, both were a fantastic evening, with 30 of us indulging, many thanks to both couples. See photos.
Melvyn Francis
