The Talbot Inn, Mansfield

As with Will before me, I was in town to attend a football match at the nearby Field Mill football ground. A sign on the door stated that away fans were not allowed. I promptly dismissed that and headed in. This is a Greene King pub and sure enough there was various Mansfield Town football paraphernalia on the walls. There only appeared to be one other customer who was watching the World Cup cricket. Indeed, for a full 5 minutes, no bar staff turned up either. This at least gave me plenty of time to peruse the drink options (or lack of them). The most interesting beer on the handpulls was some kind of porter from Greene King. Alas, there was a "settling in the cellar" sign on it. That left Greene King IPA & Abbot and another handpull clipped with Lilley's Cherries & Berries. Ice Breaker, Neck Oil & Cali Pale were the craft options I considered. But the Cherries & Berries won the contest. When the barman finally appeared from God knows where, he was unable to get any cider out of the handpull and had to disappear down the cellar (possibly where he had been before) to bring the bag-in-the-box up to the bar. Apparently it was the last box from a fairly recent cider festival. I also discovered that the porter would have settled enough by the weekend. So, it should be on by now. A further lengthy delay followed as I enquired if the 10% CAMRA discount offered off the ales also applied to the cider. After protracted interrogation of the till, the answer was declared to be no. With plenty of seating available, that presumably all gets filled at weekends and evenings when big sporting events are shown, I didn't really get the opportunity to make the most of it. I'd grown rather thirsty whilst waiting at the bar and had nearly finished my cider by the time I paid for it!