The Crusader, Nottingham

Doesn't look like the last part of the 'Pub + Dining' on the signage still applies , and the lounge / (former) eating area was closed off. The various seating areas in the smaller public bar have also seen better days... With a single, very disused handpump and even the keg Theakston's Mild off, had to resort to the John Smith's (£3.30) before moving on.

The Crusader is a large roadside pub next to the aptly named Crusader roundabout. This pub is on the busy A453 main road to the west of Clifton just up from the now demolished man of Trent pub. Up until very recently this was a Green King Hungry Horse outlet but has now been purchased by Heineken under its Star pubs banner. Most newly acquired star pubs I have been in recently have been extensively refurbished to a high modern standard so maybe this is a sign of things to come for the Crusader but on my visit it was still very much in the cheap style family dining type. There are two main room as you enter the bar area in a room to the right and a larger lounge area straight ahead. The pub is carpeted throughout but all the fixtures and fittings are in the generic cheap chain style that I don’t like very much. The pub was almost empty on my Thursday evening visit and to say it is the closest (and only) pub to the Nottingham Trent University Clifton there was not a single student in sight! What do students even do these days study?!!? The bars is split between the two rooms and bar staff can walk round and easily access both sides. There are no pumps on the right hand side bar but straight ahead in the dining room side are two pumps that were both clipped on my visit with Hobgoblin and Adnams Ghostship. The Ghostship was sampled and was in good nick at £3.05 a pin. It did have a very slight haze to it but nothing terrible and it went down rather well and was the best pint of the three Clifton pubs. Overall still the same as the old Hungry horse and soulless as I was almost completely empty which is magnified when such a large pub. Its probably the best bet for real ale in Clifton even though only two are available (thus is the strength of the competition) but let’s hope Heineken splash the cash a little as they have been doing and make this a place the Students and Clifton folk) can actually get excited about, its in a half decent location after all with good levels of parking.

The Crusader was built by Kimberley brewery in 1985 and is the only clifton pub on the west side of the A453. Once inside there were two largish rooms that were quite smart and comfortable,we had a drink in the lounge this had comfy bench seating and was carpeted. There were two real ales on the bar and the Kimberley bitter was a decent drink the other beer was Kimberley mild. This pub is still up and running and probably a Gk house with their bland beers on the bar. Pub visited 10/3/1985