The Royal Children, Nottingham

A very inviting looking pub from the outside, but quite sparse on the inside. It's worth a visit as they do serve some well kept ales. I went for the Castle Rock Harvest Pale.

This pub has now re-opened following its refurbishment. I hadn’t been to this pub prior to my visit last Friday, so it’s difficult to make comparisons. But it’s now bare boarded, and I didn’t see the jugs and the like mentioned by Soupy; nor did I see the dartboard – I suppose I might have missed it, in which case it certainly wasn’t prominently displayed. My feeling is that it has been made to look a bit more Spartan and somewhat less “pubby”, which is not a good thing from my point of view. I thought that it was a very ordinary and uninspiring pub. There’s a sign on the wall on the left that informs us that the royal children in this case are those of King James II, who are said to have played in the area, possibly with the landlord’s kids, or some such tosh. They also have something displayed on the wall that is a first for me – a framed whale’s shoulderbone. I’m not sure why that’s considered to be suitable pub decor, but there it is. There were three ales on – London Pride, Bombardier, and Castle Rock Harvest Pale. We swerved the first two of course and went for the Harvest Pale, which was a decent enough pint. As I said, I don’t think there is anythink particularly memorable about this pub, unless you’re into whalebones of course, but it was there, open, and selling beer when we happened to walk past in need of a pint.

I visited here in May, 2011 and I believe it is now closed due to a fire in the June. However, I misplaced my notes for my Notts trip so they are a bit late! A 1930’s mock-Tudor style corner pub, replacing an earlier pub on the site. It is glazed brick, undressed brick worked into patterns, white panel and timber beams, with a slightly overhanging upper story. The front facing gables have oriel windows. The interior has an L-shaped room which is in red, cream and some wood panel, with a white ceiling and a mainly wood and chessboard style tiled floor. There are some general prints on the walls, with some old bottles and jugs as ephemera, as well as some old gas light fittings. There is a dart board at one end. There was a TV, which wasn’t on and the music started off as general and at a decent level, until the jukebox was activated and then it was pretty loud. The service was fine and the clientele seemed more younger based at our visit – hence the loud jukebox. Beer; usual tap stuff with London Pride, Theakston’s XB and Castle Rock Harvest Pale Ale on handpull. The HPA was fine. I enjoyed this pub until driven out by the loud music. A great example of 30 architectural thinking, when aesthetics were allowed in building!