Tap 'n' Tumbler, Nottingham

Now a Greene King house so I wasn’t expecting much especially with IPA and Abbott in the line up of six, however there was a choice of three from Nottingham Brewery and a Shipstons clone from somewhere (I thought GK bought the name so I swerved that one). Served in a handle glass things were looking bad but no it was a fairly decent pint. Dark interior due to dark grey paint job everywhere, scarce lighting and being a deep pub with a big central servery, at least the pool table is well lit. There’s a snug with leather benches and a bit of panelling to one side showing what might have been lost and a larger comfy seating area down the other side which is well equipped with games and heavy metal decor, including melted records and guitar necks embedded in the tables, mirrors and lots of paintings of rock stars by a local artist decorate the walls. Guitar necks also form the door handle for the gents. Fancies itself as a rock 'n' roll pub but maybe hasn’t the edge, although a few of the punters did.

The Tap & Tumbmer is an ex Shipstones tied house that was one of three pubs on Wolloton Street,the pub is now opposite a large hotel which was built in the early 80s,there was an old pub situated on part of the hotel site that was called The Wilberforce Tavern,now sadly long gone. Once inside the layout of the Tap & Tumbler is the same as it was in its Shipstones days,the bar faces on entry and there is a single room which is now bare boarded the roo extends to the rear on each side of the bar and the rear areas ares are down one step,there is comfy bench seating to the front with small stools,the tables have LPs stuck on them which gives a clue as to what the pub is like,there is now a pool table to the rear right,the rear left side is carpeted and still has the bench seating in bays. This is still a rock orientated pub that has live groups on in the evening. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Nottingham Rebel Y'ale,which was a very nice drink,the other real ale was GK IPA. There were a few old boys in on my Saturday dinner visit,no doubt the rockers turn up later in the day,there was rock type background music playing. This is not one of our regular haunts but we do go in now and again. Well worth a visit if you like loud rock music and drinking with the type who like that,we do. Pub first visited 1980 Recent visit 3/6/2017

One of the last true rock/music bars left in Nottingham now the Old Angel has gone all middle class. The tap and Tumbler is located up Wollaton street and is easily missed as it’s a street in town with not much else on it of particular interest so does not get that much footfall. The pub is a large square shape with a square centrally located island bar. The clientele are mostly made up of punks and rocker types but are all very friendly and welcoming and as you would expect the pub has a brilliant jukebox and some really good tunes were playing. On gig nights this place gets very busy and has a very lively atmosphere to it, it’s a really eccentric yet appealing pub. The bar staff are very friendly and polite and served me a pint of Their own pale ale brewed for them by the Nottingham Brewery called rebels ale (£3.20) which was a very nice well-kept refreshing pale in in the classic Nottingham brewery style, the other beer was GK IPA which was a shame but this pub is owned by GK so I presume they don’t have that much say in the matter. These two beers are repeated on the other side of the bar so it looks like just two usually on but I always say it’s better to have two well-kept ones rather than loads of bad ones. A nice feature is the pump handles are replaced with guitar necks. It’s good to see a place like this still operating and I wish it all the best, not really my type of place but I would be happy if I ever found myself here again.