The Vat & Fiddle, Nottingham

Situated just over the road from Nottingham train station, this pub is the brewery tap for the Castle Rock brewery, which is located in an adjacent building. The pub has a fairly simple three room layout, with the bar counter sited in the small middle section. Either side of this area the pub opens out and provides plenty of seating as well as a dartboard and TV screen in the room to the right. The rooms are decorated in a pleasing white and dark purple colour scheme and one room has a wall full of various certificates awarded to both pub and brewery. There are some benches outside on a paved area at the front of the pub and I arrived to find they had been taken over by a band of Morris dancers who, judging by the bemused looks from the bar staff, were giving an impromptu performance. The Castle Rock beers available were Sheriff's Tipple (£2.20), Harvest Pale and Black Gold Mild (£2.30), Hemlock (£2.40), Preservation (£2.60), Elsie Mo (£2.70), Screech Owl and Kiss Me Kate (both £2.90). Two guests were also on - Batemans Hooker and Salopian Darwin’s Origin - both priced at £2.80. Cider drinkers had Stowford Press and Old Rosie to choose from as well as Weston Country Perry. An interesting tap selection included Bitburger and Marston Oyster Stout. I tried the Elsie Mo and managed to squeeze in a quick half of the Kiss Me Kate before rushing off for my train. I thought the quality was very good - better in fact, than some of the other Castle Rock pubs I'd visited throughout the day. The bar staff were very friendly and helped me to sort me out with a few bottles of Elsie Mo to take back home with me. I was very comfortable in this place and would happily sacrifice visiting some of the other great pubs in town to spend a bit more time in here. As others have said, this is an excellent starting or finishing point for a Nottingham crawl and an essential port of call for anyone looking for great beer.

Seemed a bit of a low score for an excellent pub so thought I'd give it an 8 -from memory as not visited for 12 months. Always good beer range and atmosphere - not sure about the 'basic boozer' description earlier, that always seems like a 'wear a flak jacket' warning. It's a good, friendly pub, part of a chain (Tynemill) but still very individual.

There was only a standard selection of draught available in here on my visit, but taking into account that there are two pool tables and a nine ball pool table I don't think that the management is aiming at a real ale crowd. I was pleased to see a very nice dartboard set up towards the rear of the pub and the jukebox level wasn't too imposing. I also thought that the barmaid was very friendly and it looks like an effort has been made to make this a decent pub. My visit was on a weekday night so it wasn't very busy, but I liked it and would go again if in the area.

Superb start to the day’s tour. Brewery tap for the adjacent Castle Rock operation and offering their beers, plus guests, in top condition: Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Hemlock, Sheriff’s Tipple, Preservation, Elsie Mo, Okells Autumn Dawn, Newby Wyke Riverside, Nethergate Mild & Augustinian, Clarke’s Classic Blonde, Oldershaw Alchemy. Prices slowly increase by abv, Harvest Pale just £2. Classic tiled interior, banquette seating & wood tables around bar, opening to separate seating areas at each end, awards displayed on wall to left. Blackboard lists a dozen or so Belgian/German bottles, proper cobs available behind bar. Top notch, an opinion further cemented when we went full-circle & finished the tour here before train south next day. (review dated Sep08). Another visit 06Feb10 included a tour of the brewery (thanks Simon & Castle Rock) and the bar was pretty busy when we reached it around noon. Forest playing Sheff Wed was probably a contributing factor, indeed a lass from New Barrack Tavern was making the most of her 'one-over-the-eight' vouchers (next pint free). Bar was properly staffed & the service swift despite the crowd. This really is top-drawer.

The Tynemill pub group, which owns this pub, always allow their pubs to have a character of their own rather than moulding them into an identikit chain pub formula, much to their credit. This is one of the more down to earth pubs in the group but there's always a good amosphere, the ales and the service are top notch. A really good place to enjoy a few pints.

This pub features Castle Rock ales of course, though they do have what I suppose would have to be regarded as guests. I spotted London Pride and Crouch Vale Brewers Gold. In all, there were about 10 ales on. I managed to resist the temptation of the delights of London Pride and went for Castle Rock’s Preservation Ale. This was an excellent ale that I had not tried before, although I have to say that I did prefer Castle Rock’s Hemlock. The prices seemed very good to someone used to paying London prices. I didn’t make a note of all the prices, but the Preservation was £2.40 a pint, and the Hemlock £2.20. The pub itself is full of what I might best describe as pub character. It’s a real pub that is clearly a destination for those who appreciate decent ale. No sofas in here – just wooden chairs and wooden tables. There were even a couple of cats, wandering around totalling oblivious to the crowds of people towering above them. The floor seems mainly tiled, and an interesting thing I saw in the back room on the right was a photo gallery featuring numerous mainly closed and derelict pubs. Strange but interesting nonetheless. This is one of those pubs that doesn’t look much from the outside, but inside you get the real pub experience. Definitely one that I shall return to when next in Nottingham.