The Queen Bess, Ashby, Scunthorpe

The Queen Bess was busy with a local crowd during a recent midweek mid-afternoon visit. They were sat along the banquettes that run around the exterior walls to the front and left and also on the tables in the centre of, what I assumed to be, the public bar. This room is carpeted and has wood panelling from my grandparent’s era along the right-hand wall and around the curved bar counter in the right rear corner. This is a Sam Smiths pub so their usual keg was available. There was one table free so I sat and watched a group of four vocally playing cards on one of the centre tables, everyone else seemed to doing the same. An old gentleman walked in and a big cheer went up, they had all been betting on what time he would arrive, the winner taking just over a fiver. The service was friendly and there was a good atmosphere, especially for a Wednesday. This is a large pub, but only the smaller public bar was open. I wouldn’t go out of my way to revisit, but if I was passing I would pop back in to see if the rest of the pub was open.

A post-war estate pub, but this one is listed among ten of the best: https://heritagecalling.com/2018/05/...post-war-pubs/. It's a Sam Smiths pub with no real ale, and my half of Dark Mild was very cold and very frothy (not much chance of a top-up either). The pub itself is well-preserved, though not to museum standard as some of theirs can be. The chief glories are the bar counters and the large ballroom to the rear, which has a pool table and a snooker table too. (I've taken some interior photos, to save everyone else the trouble of going to Scunthorpe to see this gem!)