Canalhouse, Nottingham

A somewhat austere looking detached former Victorian canal-side warehouse in brick with rounded windows. There is a large covered patio area where the old wharf equipment is a feature. I believe it was a former canal museum. The interior has two stories, with the main bar being approach via a bridge over a loading bay complete with two canal barges, which makes for a pretty unique feature. The main bar room is in the cold, exposed brick of the warehouse, with wood floor, and a wood ceiling supported by black painted iron columns. There is a mix of stools, tables and chairs, as well as a couple of sofas in case you need to feel at home. Further seating and the bogs are upstairs. The ceiling has a collection of beer mats, which slightly brightens a rather uninspiring room. They do food here, but we had must the deadline for serving, so can't comment on that. There was a large screen TV which wasn't on at my visit and the music was general and at a decent level. The service was functional, and the clientele a small mixed crowd for a Sunday afternoon. Beer; usual tap stuff with Castle Rock Harvest Pale Ale, Preservation, Elsie Mo a decent Black Gold, as well as Batemans Spring Goddess and Blue Minkey's 99 Red Baboons. A great feature in the boats, a good beer choice and an excellent MILD - again, the review was written in May and i re-visited the other day - with the Clayton's next door, you would be hard pushed not to do it.

Famously quirky canalside ex-warehouse with its retained unloading dock and narrow boats. The main bar is a large open room, with a bit more seating available on the entrance side of the bridge. Apart from the heritage features, the main attraction is probably the Castle Rock brewery beers on offer. However, only four of the six handpumps were in operation - Harvest Pale, Preservation, Screech Owl and Elsie Mo (£3.00). Food-wise, the menu isn't extensive but I enjoyed the meal I had. Would definitely visit again.

There are already a number of excellent reviews below,I would only add that the unloading dock in the bowels of the building is thankfully preserved and is a real feature.On my Saturday night visit ,the two banks of three handpumps were serving 5 from Castle Rock ,namely Harvest Pale,Elsie Mo,Preservation Bitter,Hemlock Bitter and Screech Owl while Bath Ales Gem was the sole guest.No problem with beer quality and given the warm evening we headed out to the large cobbled canalside terrace which is awash with bench seating and is a great location to watch boating traffic and the antics of the many revellers visiting the canalside bars and clubs for the younger drinkers.Fair comment from others about the steep 2 floor climb to the gents,quite a challenge if well oiled. Much better than I thought it was going to be given the neon pubsign and doormen at the entrance,I would pop in again for the decent ale and that bit of canal porn.

As you approach this pub, which is situated inside a large canal-side warehouse, initial impressions suggest that you are heading towards a grim 'drinking barn' style experience. There are masses of seats and benches outside which were almost all taken on my sunny Saturday afternoon visit, with most of them occupied by a young, lager drinking crowd. But as you enter it becomes clear that this is something a little different. The entrance leads to a small bridge which takes you over a short spur from the canal which runs into the pub building. There were two canal boats moored inside when I entered. A line of seating runs in an L shape around the spur and beyond this the pub opens out into a single large room with the bar located on the far wall. This room is fairly unremarkable, with only the large pump clip collection on the ceiling beams standing out. Blackboards list ales and a large number of specials to complement the decently priced menu. They proclaim to specialise in pies, so I tried the steak and ale variety, which I'm sorry to say wasn't really up to scratch. Music was playing at quite a loud volume whilst muted snooker coverage was being shown on the large screen. The gents toilets are located on the second floor so a lengthy session in here will require a fair bit of climbing. This is another of Nottingham's Castle Rock pubs and they were offering Harvest Pale, Preservation Ale, Cowslip and the royal wedding themed Kiss Me Kate plus a guest of Bateman's XB. Stowford Press cider and Vedett Belgian lager were also available alongside a more mainstream keg selection and a massive bottled beer collection which was helpfully detailed in the menus. My pint of Cowslip was quite nice and I was served by a very quick and efficient, if somewhat brusque, barmaid. I think this is the sort of pub that will appeal to a wide variety of people and I certainly found it to be an interesting spot to spend a bit of time. Probably best enjoyed with a large group of friends or sat along the canal side in the height of summer.