The Greenhill Tavern, Alfreton

A multi-roomed pub in what I take to be the more recent part of the village, the building turns its back on the street and faces its own car park. Not a very edifying sight on the horrible grey, rain-sodden day when I was here, but the realisation that the pub was open coincided with a marked increase in the intensity of the rainfall, so I didn't take much persuading to go inside for a quick half. I got a warm welcome, which, as both the landlord and I were English, consisted of an agreement on the horrendousness of the weather. A slight disappointment that only one of the three hand pumps was serving beer, but the half of Bass that I had was in very good condition. Cider drinkers would have been impressed though, as the other two hand pumps had two different real ciders on. The beer was £2.50 a pint and the ciders £2.65 and £2.75, which are prices you don't see the like of very much these days. There was music playing which I initially found a bit loud, but a change from heavy rock to something a little gentler made it more tolerable. The room I sat in, with a window looking out onto a few very wet bench tables standing rather miserably on the edge of the car park, was very pleasant, with bench seating and chairs upholstered in tasteful fabric, wood panelling on some of the walls and local black and white photos where the walls were plain. These included a picture of the windmills (named James and Sarah after a local industrialist and his wife) that used to stand on this green hill, though there's not much around here that's green these days and, come to think of it, it's not much of a hill either. Worth a visit for the beer or the cider, though.