The Kean's Head, Nottingham

The Kean's Head is a Castle Rock pub in the pleasant Lace Market area of Nottingham and with a good alehouse feel. There is one single room with exposed brickwork on two sides. The lengthy bar has an impressive range of spirits behind the bar with the full list of beers and cider above them. There was also an Untappd TV screen above an old fireplace now used as seating. The Untappd screen had however frozen on the Belgian beer page. Pumpclips can be found on the walls and beams. There was also seemingly a Collectors Card available to earn discounted beer. Service was not the best. The barman carried on messing with his laptop at the end of the bar when we arrived and I was nearly on the verge of walking back out again when he finally decided to head over and serve us. Castle Rock ales on were Harvest Pale & Screech Owl. Guests were Bass, Little Brewing Company Epiphany, Salopian Oracle & Vocation 10th Birthday Cake. Ciders were Broadoak Crimson King, Gwynt y Ddraig Fiery Fox & Lilley's Raspberry Mojito. Craft beers were Vault City Love Potion, Lil' Cheeky, Blood & Ink (Blackberry, Cherry, Plum & Squid Ink Sour) & Crunch: Chocolate & Honeycomb Imperial Stout, GlassHouse Nix, Three Hills Small Steps: Winter Edition, FireRock Uvavu, Polly's Nova Moon, Neon Raptor Kong Island (2024) & Pentrich Sonic Reducer. After a half of the Epiphany, a further third of the Kong Island set me back in excess of £7. Although, it was 15%. Food is Indian with menus on each table. There was a very strong smell as we entered the pub, which was slightly offputting. Glasses on our table from the previous customer remained on our table as whatever the barman was doing on the laptop must have been far more important than running the bar. As such, our glasses were duly left on the table too, when I would normally return them to the bar. The beers I had were in good condition. The drinks range is impressive and I like the pub itself. So, I will return. However, it is slightly let down by the service.

A great little vibrant pub with a good beer selection as recounted by Mr Fastard below. There are nine hand pumps in all, five taken with the aforementioned ales , the remaining four given over to Ciders, unfortunately I failed to note what they were. A proper, must visit pub.

I was impressed with this small pub situated up a pedestrian lane ,tucked away from the main drag.It's a single room with bench seating to the left and the complete back wall dominated by a very full bar.To the right side is a former fireplace now used as a seat and lots of exposed brickwork and the pub doubles as an indian restaurant with a very interesting menu ,hot dishes probably very powerful ! However it's a boozer first and foremost despite advice to book a table if dining. The ale options on my trip were Castle Rock Harvest Pale,Castle Rock x Siren Crush,Arbor My Little Sabrony (NBSS 3.5),Bass and Riverhead Memento Mori .There is a gantry of 10 indie keg options from the likes of Funky Fluid,Deya, Tartus,Nothing Bound,Hudson Valley,Vault City, Omnipollo and Mikkeller while the large whisky selection is ordered into regions viz Cambletown,Islay,Lowlands,Islands,Highlands,Ireland and Wales.I suspect this range will be outstanding if whisky is your thing. I will certainly return and sample more interesting beer in one form or other.Dont miss out on this fine ,drinking pub.

Ok pub near the church

I've been to the Keans Head many times over the years, and I always recommend it when people ask me, but I still can't seem to warm to it. Maybe it's the smell of curry, maybe it's the plain rectangular room with tables set out like a school canteen, maybe it's the slightly offhand attitude of the staff, or a combination of all three. There's no denying the quality of the beer though, so maybe that's what keeps me coming back. At the time of my visit there were five cask beers on, though another was pulled through while I was there. There were also 10 keg options (their website says now up to 18) and three ciders. My half of Byatts Coventry Bitter in November 2021 was very good; in May 2022 I went for a porter from Deya called Hokum Stomp 5.6% at £5/pint but have no record or recollection of it - beers here are always in very good condition, though. This is still apparently a Castle Rock pub, but on my recent visits there was just one of their beers on. Last visited 23rd November 2021 and 10th May 2022.