The Rose of England, Nottingham

The Rose and Crown is an attractive Victorian pub built as the brewery tap for the original Nottingham Brewery back in 1898. It was built by local architect Watson Fothergill whose gothic influences can be seen in the wonderful dark wood and red brick exterior and its impressive first floor bay windows. It is the only remaining example of a pub designed by Fothergill after the Black Boy Hotel was demolished. The pub has been through a few guises in the past, trading under names such as The Yorker, City Alehouse and Filly & Firkin, but a 2002 refurb saw it rightly return to its original name. Entering through the corner door, with its lovely wooden porch, you find yourself in a decent sized L shaped room with banquette seating running around the perimeter and standard chairs elsewhere. Along the front of the pub there are three alcoves which may possibly represent the locations of three separate rooms in a former layout. Each alcove is carpeted and the windows behind the banquettes have etched glass bearing the pub’s name. A hatchway between two of the alcoves has been filled with a fish tank. There was a good lunchtime crowd in when I visited, mostly an older clientele enjoying food from the classic pub grub menu where main meals are priced around £6.00. Music was playing throughout my stay and the place had been decorated with all sorts of novelty Halloween tat, so when I went to pick up a newspaper from the rack on the wall, I turned round to find I was, rather embarrassingly, trailing a load of fake cobweb behind me. I believe there is a second bar upstairs which has a stage for live music, but I didn’t get a look myself. Plenty of hand pumps on the bar, but most were doubled up and at least one was hidden under a werewolf arm. This meant just the four ales to pick from – Wells Bombardier, Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Arundel Trident and Greene King Abbot Ale. The Harvest Pale was in good shape and the barman was very friendly and welcoming. Perhaps the pub’s fine exterior raises expectations too high, but I was a little underwhelmed by both the interior and the ale selection. It’s a friendly enough place and seems popular with diners but it didn’t quite do enough to make me want to rush back.

You couldn't miss this one as it is striking when walking down Mansfield road. Quite busy and bustling this pub, with people in and out all the time. Music was quite loud on our visit, with the usual high street pub mixes. Service was good and staff friendly. Four ales on Bombardier, Harvest Pale, Directors and Jennings Red Breast, which was good.

A corner pub in mock-Tudor style that is slightly garish, but in a nice way - it has character. It is in stone and brick with brown salt glazed tiles and has projecting bay windows and dormer windows. There is a patio. The interior has an L-shaped room with grey and wood panel walls, with some brown patterned wallpaper and a grey and white ceiling. There is a nice green tiled fireplace at one end. There are a couple of TVs that were showing motor racing at my visit, as well as a fish tank, which is a little different. There are old photos of Nottingham on the walls. The music was general and quiet. We ate here, the menu was a standard budget kind of thing and the food was OK. The service was fine and the clientele consisted a busy and mixed crowd. Beer; usual tap stuff, though no MILD. Castle RockHarvest Pale Ale, Doombar, Bottle Brook Celtic Porter, Hobgoblin, Bombardier and Mordue Brewery's Radgie Gadgie on handpull. The Doombar was OK. A better choice of beer than what you may expect. A generally nice enough pub which we originally only went in to eat. Worth a visit.