The Victoria Hotel, Nottingham

The Victoria is a grand old red brick building that must surely have been built as a station hotel even though direct access between the Northbound platform and the pub garden is via a gate mentioned below or a footbridge for the other platform. I went in the room on the right which is a square room with a tiled floor, benches, tables & stools and had a roaring fire. The five hand pumps here had Everard's Tiger, Burton Bridge Bitter, Blue Monkey Ape Ale, Hop Studio Barolo and Adnam's Ghost Ship. I went for the Ape Ale (£3.70) which was excellent. This is a fine old pub that has been well restored and is highly recommended. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked here so it's a strong 9.

The Victoria is a large pub located directly next to Beeston train station and is house in a very impressive old building that had been derelict for a long time. Thankfully it has been wonderfully altered into one of the premier real ale destinations in Nottingham. As you enter there are rooms to the left and right that are divided by a wall and served at the back from a long bar that runs the entire with of both rooms. Further on from the left room is a dining are for the home cooked food that is served daily, there is no menu because the food is made on a daily basis and is taken out once it has ran out giving a great variety every time and is of really good quality. There is a fantastic selection of real ales available and beer quality is always spot on and unlike some pubs have a vigorous checks and balances system to monitor every beer to make sure it is never kept in too ling. On my last visit there was : Castle Rocks Harvest Pale (£3.10) Fullers London Pride (£3.30) Everards Tiger (£3.30) Holdens Black Country Bitter (£3.20) Caythorpe One Swallow (£3.10) Burton Bridge Golden Delicious (£3.20) Lancaster Southern hemisphere Hopped Ale (£3.20) Full Mash Séance (£3.20) Hop Back Citra (£3.20) Scribblers One Brew Over The Cookoos Nest (£3.60) Welbeck Abbey Nightingale (£3.70) Caythorpe Dark Gem (£3.10) and daleside Stout (£3.30). a fantastic range and the few we tried were all great, open fires and a terrific beer garden that hosts live music, a proper destination pub that I urge anyone to seek out.

Still a 9. Nothing has changed at the Vic for a very long time except that the gate to platform 1 of Beeston station is now unlocked and you can get direct access to the beer garden and pub beyond. The rise of some fine drinking establishments in Beeston has not diluted the popularity of the Vic and it still gets very busy. An excellent first and last stop if you do a rail trip to Beeston, which I strongly recommend, given that there are now at least 7 decent real ale pubs in the town, a good Spoons and a new micro, soon to be joined by a second.