Ego at The Old Ashfield, Sutton-In-Ashfield

Having passed this pub/restaurant on my visit to the area on Saturday, I returned yesterday and this time paid it a visit. Located on a busy traffic junction on the A38, it's a large corner pub with a car park around the outside. I arrived to find quite a few people drinking (and possibly eating) outside, enjoying the early spring sunshine. Inside, the bar is immediately ahead of you as you enter. There are seating areas to either side, with all tables set out for dining. A few high tables with seating are situated just to the left of the entrance for casual drinkers like myself. Service took a while, as all staff appeared to be tending to the late lunchtime diners. But there were a couple of real ales. Caledonian Deuchars IPA is the regular beer. The guest beer was Lincoln Green Smash, which I ordered. It was in a good condition, considering that this doesn't look like the place that would see much throughput of real ales. More of a restaurant than a pub. But worth stopping by to see what is supplementing the Deuchars.

We called in here as the first pub on a circuit of Sutton, mostly because it's a long way from the station to the town centre, and also because it was said to have real ale. Obviously it's much more a restaurant than a pub, but we were able to order a beer and drink it without having to buy food. Though we nearly gave up. We were preceded through the door by a group of four people - we'd have got there before them but were held up by a patch of snow on the slope at the edge of the car park. We then waited seven minutes while they ordered their drinks before being shown to their table. Most of that time was spent waiting for the barman to go and find a cucumber to put in the gin! Good grief! Just put a slice of lemon in it, what's the matter with you? Oh, they're probably worried about what it'll say on Trip Adviser. Anyway, there are two hand pumps and we both went for the local Lincoln Green Marion Pale Ale (eight miles) rather than the distinctly foreign Caledonian Deuchars IPA (306 miles), but I expect they both tasted much the same. Date of visit: 29th December 2017

The Old Ashfield page on the Ego Restaurants site - www.egorestaurants.co.uk

The Old Ashfield page on the Ego Restaurants site - www.egorestaurants.co.uk