Chesterfield Arms, Stonegravels, Chesterfield

A good traditional pub and well worth a visit. Friendly and knowlegdeable staff. The music was at a reasonable level, but whatever was playing it was a bit morbid. This is a crackin pub and doesn't need any music playing, maybe it was the staff's choice, wouldn't have been mine. Georgian Oak panelled interior, with a low oak bar serving 12 ales. Three from Leatherbritches, which slipped down easily. Also went for Thornbridge Topaz and Ashover Hydro, glad there was only a short and direct walk back into town.

This large, traditional pub is located just outside Chesterfield town centre and is easily reached within 10 minutes on foot from the train station. In sharp contrast to Quinno's experience, the pub was packed on my Saturday evening visit, generating a vibrant atmosphere and making it tricky to find somewhere to sit. The front of the pub is effectively split into two rooms, both carpeted with plentiful seating, lit fireplaces and hop-lined dark wood panelled walls. Pewter tankards line the bar counter and muted lighting creates a cosy and warm feel. Music was playing surprisingly loud, but this was drowned out to a degree by the general hubbub. A passageway to the left of the servery leads to a room called the Barn, which has a high gabled roof and is decorated with various scythes and other such farm tools, a beer bottle collection and a stuffed squirrel among other things. The room has a short stretch of bar counter behind which there are up to six ales dispensed by gravity. Soft rock music was playing in the background and the room was a lot quieter than the rest of the pub. The house beers are supplied by the Leatherbritches Brewery, with Cad, Scoundrel and Bounder available at very cheap prices. Guests were in plentiful supply as well and a blackboard at the bar listed Fullers London Pride, Thornbridge Wild Swan, Everards Tiger, Raw Grey Ghost, Newman's Winter Hog Ale, Muirhouse Stumbling About, Mr Grundy's Trench Foot, Allgates California and Sambrook's Powerhouse Porter. Some of these were available on gravity from the bar in the barn and there were another two ales available here that weren't on the main bar - Jennings Cumberland and Stonehenge Danish Dynamite. I also counted six ciders racked up on the end of the bar. I thought the Leatherbritches Scoundrel was an excellent pint and I was disappointed to have left this pub to the end my visit, as I only had time for the one pint before my train back home. An excellent pub if this visit is anything to go by and one that I will certainly make a return to the next time I'm in town.