The Crown & Cushion, Chesterfield

A lively town centre pub. Open plan and full of jolly locals and some local knobheads too. Depending on where you sit you can have a good chat with a few pensionable blokes or be stuck with a set of tattooed gobshites all trying to act hard while stroking their fat arsed bint of a girlfriend. A few shiny handpumps on the bar but only Wainwright's on on this visit.

On my recent visit this pub had changed so much inside that I had to turn around and go outside again, to check that I wasn't in a similar building further down the street. It's owned by a pubco called Contemporary Taverns - I don't know if it's company policy to have loud music with a thumping bass in mid-afternoon on a market day, but that's what I got. The previous attempt at a cafe-cum-pub atmosphere has been cleared away and it's now a vertical drinking establishment with bare floorboards and a few high tables. On the bar I counted six hand pumps, with three beers and a cider. The beers were Marstons Pedigree, and Lancaster Bomber and Wainwright from Thwaites; the cider was Westons Old Rosie. So nothing earth-shattering in terms of choice, and the ear-splitting music means that this is unlikely to see a repeat visit from me, until the next makeover. (Date of visit 3rd November 2013)