Spanish Bar, Ilkeston

Four pulls with Oakham Citra, Exmoor Fox, Doombar, a Dancing Duck beer and four T-bars of mostly Molson Coors national brands on the counter to the left greet you as you enter this multi space bar. The space down a step to the left appears to be another bar, I spotted three pulls and a T-bar in there but I suspect nothing different. The place goes back a long way and there’s a garden at the back and another room off to the front right, it’s probably several shops knocked together. Decorated with a very nice stone floor pattern Lino with cream or navy painted or distressed wood wallpapered walls. I think the Spanish bit is the Madri and Estrella lagers sold, it possibly includes tapas on its menu as well. I found it a little impersonal and the beer average.

This is a large and very lively pub spread out across three or four distinct areas. You enter into the main bar space with the servery down the left-hand wall of a stone tile floored room, with chairs and low stools to the front and high tables and stools further back. The walls have been painted in a purple and cream colour scheme which makes some parts of the room feel bright and airy, whilst other spots have more of a darker, cosier feel to them. The servery has a long, slightly curved counter with a stone wall bar back topped with a large TV screen showing live football, flanked by two large clocks. Some fancy light shades and unusual artwork on the walls add a good amount of visual distraction in what might otherwise have been a plainer space. To the front left is a side room with overspill seating, whilst another slightly raised side room to the right of the bar has loads more seating, another TV screen showing the same muted match and a mix of quirky art and plain mirrors on the walls. The pub runs back past the bar, into a packed room which seemed to have some sort of Elvis impersonator doing his thing to great acclaim, although he took a break before I had time to fight my way through the crowd and was replaced by some very loud music blaring through the sound system. Four cask ales were pouring – Dancing Duck DCUK, Oakham Citra, Thornbridge Jaipur and Sharps Doom Bar. The DCUK was in very good condition and served to me by one of the friendly and efficient bar team who kept things ticking over nicely despite the packed house, ensuring no long queues at he bar. With some time to kill before my bus out of town, I stayed for a quick half of the Citra, which was also on fine form. This was a somewhat manic visit that is surely not representative of a ‘normal’ visit to this pub. The place was absolutely rocking on this particular Sunday afternoon, and I enjoyed being part of that and sampling some of their well-kept beer, but I can equally imagine settling down here for a quiet pint or two at less busy times.

I was expecting some sort of tapas related nonsense here but was pleasantly surprised to find a decent, if slightly rough around the edges, pub. The place is bigger than it looks as it stretches back. 7 handpulls of which 5 were in use with one, sadly, dispensing Doom Bore. Beers from Oakham, Blue Monkey, Whim and Exmoor made up the others. A good pub.

Our visit coincided with a beer festival, but at first the pub was so busy that we struggled to find it. Eventually I made my way through the scrum in front of the small stage where some middle aged men were rendering their versions of 1970s minor hits and found a substantial stillage where about forty barrels and pins were arrayed. There were about half a dozen beers and a similar number of ciders left. This was the last day of the festival but the two beers I tried were both in excellent condition and at the correct temperature too. I hadn't realised that one of them, Salopian Polygraph, was a 7.4% monster, and I blame this for my failure to maintain sobriety for the latter half of our pub crawl. Regular beers on the bar included Whim Hartington IPA, as mentioned by previous reviewers, Fuzzy Duck Ruby Duck and Oakham Citra. I'd like to come back here when it's less busy, but on the other hand, the festival beers were such good quality I'd have no trouble in coming to the next festival either.