The Alexandra Hotel, Derby

Out of all the pubs close to the railway station this is the most railway themed. On the left the main bar, wood floors and lots of train memorabilia on the walls. The bar staff were very efficient and friendly. The Thornbridge Wye was a very pleasant pale ale (NBSS 4). There was a good range of other beers available. The pub felt very comfortable and unspoilt. I could have easily stayed here all evening. A definite return visit if travelling by train or staying in Derby City Centre (Visited on 12th February 2026).

Excellent pub, great beer selection and wonderful railwayana. For an afternoon out with old friends it's the perfect venue with nothing to dislike, other than perhaps the roadworks outside!

Pleasant two bar pub close to Derby station. The entrance porch has a door to the left for the Public Bar and another to the right for the Lounge Bar. I tried the Lounge and found a part carpet, part bare boarded room with padded bench seating around the perimeter and a small servery next to the entrance. The bar has a nice dark wood counter with matching bar back and gantry, plus a bell to one side for attracting attention should the barman be in the other bar. The beer board has been hung from the front wall, which means it is very easily missed and keg beer was listed alongside the cask options, so it seemed very easy to make a mistake when ordering from it. There are some nice leaded windows to the front and in the porch area, whilst the room has been decorated with some excellent old brewery posters, mirrors, beer trays, beer mats and a very large, illuminated Home Ales sign. By far the most striking feature though, was a real, live rabbit complete with hutch and run, which occupied most of the rear part of the room - I know I was at the end of four very long days in the field, but I swear I wasn’t hallucinating and there was an actual rabbit running around the lounge. After that, the Public Bar could only disappoint, despite being slightly bigger and offering similar bench and low stool seating options. The room has been decorated with some great old railway memorabilia, which I didn’t have enough time to properly browse through. The beer boards were a little tricky to navigate, but I think there were somewhere in the region of 8-10 cask ales, mainly from breweries such as Castle Rock, Nene Valley and Pentrich. I tried the Nene Valley Hop Stash (£4.00), which was in decent condition. The pub was very peaceful on my Monday afternoon visit, with just a small handful of other punters slowly coming and going, all seemingly unfazed by the whole rabbit thing. This is a really good pub, probably overlooked a little due to its proximity to the classic Brunswick Inn, although these two do make one hell of a double header and a great introduction to Derby’s pub scene for anyone fresh off the train. I liked this one a lot and could’ve stayed much longer had I not needed to leave for my train.