The Babington Arms (JD Wetherspoon), Derby

Official site of The Babington Arms (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Babington Arms (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Converted from an old shop, the Babington Arms is a Wetherspoons with some covered seating out front that is shielded from the passing high street by large planters. Inside, the bar counter runs up the right facing open plan seating to the left in what isn’t the biggest Spoons. In amongst the usual keg are three banks of six hand pumps that were drawing the usual three plus Pedigree, Brewster’s Aromantica, Milestone’s Raspberry Wheat Beer, Wainwright’s Gold, Theakstone’s Old Peculiar, Otter’s Amber, and Titanic’s Anchor. The service was polite and the Amber was on good form, so I’d pop back in if passing.

This is an old-fashioned branch of Wetherspoons set in what I assume is an old shop unit, now opened out across a split-level interior and decorated in the fashion of many similar early ‘Spoons branches. You enter to the lower main bar area which is carpeted and offers plenty of seating, mainly in the form of basic tables and chairs at the front and high tables and stools further back. The servery is along the right-hand wall and has a traditional counter fronting a rather disappointingly plain bar back. Throughout this part of the pub, dark wood panels dominate the walls and etched glass partitioning screens break up the space a little, with plenty of those local history boards and photos dotted around, all of which date the pub to one of a vintage that they no longer churn out. A couple of steps to the rear take you up to a carpeted rear seating space with full height wood panelled walls, banquette booths down one side and a single long banquette down the other. A large bookcase to the rear houses a big stack of board games and this would by far have been the nicest spot in the pub to bag a seat, were it not for the fact that every single table was absolutely filthy, with stacks of plates and empty glasses rendering several tables unusable and the rest clearly not wiped down, with food waste on the chairs and no sign of anyone to come and fix the mess throughout the duration of my stay. On the bar, the usual three regular ales were complimented by five guests, of which I sampled the Bradfield’s farmers Blonde, which was in moderately good shape and served to me by a friendly barmaid who looks like she’d just as easy kill you if you dared step out of line. There’s some good stuff here, especially if you prefer the older style of ‘Spoons, as it’s quite a nicely put together pub, but the absolute state of the place made staying here for any more than the bare minimum a really unpleasant task. The lack of cleanliness also made the whole place feel a bit neglected and I will most likely only remember the negatives despite some obvious good points, such as a decent guest ale selection. There are enough better pubs, and better Wetherspoons pub for that matter, around the city centre to consign this to the ‘visited once, never again’ category.

This was the second branch of Wetherspoon's that we visited in Derby. This is much more of a traditional version of the chain and not quite in the same league as the Standing Order where we had been earlier. It is tucked away in a side street that is currently blighted with roadworks, but being a Wetherspoon's with their competitive pricing, it had attracted the usual large crowd of customers. It's one single, large room that gets darker the further you go back, due to the lack of windows. Toilets are up a flight of stairs, as usual. Ales on were the standard Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. Guests were Rudgate Ruby Mild, Marston's Old Empire, Falstaff Smiling Assassin, Coach House Post Horn, Hop Union Moose River & Mauldon's Black Adder. Ciders were Gwynt y Ddraig Black Dragon & Weston's Old Rosie.

A fairly mundane modern building Wetherspoons in the old wood-panelled style, but set aside by the excellent range of beers: no fewer than 9 local/regional ales on alongside the usuals. Beer condition seemed very good also. Bonus point time. Breweries featured on this visit included Falstaff, Bradfield, New Buildings, Stapleford, Small World Beers and Oakham.

The best JDW outlet I have been in for beer choice and friendly helpful staff who know and care about the beer they are serving. Enjoyed beers from Fire Island, Crafty Little Brewery, Beat Ales and Falstaff yesterday.