Merry Widows, Derby

When i first went in this pub it was called the Wrights Vaults,the pub was an Ansells tied house with a decent drink of Ansells bitter on the bar,the pub was renamed Merry Widows quite a few years ago. Once inside the pub still has two rooms,i had a drink in the room on the main road side,this was a small square shaped room with basic bench seating around the edge of the room,the room seemed quite bare to me,there was another room to the rear right off this but i did'nt look in it. There was one real ale on the bar,this was Doom Bar which went down well after my train ride from Sheffield. I was happy enough having a drink in here. Pub first visited 11/6/1982 Photo of Wrights Vaults taken 24/6/1988 Newer photo taken 2/10/2010 Recent visit 28/9/2013

We arrived in Derby at 11am for a crawl rount the city and this was the only place open near the station that served real beer, so we popped in. Never been in this pub before, despite doing many crawls in the city and working there for ten years. all they had on the bar was Doombar, but it was absolutly perfect in both taste and temperature. We ordered 2 pints and settled in to wait for our drinking buddies who were on a later train. The decor is sparce but clean and the toilets were very clean, what more do you really need when all you want is a place to sit and wait for an hour? Much better than a 5, I give it a 6 and will use the place again if the need arises.

An oddly shaped corner pub, with entrances in either street leading to two rooms linked together through an archway. There are a couple of hand pumps but only Sharps Doom Bar available on my recent visit. I must say my heart sinks a little at the sight of this almost ubiquitous beer, but the half I drank here was in pretty good condition. The décor is minimal, plain white walls with photos of footballers of yesteryear the only adornment. The music was "different", according to the notes I made at the time. Maybe I just struck lucky, but it does make a refreshing change not to hear the same old middle of the road pop music. No music at all would be my first choice, but if there must be music, let it be different!