The Fox & Grapes, Nottingham

Largish place with bar to middle left. I never went in when it was The Peggars, but this place is a good pub with good service. Boards above the bar with the cask ales on sale. Mainly Castle Rock but there was an IPA from another brewery at 5% ABV. Would definitely return to this one.

The Fox and Grapes is a longstanding pub on the edge sf Sneinton market that has recently reopened. This a very historic pub as it was the scene of a very famous Murder in the 1960’s where the landlord was stabbed to death on the doorstep of the pub after giving his dog a late night walk. The murder tio this day has never been found. Although officially the Fox and grapes for years it was known locally as the Pretty windows due to the etched “pretty” windows at the front of the pub that were unusual for Nottingham in that period gave the pub a iconic stylistic feature. This was a pub operating under Market trading laws and tus opened in the early hours of the morning to serve the market workers of Sneinton Market. Sometime in the 90’s the pub was rebranded Peggers and was under banks ownership where it was more student orientated and featured live music. After being closed and boarded up for over a decade the clever bunch at Castle Rock saw an opportunity with the redevelopment of the Sneinton market area and gave new life to the abandoned pub. After a naming competition online votes could choose what to name it with the original fox and grapes piping pretty windows with Peggers also in the running. Inside the pub is one open plan square room with hard wooden floors. The pub is newly opened and thus is still a little bare inside and is yet to stamp its own character the the place. The decor is fairly standard with traditional wooden tables and chairs but in a bright and airy modern fashion in contrast to a lot of Castle Rock’s more traditional boozers. The bar runs horizontal to the main entrance towards the back. Eight hand pulls line the bar with four castle rock beers always available and on my few visits these have never changed and are Harvest Pale £3.20, Preservation £3.40, Elsie Mo £3.50 and Screech Owl £3.80 which is about 20-30 P more than their usual pub charge but this place is slightly more trendy and central to the city. The four guests were from Charnwood, Abstract Jungle, Black iris and Fullers (ESB £3.80) which was kept really well and slipped down a treat. I’m glad on old boozer like this has opened up as it is in a prominent position near the ice stadium and located near the fantastic King William IV meaning a little crawl around her can be supplemented by the newly opened Neon Raptor Brewery tap room. Although a little bit modern for my liking I believe over time it will come into its own and gain a bit more character. Nice boozer and more of a 7.5.