The Ned Ludd, Nottingham

Pleasant modern bar with a mix of furniture and semi-traditional decor, partly compartmentalised by a couple of screens. Narrow patio to one side. Run by Great Northern Inns, also owners of the Navigation Brewery (three of whose ales - New Dawn Pale (£3.00), Daniel Diggle and Pints of Peace - were on handpump, plus Purity Pure UBU as a guest).

This pub, formerly the Stop Bar, refers to itself as a craft beer venue, but stylistically has very little in common with the way craft beer bars are presented in most major UK cities. I found this to be a rather smart and comfortable place with a definite pub (rather thank bar) feel to it. The place has a decent sized interior with the bar immediately to your left upon entry, sporting a dark wood counter, white tile bar back and a slightly unusual series of huge spot lamps where you might normally expect to find the gantry. The bar area has tiled flooring, but there are generally bare boards throughout, with the exception of a small carpeted seating area focussed around a nice decorative fireplace with a number of mirrors on modern wallpaper above. Standard chairs and banquettes fill the majority of the room, save for a couple of high tables and stools close to the entrance. The décor is fairly straightforward and clean, with a white tiled wall to the rear and a nicely wood panelled wall alongside the bar both covered in a large array of abstract black and white photographs - an interesting alternative to the usual historic local scenes you tend to find in most pubs. A centrally positioned pillar and some partitioning screens do a surprisingly good job of breaking the room up, making it feel a little more intimate than it might otherwise have done. Music played throughout my late night Wednesday visit, which was too late to enjoy any food in the upstairs dining room. Beer menus on each table bring us back to the pub's craft beer aspirations and I think I counted 14 keg beers and ciders, covering a range of brewers from the familiar to the obscure from the UK and further afield. This is complimented by a good bottle list, mostly from the UK and US, plus a few cider options and crucially, four cask ales, which on this visit were Shipstones Original and Navigation Middling, Daniel Diggle and New Dawn Pale. I sampled a pretty good pint of the New Dawn Pale - served by a smiley barmaid on a fairly quiet mid-week evening. The Shipstones is a permanent fixture, as are beers from the Navigation brewery, so there might not be a great deal of variation in the ale range between visits. I found this a very comfortable place to settle down over a drink or two and could imagine it's the sort of place that non pub going friends might be happy to visit. The ale range might lose some appeal after repeat visits, but given that I live 150 miles away, that shouldn't prove a problem for me and I would happily return.

This building used to be an Indian restaurant,then opened as Stop bar a proper pub with one real ale on,it has now been renamed the Ned Ludd and has more real ales on. Once inside there is a single oblong shaped room with the bar facing,there is now bench seating to the rear right and normal tables and chairs in other areas,there is a small divider in the middle of the room with tall stools arond it. There are four pumps on the bar,i had a drink of Shipstones bitter which was a very nice drink,but not as bitter as the original Shippos bitter,this was very expensive for Nottingham at £3.60 a pint,the other beers were Navigation Apus/ Artic blast and a beer from Everards but i could not make out its name,there were lots of craft keg bitters on from Camden and the like,no doubt these would be really expensive. There is now a seperate restaurant which is upstairs. The pub was fairly busy on my mid Saturday afternoon visit with a good mixed bunch in. This pub is ok for a drink but too expensive for more than one. Pub visited 3/5/2014

This bar is now called Ned Ludd, and has been recently opened as such. It advertises as having craft beers, cask ales, and real ciders served with an innovative and exciting menu of artisan food and local produce. It does open at 8am to serve breakfasts. We called in as it was on the road back from Nottingham Castle, and it was a bit strange to be greeted by a young lady at a podium thingy and it made me think of a restaurant and waiting to be seated. We were made welcome for a drink only though, and the bar had plenty of the "craft" beers on fonts, plus around 4 cask ales. The Navigation Apus was served in good condition. Toilets were downstairs.