The Chequers Inn, Retford

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Will Larter left this review about The Chequers Inn

I remember coming here about 30 years ago, when we broke a car journey south from Leeds (my partner and our two very young girls) because I had seen something about this pub's canalside garden, probably in the Good Beer Guide. Nowadays there is a vast patio to augment what I remember as a simple grass bank, and the place was busy outside and in with lunchtime diners. I had cycled from Bilsthorpe, almost 20 miles by the route I took in an attempt to avoid main roads, and should really have had a glass of water to start, but I went for a pint of Pheasantry Ringneck, a beer that drinks better (NBSS 3.5) than the name sounds. (It's actually a descriptive name for a type of pheasant, not an instruction, which would have been spelt "wring" anyway.) It's good to see such a popular pub, but I was glad of the garden as the interior had a bit of a fried fish smell about it. I'm happy to have made a return visit after more than three decades, and to have found a very good beer, but I can't see myself hurrying back as it's not really my sort of place.

On 12^th June 2023 - rating: 7
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