Ladybower Inn, Hope Valley

Will Larter left this review about Ladybower Inn

My first visit here for some time, prompted by hearing that Bateman's had taken it over. Well, that was a while since, actually, but having decided to cycle back from Litton via Bamford, it seemed like a good chance to see what sort of pub it was now.

I reviewed this pub in 2013, a rather angry review, not caused by any one incident, more an accumulation of things that annoyed me. "Every table was set up for dining... aggressive smell of cooking... the sort of vacuous modern pop that needs to be played with the volume control at 1, not 11... unfortunately the wallpaper is just that: unfortunate... the we-don't care-if-they're-obviously-fake beams... no one really cares if customers here have a good time or not." My word! I was in a bad mood that day.

Today, it was different from the moment I approached the bar and saw the three Bateman's beers: XXXB, Dark Mild and the 5G Session IPA, brewed to celebrate 150 years of the brewery, or five generations of the Bateman family. I went for halves of the first two and they were both very good, the mild, or Dark M as it is now called, so tasty that it's hard to believe that it's only 3.4%.

The young man serving was very friendly and welcoming, and when I asked about the closing time of 7pm that I'd seen on their website he tried to answer my query to the best of his knowledge, but when it went beyond his pay grade he politely asked me to wait while he got the manager. When the manager appeared we had a very friendly conversation about the pub's situation with no habitation nearby, so reliant on tourists, the weather and public transport. The latter is a concern particularly because staff come from Sheffield and the last bus is before 7pm. If the pub happens to be busy he is happy to stay open longer and drive the staff members home, but if the weather has been bad and the pub is dead, they sometimes close at 5pm. We discussed Bateman's, for whom he and his wife have worked for more than 20 years, and the quality of their beer, and Camra members scoring beers, and modern breweries not being as good as the old style family brewers.

I barely had time to look around before I had to be on my bike and over yon hill back to Sheffield, but I did note that it was looking very smart, with plain white walls minimally adorned with pictures of local scenes, the toilets were spotless and I didn't smell any fish or sausages like I had back in 2013. Before I left I told them about my old review and said I was going to delete it later, even though it was nothing to do with how they run the pub now.

As I cycled away I was thinking of how to arrange a trip here by bus, fairly soon.

On 2^nd May 2025 - rating: 8
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