The Red Lion, Nottingham

The red Lion is centrally located on Ruddingtons main high street and is fairly striking as the entire lower half of the rendered whit exterior is painted red, probably the most central of Ruddingtons pubs. As you enter there is the bar to the left as well as another room to the right that we did not visit as well as a door leading to possibly more rooms towards the back of the pub. This is the most “local” pub in Ruddington and attracts a less middle class crowd than some of the others which give this place a bit more of an atmosphere as it makes it feel like more of a proper pub. Inside the decors is quite old and a little warn but it retains a lot of character and was dark but cosy. There was a reasonable few in on my Saturday evening visit and most were standing and dancing to a gut playing a keytar and singing some classic hits. Beer wise there was one pump on the bar with Old peculiar turned round so we didn’t think we were going to be in luck until the girl said on the other bar they had Theakston’s best bitter. We opted for this and it was perfectly fine at £3 a pint. Overall I enjoyed this down to earth pub as it was a bit of a break from some of the classier pubs and made you feel more at ease. Having a good ale on was a real bonus and I would visit again.

The red Lion was an Home Ales tied house when i first went in it with a decent drink of Home Bitter and Mild on the bar. Once inside the pub seems pretty much the same as it was years ago,the bar room is to the left,this room is square shaped,the seating is bench type and small stools,this room was too busy for to have a seat so i took my drink into the very comfortable lounge which is to the right,this room is oblong shaped and has very comfy bench seating around the edge with chairs,the room is carpeted and seemed quite cosy. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Theakston Old Peculiar which was quite a nice drink,the other beer was Theakston Best Bitter. Both rooms in this pub were very busy with drinkers on my Saturday afternoon visit. I was quite happy drinking in this pub. Pub first visited 26/11/1982 Recent visit 28/3/2015

We caught a bus into Ruddington to do a couple of Good Beer Guide pubs there, and this pub was open so we popped in to see what they had. From the entry you got one door to the bar area and another to the lounge. Behind these rooms there was more seating in the wide corridor where the toilets were. They were serving Caledonian Red Lion said to be 80/= badged for the pub, and Theakstons Best Bitter. The pub was friendly enough and seating comfortable. Background music was playing. Beers were not in very good condition though.