The Red Heart, Nottingham

Located just up from the Red Lion on Easthorpe Street is the middle of three pubs on this short stretch. A former Shipstoins pub the Red heart was sadly by far the worst pub on our visit to Ruddington. You enter into the main bar room with the bar to the left and a larg open seating area to the right with lots of tv screens showing sport. =a room to the left hold a pool table and a door leads to another room behind the main bar that is served via the main bar but through a smaller back counter. The main room was a generic tacky “sports bar” refurbishment that I thought looked dreadful and upon approaching the bar was distraught at the lack of real ale available. Fortunately peering through to the back room and the small bar it is served by showed there were three hand pills on. Walking round here was much nicer than the main room as this part had not been refurbished and was in a traditional style with dark carpets and traditional wooden tables and pub decor that I liked a lot, far better than the front area. On the mini bar there was Dombar, Whchwood 12 drummers and Aspalls cider. I got a taster of the 12 drummers and was appalled by how sour it was, total vinegar that must have been on for a good week! I asked for a taster of the Doombar not trusting the ale quality after that first taster and although not vinegar absolutely stunk rotten, heaven knows if it was the beer or the glass but it was repulsive. We gave up and ordered a Guinness at a criminal £4 for Nottingham that we swiftly drank and moved on. One reason could be apart from their obvious lack of cellar skills is not having the pumps displayed on the main bar, I only saw because I was actively seeking real male, casual passers by would have no clue they were on, no wonder they don’t sell any. This was a real low point of the Ruddington trip and offers nothing that any of the other pubs do not, it needs to change something because I certainly won’t be returning unless on a crawl and stop by default stop off. Certainty would not return out of choice, best avoided.

The Red Heart was a Shipstones tied house when i did my first few visits here,it had a very nice drink of Shipstones bitter and mild on the bar. Once inside the pub still has three separate rooms,i had a drink in the main bar room which is quite big and has the most uncomfortable bench seating i have ever seen,this seating runs around three sides of the room,there are also lots of normal tables and chairs in the middle of the room,there is a small smart looking lounge to the rear which is carpeted and has comfy bench seating,there is a also a small pool room to the rear left. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Castle Rock Harvest Pale which was a decent drink,the other beers were Wadworth 6X and Grumpy Wasp Amnesior. There was a TV showing football score updates,the background music was very loud and was a mix of Oasis then dance music. I preferred this pub in its Shipstones days. Pub first visited 26/11/1982 Recent visit 28/3/2015

Another of the pubs we found on our visit to Ruddington, and enjoyed the beer quality in this pub. The door leads into a large bar area with flagged floor and very light open look with massive backless seating I have never seen in pubs before. Round behind the bar is a small cosy lounge area. Sky sports news channel on TV, and background music. There were 2 ciders on handpull plus Molson Coors Sharps Doom Bar and Castle Rock Harvest Pale. The 2 beers were in good condition although the Doom Bar is no way what it used to be. Drinkable but bland I would call it. The best of the 3 pubs we visited that were not Good Beer Guide pubs.