The Shireoaks Inn, Worksop

A large backstreet pub with several rooms and changes of level, and warnings about the latter. The bar is central, and faces three different rooms. The two hand pumps are only in one room, but there is good visibility between the different parts of the pub, so there doesn't seem to be any advantage in standing next the the real ale and looking thirsty and/or hopeful. At the time of my visit, a Saturday afternoon pre-football, there was just one real ale and the pub was fairly quiet, with two or three small family groups or couples having a bite to eat. My pint of Welbeck Abbey Henrietta Grande, a 4% modern pale ale, was pretty good (NBSS 3.5) and cost £4.

Set in a residential area of Worksop, this pub has 3 rooms - a small bar with a TV screen, a slightly larger side room and a separate dining area. Locals were crowded (probably around 7 of them) into the main bar watching rugby on the TV. We retreated to the side room to enjoy our beers. However, the Welbeck Abbey Watermeadows was far from enjoyable and the two we'd ordered were returned to the bar, clearly being in a sub-standard condition. On the positive side, they were both replaced with the other real ale (Banks's Sunbeam) without any issue. The waitresses in the dining area were also cheery and pleasant, turning up at our table to ask if we wanted any food.

Official site of The Shireoaks Inn - www.shireoaksinn.co.uk

Official site of The Shireoaks Inn - www.shireoaksinn.co.uk

A multispace pub that would once have been a series of small rooms but is now a quite awkward shape, there is a large dining room tacked onto the back of the pub. Traditional type furnishings in a modern style, it has screens and machines plus a pool table. Three pumps in operation, with beers from Marstons, Everards and a micro whose name I forgot to record, my Everards was in good condition and my colleague's Marstons EPA was pretty good too. Not a pub that would appeal to everyone, I think it falls between two stools.

The Shireoaks Inn is white painted stand alone pub that is stuated just off the middle of Worksop. Once inside i went into a lounge which was comfortable but seemed a bit dowdy in my opinion and in need of a spruce up. The pub was a free house at the time of my visit and there were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Barnsley bitter which was a very nice drink the other beers were Stones bitter and Boddingtons bitter. This was a fairly nice pub to have a drink in. Pub visited 12/6/1999