Derby Brewing Tap House, Derby

Wedge shaped large pub, light, nicely laid out in a modern basic way, brick bar, barrel tables. Nice feel

Derby Brewery Tap in a wedge-shaped building with some interesting architectural detailing on the façade. The interior has been remodelled and thoroughly refurbished in a semi-modern style, and had a relaxed atmosphere on a Friday lunchtime. Also has a small patio area. Six of their own real ales on handpump (including On Tap, £3.10) plus guests from Timothy Taylor, Everard's and Titanic and a range of less-usual keg / craft offerings supplemented by a chalkboard list of 55 bottled beers.

I hadn't planned to come here, but after going the wrong way from the Silk Mill and getting caught in a thunderstorm I found myself peering through the torrential rain from a bus shelter and realising that the pub opposite was The Tap. As soon as the rain eased slightly I made a break for it. Inside it's been nicely refurbished and although I didn't get to note down all of the beers, partly because I felt like a drowned rat, I did get to try two, the guest Fat Cat Marmalade Cat (£3.20) and the Derby Indian Ink (£3.10) both of which were in excellent nick. I sat in a sheltered part of the smoking patio watching the deluge and impressive lightning display from the ongoing thunderstorm. I liked this pub and would gladly come back to try more Derby Brewery beers.

Official site of The Tap - brewerytap-dbc.co.uk

Official site of The Tap - brewerytap-dbc.co.uk

This pub, formerly the Royal Standard, is now home to the Derby Brewing Company. Since their take over, the pub's name has been getting shorter and shorter, starting off as 'The Brewery Tap at Derby's Royal Standard', then becoming 'The Brewery Tap' and now seemingly known as 'The Tap'. I suspect the next time I visit it will be called 'T'. Despite a traditional looking exterior, the pub has been completely refurbished inside, creating a modern bar with a bit of a 'craft beer' feel to it. It's essentially a two bar set up, focussed around a vast semi circular servery on the back wall and with a central staircase acting as partitioning between the two bars. The left hand side is the largest room and has comfy banquette seating around the perimeter, a few tub chairs here and there and some table-topped barrels surrounded by high stools. There is a small fireplace on one wall and a TV screen that was out of action during my stay, plus plenty of posters and pictures from the Derby Brewery. Large arched front windows allow plenty of light in during daytime hours and to the left, another set of windows looks out to the partly covered patio area. The room extends slightly to the left at this point, allowing customers to grab a seat on a banquette with a view of the garden. The right hand bar is smaller and has a couple of rugs on the bare floorboards and more banquette and tub chair seating. A small, lit stove stands next to the bar and there are more Derby Brewery pictures on the walls. Additional seating is available upstairs, although this room was booked for a private function during my visit, so I was unable to explore. There's a pretty decent looking menu with main meals around the £9 mark and sharing platters for £15. Everything on the menu has a beer matching suggestion to accompany it. The beer options are pretty extensive, with a number of blackboards detailing the large, varied bottled beer range, which is also set out in a comprehensive drinks menu. On hand pump there was Derby Brewery On Tap, Quint Essential, As You Like It, Business As Usual and Dashingly Dark, Taylor Landlord, Leadmill North Dakota, Navigation Apus and Triton and Allgates Exp 5526. Racks of ale, world beers and wine are available, allowing you to sample a range of these drinks. I tried the On Tap, which was reasonably well kept but a rather boring brew. This is definitely the place to visit in Derby if you're looking for an extensive range of drinks and it seems like a comfortable and popular spot to enjoy a session. The modern interior will no doubt divide opinion, but I thought it was a good venue for the city's eponymous brewery to showcase their beer.

Update – November 2013 A large banner draped across the front proudly announces the pub as CAMRA Pub of the Year 2009. 5 beers were on from the on site brewery – Business As Usual, Bewitched, Hop Till You Drop, Penny’s and Milky Way. There were 5 guests – 2 from Leatherbritches, 2 from Braydon Brewery in Wiltshire plus T T Landlord, the latter being laughably overpriced at £ 3.60p when compared with the 6 % home brew ( Milky Way ) at £ 3.05p. An upstairs room – The Royal Room – which I don’t recollect from my earlier visit, is now in use. In marked contrast to other Derby pubs visited this time, staff appear to consist of those irritatingly laid back studenty types, who give out the vibe, unintentionally hopefully, that they're doing you a favour by serving you. Whilst in negative mode, I'm going to add that there’s a rather cold, clinical and antiseptic feel to this pub, but there’s no escaping the fact that there’s a decent range of beers and, based on my two visits, these are well kept. A CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular in recent years. ORIGINAL REVIEW - APRIL 2009 This is now the home of the new Derby Brewing Company. The pub's official name seems to be "The Brewery Tap at Derby's Royal Standard". The wedge shaped building, situated just across the River Derwent on a street corner, looks quite austere from the outside. The attractive black and white frontage shown by the picture that I downloaded before my visit from a Derbyshire / Peak District website has now gone and has been pared back to bare brickwork. The interior is quite badly modernised in my view, with London pub style pine floors and large plain glass windows, leading to a distinct lack of cosiness and warmth. There were 4 Derby Brewery beers on, including a light hoppy beer called "Hop Till You Drop" and a dark mild called " Dashingly Dark". Guest beers came from Timmy Taylors, Shardlow and Durham breweries. Food plays quite a large part of the operation and prices would appear to suggest that the credit crunch has not yet reached Derby ( eg Cumberland Sausages - £ 7.95p, Traditional Beer Battered Fish - £ 7.75p ) There is a largish NHS Office opposite the pub where I imagine quite a bit of trade comes from as, otherwise, it would appear to be the "wrong" side of the river for the City Centre trade. Despite the existence of an on site brewery, this pub is not top of my list for a re-visit if I'm ever in Derby again

A splendid Victorian pub with not a lot of interior left, the brewery tap of Derby Brewing company. Two rooms at one end, a larger one with two banks of three pulls serving guests while a bank of four next door has the beers from Derby. Decent enough quality of beer but the decor is a bit sterile for my tastes and the service just a bit too lackadasical. There's a sort of yard affair to one side for smokers.

A modernised interior – maybe too much so for my tastes – all very light, open and airy though the building itself is a very pleasing piece of architecture, especially the curved apex end. There does seem to be a trend towards newer brewery taps being gastro-lite but given the pub was long-shut I suppose it’s better this than that! Anyway, a selection of the Derby Brewery beers were available in good shape as well as guests over 10 handpumps. There is apparently an ale and cheese tasting tray for the Derby beers but I failed to spot this in operation. Not enough personality for me to put it on the priority list for the next Derby visit but a decent stop nonetheless.