Rowley's, Bakewell

Gastro pub - dining room upstairs. Downstairs more "pubby" with single room and bar. All tables set up for dining. A few high chairs at the bar for the mainly dog owning locals. Beers were local - Abbeydale moonshine was chosen - in decent condition. Food was good. Smallish menu, with good service and a price that reflected the quality.

Formerly the Prince of Wales, the gable end still features a crown-and-feathers roundel set into the stonework. Now a modern bar and restaurant, as the name suggests, with modern high stools at the bar, modern low tables with modern easy chairs nearby. The main dining room is upstairs, and apparently cooked dishes are carried upstairs by the waiting staff from the downstairs kitchen, though as it was not a dining time of day when I was here I did not actually witness this myself. There are three hand pumps on the bar: Thornbridge White Swan, Black Sheep Progress and a beer brewed specially for the pub called Rowley's Jubilee, a 3.8% "golden, fruity hoppy beer" according to the website, but neither that nor the pump clip name the brewer. I had the Black Sheep, a beer brewed to celebrate the brewery's 20th anniversary and featuring English Progress hops. I quite liked it here and rated it the best of the four Baslow pubs, though only by a short head from the Devonshire Arms. While none of the pubs deserves the name "destination pub", this is nevertheless quite a pleasant village for a quick four pub crawl. Please be careful crossing the roads - the traffic is ferocious.