Furnace Inn, Derby

Although in a rather unpromising housing estate location, this busy local has now turned into the local Camra Pub of The Year. The interior has been partly opened out and refurbished with simple but attractive furniture and decor. Dart board in use. Cobs available at £1.50. Seven of the eight handpumps were on when I visited, with real ales including the Shiny Brewing 4 Wood (£2.70 less 20p Camra discount). Very good atmosphere, and well worth seeking out.

This pleasant riverside pub has recently been awarded the Derby CAMRA Pub of the Year award 2014, having transformed itself in the last couple of years from the bog-standard local's boozer described in Roger's review below, to a destination brew-pub and a must-do for anyone touring the city's finest alehouses. The pub has a fairly simple layout, with the servery running along the back wall, and a few seating area opposite and to either side. You enter to a tiled floor area with a blackboard listing all of the ale options immediately to your right. Fake dark wood beams across a white ceiling create something of a traditional feel, augmented by the usual black and white photos of local scenes. To the left is a carpeted seating area with a red and white colour scheme for the walls and some long banquettes and low stools providing decent seating options. A filigreed metalwork screen partially obscures this area from the main bar, although I was able to spot a TV screen from where I was stood, which was turned off on this occasion. Opposite the bar, there is a smaller seating area with one curved banquette and lots of low stools, and beyond this is a public bar type space which has bench and low stool seating, plus a dartboard and a makeshift bar under the front windows. The bar had seemingly been set up for a 'Shiny vs. Brodies' beer festival, which saw a range of the on-site Shiny Brewery's beers available at the bar and around six to eight Brodies beers on stilage and via hand pump from the temporary bar. The Shiny contenders were Relic Bitter, Bank Vault, Coin Flip, Keyworth, Asylum, Award and Furnace 666, whilst a final handpull offered a guest option of Ashover Coffin Lane Stout. There were four Brodies keg beers on the main bar and of those on the makeshift bar, I noted Kiwi and Shoreditch Sunshine. A CAMRA discount was available and the crowd mostly seemed to be beer tourists, although this may have been because the National Winter Ales festival was coming to a close in the city that weekend. I tried a pint of the Bank Vault, which was a half decent pale ale. It's great to hear about good news story pubs like this that have turned their fortunes around and are going from strength to strength. The pub probably lacks the wide appeal of some other city centre alehouses, but it's a well set up, innovative enterprise that I'm sure will continue to thrive.

This one takes a little finding for the stranger but oh is it worth it when you do. Little to add to the descriptions of the interior; it's pleasant, traditionally furnished in proper pub fashion and a good place to enjoy the fine beers from the on-site Shiny Brewery and the guests from smaller nearby-ish breweries. The keg range is strictly "craft" and there's some interesting beer in the fridge. RC was of course right to expect it to appear in the GBG; it's there in the 2014 edition. The northern quarter of the city has a fairly good crawl circuit of which the Furnace must take an honoured place or you could just stay here and try the lot. The Light & Dark festival looks like an annual feature as it was on this weekend (November 2/3), great beer and some great pies too.

Recently refurbished pub having been bought from Greene King and made into a freehouse. The new owners have installed a brewery at the rear called Shiny brewery. The pub has been opened out into a one roomer, but the various areas are still obvious. 8 handpumps on the bar selling their own beers and several guests. The ones we tried were in good nick as well. I used to visit this pub when working in Derby a few years ago when it was in the Good Beer Guide. On this showing it'll be back in it again soon. Great job guys and best of luck.

Called into this pub on our Derby Crawl as there was a beer festival on, Dark v Light, and wow, what a great little festival. Large L shape room and we were made very welcome. Beer list provideed but full details of ales on offer on a board too. Enjoyed beer from a brewery new to us here, Quantum IPA, a massive 7%, as well as other micro breweries. Tiny Rebel Billabong, Redwillow Shameless, and Hop Studio Spooks Porter. Beers excellent condition and we will put this one on the crawl list to check it out when no festival is on.

The sign outside informed us that there is new management so that rather negated much of the previous comments regarding the welcoming landlord (although the chap who served us was certainly amiable enough). Despite being in a slightly run down estate (the buildings next door are all boarded up), the Furnace does not give out any unpleasant vibes and the interior is neat, tidy and as comfortable as a 20th Century Mock Tudor pub could be. We overheard that the pub had been closed so I would guess at the spotless seat covers and fresh looking carpet that it has had a bit of a recent overhaul. As a Green King pub, it is not an obvious choice for those doing an Ale Trail but, as the previous poster has mentioned, they do have XX Mild which is a bit of a GK rarity. Old Speckled Hen and Hanson & Hardy Kimberley Ale were the other 2 on offer. An interesting and not so old photo on the wall depicts a Kimberly Ales sign on the pub. It is very much a locals pub with a dart board (and decent number of trophies), TV and all the obvious necessities and whilst it was a quiet afternoon on my visit, I would feel quite comfortable here in a busy evening although I wouldn't particularly claim it to a high priority pub on a Derby visit.