The Pelham, Nottingham

The Pelham is a backstreet boozer in the dark and quite intimidating area of new Basford, especially at night time. The pub is quite hard to find if you do not know where you are going and is located within the rows of houses. Upon entering you are faced with the long bar with a pool table to the right and seating scattered to the left and further back in the left corner. The pub is in quite a traditional style and has had some minor modernisation over the years but retains its traditional backstreet boozer vibe although is a little tatty around the edges. Bare wood floors throughout and a lot of wood panelling around the bar area is a nice touch. The pub was almost empty on my Thursday evening visit but a few more came in later on to play in the poker night they have. I was greeted by a less than enthusiastic woman behind the bar who gave me and my friend a bit of a glare before asking what we wanted; newcomers really do not tend to come here often so we were greeted with a bit of suspicion. The bar was stocked with just the regular keg offerings with not a pump in sight and the mann’s chestnut mild I wanted had been taken off because “no one bought it”. I ended up with a Guinness at £3.30 which was more than I thought a place like this would charge but I suppose they do not get very much custom and is about the going rate so not too bad, it was ok but nothing special. Once inside I felt a bit more at ease than when I first walked up to the pub as it does not give off the friendliest of vibes. Although poor by most people’s standards I can’t condemn them for keeping it open and trying to make a go of things, as I always say a crap pub is better than no pub at all and as long as it serves the community and they use it I don’t really have too much of a bad word to say about it. If not from the area I would not advise trawling the back streets of this area at night either as there are nicer areas. I probably will never return here but I wish them the best for the future.