Crafty Crow, Nottingham

Situated just up from the Castle,on the ground floor of a hotel building,the interior is split level with the lower part mainly full of comfy chairs,the island bar is at a higher level and is surrounded by lots of seating and walls decorated with unplaned wood,while there is a further raised seating area near the side door .The decor is hipsterish,and besides 8 real ales,there is a lot of real cider and 64 bottled options of beer and cider.The handpumps are split over two sides of the bar,but there is a helpful board listing whats on,which on my trip meant Magpie Four for a Boy and Best,Grafton Bananalicious,Barlow Wakatu,Great Heck Blonde and a very good Revolutions BrewCo Hex 6 Hop IPA.Food is served until 9pm,with most burgers and mains weighing in around £9-£12 ,and some eclectic music was being played at a sensible volume.There are a few nooks and crannies to fit into ,it felt relaxed and welcoming.Another very good real ale bar,worth including on any crawl around the city centre.

I thought this was going to be one of those modern monstrosity's when looking from the outside but it turned out to be quite good. Though it is modern it has an excellent choice of beers and ciders. There are 12 handpumps on the central bar with 6 on each side of the servery. The servery is up few steps on entering and 8 of the ales are real ale with 4 for cider on this visit. The modern feel let's it down a bit for me but this is a good pub.

Large, light modern bar near castle. Entrance door opens to steps on the outer wall leading up to the large bar with central serving area. Wood slat back benches, chunky wood tables, big glass frontage. A couple of seating areas on the way up the stairs. Nice relaxed pub, 8 real ales plus craft selection.

The Crafty Crow Is a new addition to Nottingham’s real ale scene and a welcome improvement on the former BZR nightclub that operated in the venue. Situated in the area surrounding Nottingham castle this is a much better fit as this is probably the nicest are of town and the riff raff that the former club brought was a real damper on an old historic corner of the city. Thankfully things are much better now. You enter through two very large glass doors into a seating area with some sofas and a few scattered tables and chairs. You have to go up a small flight of stairs to get to the main pub that is stretched over the entire first floor. Hard bight wooden floors throughout with a very clean modern feel to it and as described feels like trendy craft beer bar (which it is) while also having a strong focus on traditional real ale. The prominent square bar is located in the middle of the room and is accessible on three sides. Five hand pulls align the front and back facing sides of the bar so always check round the back for what’s on offer as these are not always displayed on the board of ever bar. Of the ten real ales available many Magpie beers appear (as it is their tap) as well as not so regularly seen guests from up and down the country which is nice. Some of the section I noted on my visit included Magpie Raven Stout (£3.40) Bakers dozen brewery electric Landlady (£3.50) G stamps Brewery Mail Train (£3.20) Magpie best (£3.20) Magpie To for joy (£3.20) Milton Brewery Sparta (£3.20) plus several I failed to note. My pint of Magpie best was well kept to say that I’ve not always been impressed with all their brews and the piece was rather good for a trendy bar/pub in the center of town, and the gust price was equally pleasing. Overall a really nice addition and not far from the roundhouse and the other pubs around the castle. This is great for evening drinks and won’t burn a whole in your pocket either, I recommend a visit.

Opened in Spring 2014, this converted bar is the first pub from the local Magpie Brewery. The pub has a split level layout, with entry to the lower front level where you can find a few Chesterfield sofas and button backed armchairs. Stairs take you up to a very unusual hexagonal shaped island servery which dominates the centre of the room. To the left there is a simple seating area with armchairs to the front, standard seating opposite the bar and a slightly raised space beyond with quirky wooden slat backed banquettes, some crow/bird themed art and a large 'local brewers' map which was quite informative and worth having a quick look at. Behind the bar, a long shelf runs along the back wall with a large plain mirror above, offering somewhere to rest your pints during busier times. The room swings back past the servery over to the right hand side where some more wooden backed banquettes can be found underneath some particularly impressive large metal artworks. Someone involved in the pub's design must have aced their metalwork exams, as in addition to the artwork there are some attractive decorative railings and balustrades throughout and the toilets have sinks fashioned from converted beer kegs with keg fonts for taps. The servery has a huge former conditioning tank as a focal point and from this, several taps dispense interesting craft keg beers, with additional kegs stacked up behind to form the remainder of the notional bar back. Music played quietly throughout my stay and was in fact inaudible most of the time thanks to a decent atmosphere generated by a reasonable post-work crowd. A large board next to the bar helpfully listed the extensive ale range which comprised Magpie Raven Stout, Best and Hoppily Ever After, Austendyke Hog's Gate, Spitting Feathers Farmhouse IPA, Eden First Emperor, Maxim Double Maxim, Maypole Hop Fusion, Bumphill Ebony and Ivory and Dukeries Lady Matilda, with a strong list of real ciders also detailed. I tried a pint of the Lady Matilda which was in tip-top condition and had I not needed to dash off to the City Ground, I would happily have stayed to sample a few more. This place has a bit of a craft beer bar feel to it, but manages to achieve a sense of intimacy that doesn't always go with such venues. This is clearly an excellent addition to the Nottingham pub scene and one of the best places in the city to find interesting beers from obscure micros. Well worth a visit.