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Hand & Heart, Nottingham

67 Derby Road
Nottingham
NG1 5BA

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Alex Conway left this review about Hand & Heart

The Hand & Heart is another pub on the canning circus run and is closer to town being located about halfway between the top of Canning circus junction and Main Marian way roundabout. This used to be a Shipstons pub with a rough edge and a very bad reputation but these days things couldn’t be more different. Upon entering the bar is smack facing you and to the left with tables and chairs dotted around to the right. Behind the bar is a highly praised restaurant section that is reserved for diners and is built into the rock of a cave like that of the Olde Trip TO Jerusalem. There is more seating upstairs for drinkers and a larger smoking area that is very popular as it looks and feels like an inside room but has no celling. The pub is nicely furnished with hard wood floors and nice cushioned seats and curtains. There is a good selection of real ale on the bar which on my visit consisted of the hoiuse alae brewed by Dancing Duck, Roundheart (£2.90) as well as Welbeck Abbey Dragonheart (£3.60) Burton Bridge Flying Tonight (£3.40) Salamander All Hallows Eve, Axholme Scarlet Jack (£3.40) and Moorehouses White Witch (£3.20) with one or two pubs unoccupied. My White Witch went down very nicely but the prices mean it probably takes the prize as the priciest pub on the Canning Circus Crawl but still palatable. The only downside about this pub is it can attract a few pretentious park types and lardy da fine diners that don’t make for the best pub atmosphere but this is still a quality pub that is deserving of a visit.

On 18th July 2019 - rating: 7
[User has posted 455 recommendations about 455 pubs]


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Delboy 20 left this review about Hand & Heart

Another decent pub which doesn't open until 4. We tried a beer from the Dancing duck brewery which was fine. I would call again.

On 25th March 2019 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 1650 recommendations about 1552 pubs]


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Aqualung . left this review about Hand & Heart

This is a weird sort of place as it's styled half wine bar and half stone age cave, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Fred Flintstone walk in and order a Pinot Grigio.
Inside there is a red tiled floor and the caves are right at the back.
Despite the slight ponciness of the place it was friendly enough and there was a good selection of beers from the eight hand pumps. The ones I managed to note were the house beer Dancing Duck Round Heart, Pheasantry Dancing Dragonfly, Maypole Little Weed, Falstaff 3 Faze, Totally Brewed Crazy Like A Fox, and Nottingham Legend & Extra Pale. I went for the Dancing Dragonfly which was first class but slightly expensive at £3.60. To be fair to them their house beer is £2.70 and there is a CAMRA discount of 10p a pint off the prices quoted. Despite my prejudices this its deservedly GBG listed and is in a hot spot with three other really great pubs only minutes walk away It would be very churlish not to add this one to make four so I would definitely return.

On 7th July 2015 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]


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Mark Davey left this review about Hand & Heart

Popped in a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday to try the food. Excellent range of slightly up market bar food at reasonable prices. There were several beers on the bar, most of which seemed to be local to Nottingham. We ate in the front bar, but could have gone back into the cave. An old chap with interesting dress sense was banging out show tunes on an old piano whilst we ate and was quite entertaining. Well worth a trip out of the city centre for both the beer and the food.

On 15th July 2013 - rating: 8
[User has posted 292 recommendations about 276 pubs]


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john mcgraw left this review about Hand & Heart

A bit of a walk from the city centre this pub has part of the bar and the eating area cut into the rock.A good selection of real ales with a small discount for CAMRA members.

On 19th June 2013 - rating: 7
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]


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Pub SignMan left this review about Hand & Heart

This is an interesting pub with some nice Georgian features and an unusual rear section built into a series of sandstone caves. The front bar has a pleasant traditional feel and includes an attractive section of tiled wall on the left hand side of the room. There are a few high tables in this part of the pub, but on my visit, most of the room had been taken up by stilage in preparation for the pub’s Halloween beer festival. Moving past the right hand end of the bar, there is a nice lounge area in a part of the pub where the sandstone can already be seen. Button backed furniture predominates and there is an upright piano against one wall which was covered in various flyers and CAMRA leaflets. A corridor runs further into the rock and leads past a food counter, to a narrow dining room with some small tables set out in two formal rows. Stairs lead up to the first floor conservatory, but I didn’t venture up there myself. Music was playing quietly during my stay and the pub seemed busier than others in the Canning Circus area.
The beer selection was one of the best I found during my stay in Nottingham and I was faced with a choice of Magpie Best and When I’m 6.4, Dancing Duck Round Heart, Burton Bridge Sovereign Gold, Nottingham Rock Bitter, Copthorne Black Beauty, Newby Wyke Turpitz and Welbeck Abbey Bay Middleton plus two ciders and a perry. I enjoyed a fantastic pint of the Black Beauty and was a little disappointed that I didn’t have time to sample any of the others. The lone barmaid was very helpful and efficient and did a great job of remembering who was next to be served at the crowded bar.
I really liked this unusual pub and thought it would be well worth having an extended drinking session here. For me, this is the best pub in this part of town and should be near the top of the ‘must do’ list of anyone visiting Nottingham.

On 2nd November 2012 - rating: 9
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]


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Quinno _ left this review about Hand & Heart

10 minutes walk out of the city centre, this is a funny-looking bar what with its ungainly late 80’s Lego-esque glass balcony and arch. The inside, as noted extensively elsewhere, hosts a semi-subterranean cave carved into the sandstone which the pub utilises as a drinking and dining area. There’s also a nice conservatory dining area upstairs. GBG-listed (CAMRA discount available) and there were six ales, mainly local, to choose from on my visit with some fantastic choices; I plumped for the Dancing Duck Oatmeal stout which was superb, the best beer of a very long and comprehensive crawl. Service was extremely friendly and we were made to feel right at home; indeed I didn’t really want to have to leave. Music is pushed here, with live Jazz sessions plus a working upright piano and the piped music is of a much higher standard than the usual. The atmosphere was, as you can guess, a little more sophisticated than the norm which suited me. My favourite Nottingham pub of the day and I’ll make a big point of doing this one again. Superb.

On 30th November 2011 - rating: 9
[User has posted 5043 recommendations about 5026 pubs]


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Rex Rattus left this review about Hand & Heart

I normally make a note of the ales available, but it was sufficiently dimly lit that I couldn’t make out the darker clips. Undeterred however, I spotted something called Red Squall, and having enjoyed a pint of White Squall in Ye Olde Salutation I saw this as an omen and went for its stablemate. Jolly good it was too. They give a small discount to CAMRA members. This pub really doesn’t look much from the outside, but it opens up inside revealing a bit of drinking space plus a dining area apparently dug out of the rock. I thought the seating was quite comfortable, with a mix of normal tables and chairs plus a couple of armchairs. Where we sat at the back there were several cushions scattered on the seating, some with tassels which one of my companions saw as a sign of decadence. I suspect that the pubs where he comes from don’t view comfort for customers as a high priority!
There were a few nice touches in the way of decor – the yard of ale behind the bar ready for use by overly optimistic drinkers, and the jazz photographs and memorabilia on the walls. I thought that this was a cracking pub – I didn’t see any fruit machines or any other similar unnecessary distractions; it was comfortable and friendly, and I would be happy to pay a return visit next time that I’m in Nottingham.

On 29th November 2011 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]


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Bucking Fastard left this review about Hand & Heart

I have to agree that this is a very interesting real ale venue,with a good selection of beer styles on my trip.The rear restaurant set in the caves is a highlight,and talking to a member of staff revealed that the first floor conservatory function room will shortly be converted to a roof terrace ,which will provide another interesting feature when the weather obliges.A pub to include on any ale tour around Nottingham.

On 22nd November 2011 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2709 recommendations about 2709 pubs]


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Steve of N21 left this review about Hand & Heart

Will concur with other reviewers, this is a very good pub with the strange feature of being built into a series of caves, located a couple of minutes walk up Derby Road from the Market Square, and well worth the leg work to find it.
A fairly ordinary looking frontage leads into the front bar and then the pub stretches further back behind the first room and is hewn into the sandstone rock.
Six well kept ales are displayed on a large board above the bar, although we failed to spot it and did a good impression of the short sighted society at a Boots eye test in trying to read the clips.
Ales were as described as Ray below and one of the ones he missed, Dancing Duck’s Dark Drake, was an absolutely excellent caramel and liquorice Stout.

On 21st November 2011 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2094 recommendations about 1985 pubs]

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