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Detail Pages
The Vat & Fiddle, Nottingham
Nottingham
NG2 1NB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
The tap for the CAMRA award-winning Castle Rock (the beer is brewed next door and there’s an extension room in the pub that allows a partial view into the brewery), housed in a 1930’s brick building (which divides opinion; I quite like it), with very attractive interior doors. There’s been some sympathetic extension and modernisation inside such as the purple and white colour scheme but it retains the feel of a no-nonsense ale house with basic furnishings and a tiled floor. There are seven to eight Castle Rock beers available (the prices of which increase by abv) alongside a couple of guests plus a couple ciders/perry for the fruities and Belgian/German bottles for the upmarket. Condition of the beer on my visit was top-notch and the prices were wallet-pleasingly cheap though I found the staff somewhat dappy. Good to see bar billiards and a dart board ready to use. Has won plenty of awards and these are proudly displayed on the walls around the pub. Impressive cobs are available to soak up the beer. The back room hosts an unusual picture show of closed and derelict Nottingham pubs.
The pub is less than five minutes’ walk from the mainline rail station which makes it an ideal place to start or end a pub crawl of the city. And well-worth missing a train for too.
On 18th November 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
Not a particularly inviting exterior (IMHO), being a 1930’s brick rebuild of a Victorian local with accompanying art deco features of the period. But fortunately inside it’s a real proper pub and recommended as a definite first or last visit when travelling from the nearby Nottingham rail station.
Already well described by previous reviewers, a friendly comfortable traditional boozer with excellent Castle Rock Ales and the Black Gold and Harvest Pale were excellent pints, the latter fully worthy of its 2010 Champion Beer of Britain status.
On 17th November 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2111 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
This is the sort of pub that when you see it from the distance, you start walking faster towards it. My favourite on the day was Castle Rock Redstart and Black Gold, a dark mild ale. Have to agree with Gill, a great place to start and finish a crawl in Nottingham. It also has a ship's cat, didn't tell me it's name though. Will defo return.
On 15th November 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
A superb place to start and finish a pub crawl of Nottingham being so close to the station.Castle Rock brewery tap with a good selection of their own beers and around 4 guests. Super big cobs for around £2.20 with variety of fillings to help the beer go down. Enjoyed the Castle Rock Screech Owl so much I stayed with it, something I rarely do when there is such a good choice.
The above was written on 18.11.10 and we visited again on Friday. Still a cracking pub to visit. Beer choice superb but was disappointed with Screech Owl this visit. Beer of the day was their Redstart beer.
On 14th November 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
Certainly THE place to sample Castle Rock ales,I am not aware of anywhere else with such a full range and in such cracking form.Good to see a bar billiards table in the right hand section,and real pub furniture throughout .A proper brewery tap,not to be missed.
On 12th November 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2730 recommendations about 2730 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
Update 8 October 2011
We visit this pub quite regular and always enjoy our stay here,there is now a new room added to the pub this is to the left of the bar and it is called the Golding room.
On our recent visit i had two different drinks the first was Harvest Pale and this was a very nice drink the other was a wildlife beer called Tern this was a very dark stout and it was a very nice drink.
September 2010
This pub has had a chequred past it used to be a Whitbread tied house and has been called the Grove, Miami Bar, Ziggis and Tom Hoskins.
The Vat and Fiddle is Castle Rocks brewery tap.
This is a smallish one roomed pub that is narrow near the bar and opens out at each end there are no carpets here but there is a tiled floor.
There is the full range of Castle Rock beers on here plus about 4 guest beers,we usually have Harvest Pale which is only £2.20 a pint and very drinkable.
There is also a good choice of malt whiskys with about 80 different ones on optics.
The pub does nice cheap cobs and we are very happy sat on a bar stool at the brewery end of the pub.
This pub is a must visit if your in Nottingham and its only a couple of minutes walk from the train station.
On 9th October 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
One of our regular haunts in Nottingham. I can't remember coming to Nottingham without visiting this pub. This time was no different. I had a couple of Castle Rock beers Screech Owl & Crayfish, both brewed to support a wildlife charity. Both were excellent and one was free thanks to their "One Over The Eight" promotion which gets you a free pint for every eight bought over as long a period as you like. The other half had Harvest Pale as usual and pronounced it excellent as well (as usual). Kipper (the cat) was at her imperious best and the sandwiches we bought at the bar were very good value. It's a proper pub that is very consistent in both beer quality and service. Hopefully I'll be back on 11/11/11.
28/10/2009
Castle Rock Brewery tap with most of their fine range on tap. A proper pub with a mixed clientele and a pub cat with the most superior attitude that I've ever come across. I had a pint of the Preservation Ale and a pint of one of the guests from Oldershaw. Both were in good nick. There's load of beer/pub literature in here as well which is great for catching up on what's going on in the area. A must visit when in Nottingham.
On 20th September 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
Rushed in for a quick one whilst waiting for a train, and was rewarded with a fine pint of Castle Rock's seasonal Brown Trout (£2.70). If I counted correctly, there were also eleven other beers on handpumps. Didn't have much time to note the interior details, but there are various different seating areas in a layout which has been opened out to form a 'J'-shaped bar area. Also has a number of patio benches out front. Overall, it gives the impression of being an excellent place for a beer and I must return again soon when I can stay a bit longer.
On 19th September 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Soup Dragon left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
This is a 1930s style undressed brick Castle Rock Brewery (Brewery Tap)corner pub with a patio area. It has a couple of stone string courses and has white bar windows and blue signage. In GBG 2011.
The interior has a U(ish)-shaped open plan room which i have as being in Dark Blue and white ceiling and walls, with some wood panel (PSM says Purple - i was a bit merry when i got here, so go with the Signage!) and there are a lot of certificates on the walls. We had a game of darts in here (a bit worrying i know) and there is a TV. I know they serve rolls and such like, we took a couple with us when going for the train and they were fine. The service wasn't very friendly i am sorry to say - a little miserable; the clientele was mixed and it was busy.
Beer; usual tap stuff with Castle Rock, Harvest Pale Ale, Albert Ball MILD, Black Gold, Elsie Mo, Sheriff's Tipple, Screetch Owl, Hemlock and Preservation om handpull, with Rudgate Battle Axe and Ruby MILD on handpull.
A great pub, great beer. I must return here.
On 18th September 2011
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3067 recommendations about 3062 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Vat & Fiddle
Situated just over the road from Nottingham train station, this pub is the brewery tap for the Castle Rock brewery, which is located in an adjacent building. The pub has a fairly simple three room layout, with the bar counter sited in the small middle section. Either side of this area the pub opens out and provides plenty of seating as well as a dartboard and TV screen in the room to the right. The rooms are decorated in a pleasing white and dark purple colour scheme and one room has a wall full of various certificates awarded to both pub and brewery. There are some benches outside on a paved area at the front of the pub and I arrived to find they had been taken over by a band of Morris dancers who, judging by the bemused looks from the bar staff, were giving an impromptu performance.
The Castle Rock beers available were Sheriff's Tipple (£2.20), Harvest Pale and Black Gold Mild (£2.30), Hemlock (£2.40), Preservation (£2.60), Elsie Mo (£2.70), Screech Owl and Kiss Me Kate (both £2.90). Two guests were also on - Batemans Hooker and Salopian Darwin’s Origin - both priced at £2.80. Cider drinkers had Stowford Press and Old Rosie to choose from as well as Weston Country Perry. An interesting tap selection included Bitburger and Marston Oyster Stout. I tried the Elsie Mo and managed to squeeze in a quick half of the Kiss Me Kate before rushing off for my train. I thought the quality was very good - better in fact, than some of the other Castle Rock pubs I'd visited throughout the day. The bar staff were very friendly and helped me to sort me out with a few bottles of Elsie Mo to take back home with me.
I was very comfortable in this place and would happily sacrifice visiting some of the other great pubs in town to spend a bit more time in here. As others have said, this is an excellent starting or finishing point for a Nottingham crawl and an essential port of call for anyone looking for great beer.
On 5th May 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]