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The Alexandra Hotel, Derby
Derby
DE1 2QE
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
The Chairman left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
Excellent pub, great beer selection and wonderful railwayana. For an afternoon out with old friends it's the perfect venue with nothing to dislike, other than perhaps the roadworks outside!
On 23rd February 2024
- rating: 9
[User has posted 30 recommendations about 30 pubs]
Pub SignMan left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
Pleasant two bar pub close to Derby station. The entrance porch has a door to the left for the Public Bar and another to the right for the Lounge Bar. I tried the Lounge and found a part carpet, part bare boarded room with padded bench seating around the perimeter and a small servery next to the entrance. The bar has a nice dark wood counter with matching bar back and gantry, plus a bell to one side for attracting attention should the barman be in the other bar. The beer board has been hung from the front wall, which means it is very easily missed and keg beer was listed alongside the cask options, so it seemed very easy to make a mistake when ordering from it. There are some nice leaded windows to the front and in the porch area, whilst the room has been decorated with some excellent old brewery posters, mirrors, beer trays, beer mats and a very large, illuminated Home Ales sign. By far the most striking feature though, was a real, live rabbit complete with hutch and run, which occupied most of the rear part of the room - I know I was at the end of four very long days in the field, but I swear I wasn’t hallucinating and there was an actual rabbit running around the lounge. After that, the Public Bar could only disappoint, despite being slightly bigger and offering similar bench and low stool seating options. The room has been decorated with some great old railway memorabilia, which I didn’t have enough time to properly browse through.
The beer boards were a little tricky to navigate, but I think there were somewhere in the region of 8-10 cask ales, mainly from breweries such as Castle Rock, Nene Valley and Pentrich. I tried the Nene Valley Hop Stash (£4.00), which was in decent condition. The pub was very peaceful on my Monday afternoon visit, with just a small handful of other punters slowly coming and going, all seemingly unfazed by the whole rabbit thing.
This is a really good pub, probably overlooked a little due to its proximity to the classic Brunswick Inn, although these two do make one hell of a double header and a great introduction to Derby’s pub scene for anyone fresh off the train. I liked this one a lot and could’ve stayed much longer had I not needed to leave for my train.
On 11th September 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Steve C left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
The Alexandra Hotel has a large central bar counter that serves a right-hand lounge bar and left-hand public bar, both of which have seating along the front and up the side walls opposite the counter. The lounge bar was empty during a recent early Tuesday evening visit, and the public bar had a handful of hardy drinkers present. This is a train themed pub with lots of objects on the walls, including railway signs and an old seven segment platform clock, that actually works. The train theme carries on into the rear beer garden where there are lots more signs, as well as part of an old train motor. For a split second I thought the pub backed onto a railway platform.
There are lots of hand pumps on the bar that were drawing four Castle Rock ales, Thornbridge’s Bankers Cat Dinner Ale, Pentrich’s Sound Meets Sound, Salopian’s Slipstream and six real ciders. I went for Castle Rock’s Harvest Pale that was well served by the polite barmaid. I liked it in here, maybe I’ll enquire about the accommodation next time I’m up this way with work.
On 31st July 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5253 recommendations about 5221 pubs]
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
Just before an obligatory visit to the nearby Brunswick and a return visit to the Victoria Inn, our party of 10 decided to drop in at the Alexandra. For some reason, the Alexandra doesn't seem as popular as the Brunswick. But I'd forgotten how good this pub actually is.
The real ale selection is good, there are real ciders, bar snacks are nice, the welcome is warm and it is a cosy, well-run pub.
As a Castle Rock pub, Harvest Pale is a regular. Also on from that brewery were Our House, Preservation & Steal My Sunshine. However, there were a few guests too - Abbeydale Menelaus, North Riding Walnut Porter, Wilde Child Uncontrollable Occurrence & Torrside Technical Sunset. Ciders were Lilley's Lemon & Lime and Snail's Bank Biscoff Cider.
Both the Walnut Porter and the Biscoff Cider were very enjoyable. On reflection, I think this is my favourite pub in Derby.
On 4th July 2023
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
Very obviously a railway-themed pub - there's an old Network SouthEast digital clock hanging from the ceiling, the stools are covered in a grey moquette I remember from train journeys many years ago and there's any number of old station signs around the place.
The bar supports multiple pumps, from which I selected a Coffee Porter from Pentrich. This was as reasonable as most of their beers.
Definitely a better "station" pub than most. If you're visiting Derby for the ale, you'll probably have it on your list as an easy stop to or from the station, and rightly so.
On 3rd February 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 453 recommendations about 425 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
A classic two roomed pub just a few minutes walk from the train station, lots of old railway related pictures adorn the walls. Nine hand pumps in the comfortable public bar with a good range of beers, I had a couple from Pentrich brewery over the two seperate visits I made to the pub during my short stay in Derby. One of the best pubs in town.
On 1st November 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
Visited 30.4.21 and was able to get a table outside. All covid regulations applied. Menu brought to the table and a good selection of their Castle Rock plus guest beers available. Enjoyed Bad Seed, 2 x Torrside beers and a North Riding beer. Lovely cobs full of cheese and onion, plus sausage rolls and pies available too.
On 1st May 2021
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
Railway fans heaven - right down to a train engine parked in the car park.
Single long bar - 8 real ales - good music. Burton Bridge in great condition.
No reason to be late - with the huge station digital clock ticking off the minutes.
Good pub - photos at my blog - http://bit.ly/2w1lOlC
On 20th August 2018
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alex Conway left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
The Alexandra Hotel Is one a small few castle Rock brewery pubs Outside of Nottingham and is their only outlet in the neighbouring city of Derby. AS you enter there are rooms on the left and right, the left being the main bar area with all the hand pulls and the right more of a lounge with only a few duplicated of the main abr. The bar is one long along shaped room with seating at the far end with the front part being more of a standing area bit also with a few tables. The walls are decorated head to foot in signs and railway memorabilia making it a very quirky and interesting place to be with lots of character. The room is all hard wood floors and it has a traditional boozer type feel to it. The bar has 9 hand pulls and a good selection of whiskeys in optics behind the bar. Being castle rock the prices were reasonable and my Harvest pale was £2.90. There was also a good selection of guest beers from the likes of Rat Brewery and Fernandes brewery as well as Elsie Mo and a seasonal from the castle rock portfolio. My beer was in good nick but seeing as it was the first warm day of the year the bar was so hot and stuffy at lunchtime so we sat outside in the concrete beer garden which was not the prettiest did the job when we got in a position to catch the sun . Overall another solid Castle rock pub and a top priority pub in derby that I can imagine is great in the evenings when a little busier as it is not the smallest so I would think it would have a great atmosphere. Not quite as good as some of the genuinely brilliant Castle rock pubs in Nottingham the Alexandra is absolutely worth a visit but I just wish they used a sparkler a little more (common complaint in derby), I just don’t like a beer as much that’s as flat as a pancake! This aside give it a try.
On 29th March 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 457 recommendations about 457 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Alexandra Hotel
Obviously been some management changes here – my end-of-crawl visit found a pub much cleaner (whilst still retaining its fairly simple alehouse feel in the front bar) and much better beer with tasting notes included – more like the pub I was promised in 2010 but didn’t deliver. My choice of Blue Monkey Infinity was in good form. Also some proper ciders available. No TVs in here - it’s a proper drinkers pub. The eclectic railway memorabilia remains, now including the startling installation of a Class 37 locomotive cab in the garden! I’d make sure to prioritise this one next time. 8.5
September 2010
The ‘one you see from the train’ and quite hyped but I must say I was very much underwhelmed. Lots of ale was available but the quality was decidedly iffy, one excellent, one mediocre and one that was, frankly, off. Perhaps I should have gone for the impressive selection continental keg and Belgian bottles instead. The pub is laid out over two rooms and quite scruffy inside. Inevitably there’s railway memorabilia amongst the décor. I whiled away the time with a few games of arrows on the well-frequented dart board. Not one I’d be rushing back to, based on this visit.
NB – between my visit and posting this review it appears that there has been a change of licensee/re-decoration. Which might explain (though not excuse) some of the above. Rated 5
On 22nd November 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]