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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Old Boots left this review about The Stanton Cask
An impressive brick built corner building, the pub itself is a single room possibly a shop conversion, it’s very fancy brickwork and it may have been a pub in the days when one of Ilkeston’s railway stations was next door. It has bench seating down two and a half sides, a few tables are empty casks and a couple are metal based tables with low stools. The counter is to the rear left and houses four handpumps serving small brewery’s beers, mostly local to Nottinghamshire and one from further away (Middlesbrough), there are two solos on the counter, one from Blue Monkey. Five Molson Coors national keg lagers are located on the back wall with a neon sign saying lager three times – apparently the locals missed the fact the keg taps were there. Big screen showing 80s music videos but also used for sport and there’s a dart board. Big pictures of the former local Stanton Iron works as decor. The ladies and gents are up a short corridor at the right hand side of the counter.
On 9th March 2024
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3269 recommendations about 2978 pubs]
Pub SignMan left this review about The Stanton Cask
Simple street corner micropub a short way to the North of the town centre, which looks pretty good on approach, thanks to the unusual curved frontage of the street corner premises it occupies. Large modern etched glass windows to the front sport an image of a dray horse and cart and ensure a bit of privacy from passers-by. Inside, it’s a basic, bare boarded room with the servery to the rear and a long, comfy banquette down the right-hand wall. Some of the tables are made from upturned barrels with a larger circular top affixed, and elsewhere low stools serve similar tables whilst an uncomfortable looking low banquette rounds out the seating options under the front windows, although given the amount of condensation on the windows, you’d need to be very careful to ensure you didn’t lean backwards and get a soaking if sat here. The whole pub has been decorated with copious amounts of pump clips plus a few other beer themed bits and bobs which help add some colour to the place. The servery has a plain, squat counter and featureless bar back, again decorated with loads of pump clips and a fancy looking clock.
The main draw of such a pub has to be the ale range, which I thought was pretty strong here. Options on this visit comprised Nene Valley Egyptian Cream and Simple Pleasures, Grainstore Zahara and Blue Monkey Best Bitter. My pint of Zahara was in good nick, but the barman was a pretty surly fellow who seemed to be very wary of a new face in his pub and with only one other customer in when I arrived, there was a strange, tense atmosphere where I didn’t feel particularly welcome.
I enjoyed my beer here but didn’t think there was too much else to distinguish this place from the sort of micropub you can find up and down the country. The service will remain my abiding memory of this place and would probably put me off from bothering again, as there are plenty of other decent pubs in town that did seem happy to host me, although I understand the pub ha changed name and is under new management since I visited, so maybe I'd give it another shot in it's new guise.
On 8th September 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about Ilson Tap
A smashing little micro. Situated on a corner this small single roomed pub is at the bottom of a hill. 5 handpulls dispensing 3 Aurora beers, a Scarborough beer and World Top beer. Friendly custom and staff. Worth the walk down.
On 2nd February 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Ilson Tap
A family run micro pub that has good support from the locals around this part of Ilkeston. The interior was traditional and had a decent selection of seating along the right hand wall and around the bay window, which was made up from tartan upholstered bench seating along with tables and chairs.
The main attraction for me was to try their Aurora beers. Five handpumps serving Backyard Jigger Stout, Banks and Taylor Fruit Bat Pale, Littleover Gold, Aurora Light Show and Deventio Brewery Gold.
On 19th August 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about Ilson Tap
One roomed pub with the bar to the left rear. Five hand pumps with a good selection of ales. Quite full and the acoustics made it a bit noisy, but would return if in the area again.
On 21st January 2018
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about Ilson Tap
The Ilson Tap is a micro pub that is situated at the bottom of Bath Street.
Once inside there is a small oblong shaped room which is bare boarded,the bar is to the rear of the room on the left side,there is bench seating on the right side with small tables and small stools.
There were five real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Aurora Constellation,which was a nice well kept beer,the other real ales were Aurora american Red,Hairy Brewers Belper Trash,Dancing Duck Waitangi and Abstact Jungle Pride.
I quite liked this micro pub.
Pub visited 22/7/2017
On 27th October 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Ilson Tap
A new micropub and home to the Aurora brewery, the Ilson Tap takes its name from the local pronunciation of the name of the town. We found the pub by accident, as I had planned our crawl of Ilkeston before the pub came into being in June 2017. It's a converted corner shop and there's a small bar in the back corner which has five hand pumps; a number of keg fonts can be seen on the wall behind. As well as their own beers, there are two guest ales. All hand pulled beers were priced at £2.90 a pint. There was a friendly atmosphere, with some grandparents proudly showing off their triplet granddaughters, who looked about the same age as the pub. A very welcome addition to Ilkeston's burgeoning real ale scene.
On 3rd July 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3745 recommendations about 3482 pubs]