please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Just a short note to say that this place is still as great as ever ! The only obvious change I noticed on my recent visit was that the room to the right of the entrance has been opened out with the intervening wall knocked down. [ Not sure if much in the room had changed ]
This time I wasn’t restricted in my choice of meal, and went for the “beef stew with dumplings” (as did my brother). I think we arrived at the end of thelunchtime rush, because there was a long wait and most people had left by the time ours arrived. (we didn’t mind waiting) And a bit of a shock we got too when it arrived – a huge plate piled high with mash (which we both left) and just about every vegetable you could think of. Very nice it was too – though I couldn’t manage it all. However, at £12.95 it was definitely on the expensive side.
As for beer, we both went for the Ashover Fabrick which was pretty decent, if not the sort of beer I would normally drink (a 4.4% golden ale).
Finally to note that though the pub was almost empty by the time we left, the car park was still full !
9/10 – I’m going to have to find room in my top 10 pubs list for this one !
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Real ales a-plenty, grub like mother used to make and vintage furnishings + decor. Q. What's not to like? A. Nowt
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Judging by previous reviews, I had high hopes for this place – and I wasn’t disappointed !
Coming in through the main door, the bar is immediately on your left, and there are small rooms of to the left and right (maybe others ?). There are pictures of old Ashover on the walls, including the light railway (unfortunately the table in front of that was occupied), and the room we were in was decorated with tons of hops and old beer bottles. You can also sit on some benches out the back, in the midst of beer barrels and car-park.
There is a range of real ales on tap, that is too large to remember accurately, but I think there were 9. 3 or 4 were from their own Ashover Brewery, the rest were from various small breweries. There were a couple from Oakham and a “friendly face” for the unadventurous in the form of Old Hookey. I had the Ashover Light Rale, which was pleasant but unadventurous, and Ashover Milk Stout which was very nice but hoppier than I expected.
The kitchen was being refurbished, so instead of a full menu they were only offering a “top 10” – a varied selection of 10 dishes . Most of them sounded very nice, but I was more or less forced to have the Chilli Con Carne as I’d recently had a tooth out, and this was to be my first hot meal for 3 days ! And very nice the chilli was too.
The place was advertising a number of special events. I can’t remember them all, but they included live music and a curry night which unusually was on Sundays.
9/10 – excellent. Will definitely return.
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Fantastic range and quality of beers - loved the Ashove Rail Ale.
Home made food with massive portions and superb real chips.
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Back again. Oakham citra and Ashover Citra, Spolit for choice. Can not wait to go back again. Shame so far away.
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Stayed here for the weekdend. Fantasic. Clean tidy and friendly. The beer range is billiant and the ciders and perry's the best seen for a long time. Try the Blueberry Cider made by the Ashover cider company. back again in Novemeber for the Bakewell christmas market. Shame 3 hours away.
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Top notch. Very good service even under pressure, and excellent beer and food. Well done to the management and staff
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Thank you for a lovely stay. We will be coming back very soon. Fantistic beer. Lovely staff and so welcoming. Kim and Jackie are some of the friendliest landlords around. What is up with chesterfield CAMRA, only allowed to win pub of the year for 2 years. These deserve it. Give the others something to work towards, running a fantastic place people want to visit.
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Well what a great pub/Micro brewery offering Great Beers and Great service happy staff!! Very good range of food.Loved it.will be back!!
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This pub just has everything right! A beautiful building, great range of beers well-kept, real fires, great traditional English food at reasonable prices, superb atmosphere.
Unfortunately for us, kids only allowed in the restaurant area. Not too much of a problem as it's got a really nice atmosphere, but it meant we couldn't sit by the open fire in the bar area.
They make their own sausages but, disappointingly, only about half the range was available. I'm a big blackpudding fan but the pork and blackpudding sausages were not to my taste. It wouldn't put me off going back as the food generally was very good.
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paid our 3rd visit to this pub on saturday 29th october 2011 , visiting from portsmouth to watch the football at derby. we were afforded the usual fantastic welcome with glorious real ales and ciders for all to enjoy also fantastic value for money meals. once again thanks to the friendly staff for making us all most welcome and you can be sure that we will return to "our favorite pub" when returning to the area
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Excellent pub. Busy with both drinkers and diners. Great choice of ales, guests as well as from own brwerery. Small outside drinking area at back. Just about everything you need in a pub. Worth seeking out and I plan to go back to Derbyshire again just to go here...Closest I have ever come on here to giving 10 out of 10!
foamy - 22 Sep 2011 19:52 |
Effortlessly excellent!
Great selection of ales including those brewed on site, other locals/micros and a couple of major breweries. Extensive cider choice too.
Had a pint of Absolution which was just superb, together with a very nice pork pie!
Great atmosphere, great service, great beer, just wish I lived a bit nearer!
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Fantastic pub. Friendly and efficient staff. Ten excellent beers available. Very good pub food at a good price and massive portions.
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Went for New Year's Eve fancy dress event. Packed with very friendly customers. Sampled their selection of about 7 Real Ales and they also had 5 ciders and a perry in the basement. Great place.
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Extensive and balanced selection of mainly regional ales (9+) plus ciders & perries. Thornbridge Jaipur is a must. Convivial atmosphere, cosy and quirky rooms, roaring fires. Great food too, but avoid the apple crumble, which was rather horrid. Went on Halloween weekend and it felt like the best pub in the world. The plentiful Jack o lanterns decorations were of highly imaginative designs and carving skills.
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After an alarming mix-up over booking a room here, we had an enjoyable overnight stay with a hearty meal and a great beer selection. I worked my way through the entire Ashover Brewery range, brewed on site, and a couple of bottles of excellent Merlot (helped by the other half, of course). A decent place to stay, deservedly popular.
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Oh, it's good here alright, but the food is definitely not what it was. Pub chefs / cooks these days all seem to be the same, disinterested, half asleep, etc...Pity, as it's put me off going there as often as I used to.
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Lovely place. The open fire was so welcoming after walking in from the cold. The range of ales was huge and the ones I tried were perfect. I didn't try the food but it sure looked tempting! I was very amused by the Christmas tree decorated with pump clips. Definately worth going out of the way for. Unfortunately I couldn't stay long as I was on a tight schedule with buses. I'll have to pop back sometime when I've found a designated driver!
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See rock band Snakeskin on youtube (bassmanphil3)
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A good all-rounder, but neither as great in terms of beer quality (Tipple was very dull) or as welcoming as expected. Will certainly try again though, as this is a stunning part of Britain for countryside and pubs.
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Very friendly pub with excellent range of beers from brewery out the back and other guest beers. Good range of ciders if thats your bag. Never been disappointed in the food either. Well worth a visit. Dogs welcome too . Not a "local" but luckily only live a few miles away.
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Excellent pub with great atmosphere and superb food. Have visited several times over the last few years, recently B&B - also recommended. Micro brewery out the back supplies some of the beers which are named after locos and features of the old long closed Ashover Light Railway. A good base for visiting the area, Matlock etc.
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Visited recently with friends on way to holidaying on Peak District. Saw pub advertised in Good Beer Guide and web-site looked enticing so gave it a go.
Very pleased with what we found. The pub really feels like the centre of the community and made a welcoming stop with it's buzzy atmos and great selection of drinks. If any locals take it for granted they should come down to where I live in Oxfordshire where every other countryside boozer has lost it's original identity and been turned into overpriced gastropubs run by ex-city chefs.
Cider and ale selections were top notch and I had some excellent pork and black pudding sausages with mash. Well worth visiting and I will defintely be doing so again.
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Beer is of good standard , food gone off a bit , not as good as it once was.
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Top quality beer, ciders and live music. Dogs and hikers welcome. Good range of reasonably priced food with generous portions. As someone else said, they don't come better than this.
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They don't come any better than this.
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What an excellent pub for good quality ales. There were a few Ashover brews but a good choice of gusests too. The pub was busy with diners but staff were efficient and we would call again when in the area.
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Very good pub, excellent beer and good quality food.
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Disappointing food - large amount of meat juice at the bottom of the dish drowned out all other flavours and food. Nothing done to offer anything to compensate. Choose a different pub for food in Ashover - there are plenty.
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Excellent pub. Great choise and quality of beer and ciders. Good Food. Acoustic music Tuesdays and Sundays
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Top banana. Great beer, food and atmosphere
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What a great pub. Really welcoming, with a good choice of draught beer and ciders, continental lagers plus very good food. Regular folk/acoustic/blues music, with weekly open mic night. Scenic views from beer garden, B&B.
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Excellent beer, excellent food, great entertainment and friendly atmosphere
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Great selection of hand-pulled beers & ciders. Great food. Great atmosphere. Regular good, live music. This is how pubs SHOULD be!
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