The Boat Inn, Cromford

My wife and I stayed in a B&B in Cromford celebrating our Wedding Anniversary in October 2009. We visited all the local establishments, the Boat included. The Boat was a friendly, clean and very welcoming pub with lots of locals enjoying the entertainment. The Hostess was very accomodating, and we returned every evening of our stay. We even had a game of Pool.
We returned in October 2010, to find a change in Management. Unfortunately, although the pub had had a lick of paint, the atmosphere had gone, the Johns Smiths was off, and the Manager was not impressed when we told him of this, denying the fact. The locals were nowhere to be seen, and this for us set the alarm bells ringing. On further investigation, we found out that the same people ran the Boat as had the Greyhound - which also lacked local residents. We made our way to The Bell Inn in Cromford, which was warm, welcoming and bustling with local folks ... we enjoyed meeting up again with friends we'd made the year before and had a swell time.
A pub is a pub, but good beer is important, and this little diamond deserves better behind the bar than it has at the moment. The right management would bring this little diamond back to life, it had sunk when last we visited. Such a shame.

10 Feb 2011 19:57