Marquis of Granby  

The Marquis of Granby who gave his name to this and so many other pubs as General John Manners (1721-70), the son of the Duke of Rutland. On his return home after the 7 Years War he provided a number of soldiers from his regiment with the means to buy an inn to provide a pension. Among the many pubs to change its name in recognition was the Dragon Inn, Granby in 1760, where parts of the pub are said to date back to the 16th Century.

Not many pubs have been owned for over 100 years by the same family, as the Marquis has, being owned by the Watson family for several generations. In the 1920s Ind Coope purchased the pub, a rare acquisition in the Vale, when most pubs not owned by the individual landlord were Home Ales Pubs, and to a lesser extent, Shipstones.

Just three years ago the Marquis was struggling to survive, but it changed hands and underwent some sympathetic refurbishment. The changes included several extra hand-pumps and the removal of anything connected with "smooth" ale. The biggest change of all was the introduction of Loz and Su as Landlords, whose enthusiasm, hard work and ambitious ideas brought about a real "rags to riches" change in the pub's fortunes.

Always available at the pub, appropriately enough, is Marquis Ale from Brewsters Brewery, Stathern. This excellent session ale was originally produced for a TV programme in which the Marquis of Granby was interviewed drinking Marquis in the Marquis of Granby at Granby! From being a "one off" brew it is now Brewster's best selling ale.

Apart from this beer the Marquis serves entirely Guest Beers from Micro Breweries nationwide. An indication of the success of this policy is that, on average, 1.5 new beers are put on every day in the pub. The thousand mark is long gone and fifteen hundred is close. There are now 7 hand-pumps for ale and one for real cider.

The pub has held several well attended beer festivals over the past 3 years and there are often theme weeks, such as Goose Fair related brews - even though the link is sometimes tenuous to say the least - but whatever the theme the beers are often inspired! There is always a mild available but in May there is a wider range of them than anywhere else around - last year 22 in the month! Naturally, the Marquis has become a mecca to many CAMRA members and the achievements have been recognised accordingly. Within two years of having Loz & Sue at the helm the Marquis won Vale of Belvoir POTY, Nottinghamshire POTY, East Midlands POTY & was Runner up in the National POTY - as far as we know this is the 151 time a Notts Pub has reached the final.

For those who get peckish while visiting , Su offers a range of food including vegetarian options. She also offers excellent coffee & a non-alcoholic punch is available. Although we say it every time, this really is a pub you can't afford to miss out on!

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