DERBY.

The Alexandra was the birthplace of Derby CAMRA way back in 1974. Much has changed since then: the pub was closed by Shipstones, bought by Batemans, then developed and subsequently purchased by Tynemill. In many ways the recent history of the Alex has mirrored the success of CAMRA, reflecting the revival of real ale in unspoilt pub surroundings, and perhaps best exemplified by the award of "CAMRA East Midlands Pub of the Year" in 1994 (and runner-up in 1995!). The Alex's renown is justifiably founded on its eleven handpumps. The appeal these days is considerably more broad-based. They offer simple, yet satisfying sustenance, and even a bed for the night, if you need it! Mark Robins and his staff extend the warmest of welcomes to customers old and new. You can choose between the traditional public bar and comfortable lounge, or sit outside - weather permitting, though it is on a busy road. The usual beers on are: Bramcote Hemlock, Bateman's XB, Pedigree, and up to 8 guest real ales, including at least one mild. Food is simple traditional pub fare, but the quality is a cut above the average. They use top quality ingredients, locally produced wherever possible. They even occasionally have their exclusively produced Hemlock Pork Sausage, meaty and substantial made with Hemlock Real Ale. The menu includes favourites such as Chilli Con Carne, Liver and Bacon, Home-Baked Ham with Free-Range Eggs and Chips, filled Yorkshire Puddings, Ploughman's lunches, Omelettes and freshly-made filled Hot and Cold Cobs. They always offer a choice for vegetarians too.  If you want to hold a function or party the lounge can be booked for special events at lunchtimes or evenings. They aim to be as flexible as possible to fit in with particular requirements. Food can also be tailored to suit - from simple buffets to more elaborate spreads. Regional Beer Evenings and Special Promotions are regularly featured, usually accompanied by an appropriate and keenly-priced supper. Occasionally there is live entertainment - but nothing too loud. The Alexandra Hotel has four tastefully furnished twin bedrooms, each en suite, with colour TV and hot drink facilities Rating. Prices are £25/£35 for one/two persons per room. A top quality full English breakfast is included. Discounts are offered to CAMRA members, and are all available for long-term and block bookings. Reservations (01332) 293993  Don’t forget that Derby Railway Station is just a stroll away.

A reclaimed pub back in the late 1980s from a derelict building (pictures of this can be seen on the way to the toilet). The Brunswick is part of the Derby pub crawl and well deserves its place as it usually has up to 12 real ales on at any one time. The Brunswick brews its own ales and has up to five on at any one time. On occasion some of these are new brews and can help tickers out tremendously. It has its own brewery on site - again situated near the toilets (how it got planning permission I'll never know - joke for those of you who've never been here) - and usually has four to five of them on tap. Some of the beers are served by gravity and the bar staff have to retreat to the cellar to collect it, being down a flight of stairs it can give them good exercise or if you wait until they return to ask for another form the cellar, a lot of annoyance. The Brunswick can get busy at times, like just after work and football matches (those days they have a lock down policy and you are only allowed out, not in, though try the back entrance and don't wear football shirts and you might get in). The food served (11.30-5pm Mon-Fri) is not bad, but booking is advised. These are sometimes served upstairs (with its own bar) and this is also where they have jazz on Monday nights (surprisingly insulated from the bar downstairs). The seating is in three rooms (one non smoking with doors to keep the smoke out), two have red padded bench type seating with high wooden backs and stools around round tables. The third area has just stools and round tables on a bare floor - this is where they hold their annual beer festival. There is a fourth area, but this is the children's room, though after they have left (9pm) it can be used by adults. The decor is similar to the Fat Cat in Sheffield but the prices are higher, with beers around the £2.20 mark. Right opposite the station, there is no accommodation here but try: Midland Hotel, Midland Road, Derby, (01332) 345894. Prices: single from: £59.50, double from: £70 per room per night map.

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A lopsided building of 16th century origin. Just up the road from the cathedral it's handy for the town centre and the industrial museum behind. It's also close to The Flowerpot and Standing Order (see below). There are four (3 small) rooms, not interlinked, including a snug with is very snug. The ceilings are very low original beamed with brasses and the like and the walls are dated too. While it feels like a nice local, the Saturday set congregate there too, despite the lack of piped music. There is a stone flagged walkway right through the pub. The surface is uneven so be warned. Access is fair for the disabled, though certain areas are out of bounds by default. The main bar is split level with most seating raised. The wooden bar serves about four guest ales Archers Golden, Thwaites Daniels Hammer, Highwood Shepherd Delight and Ringwood Boondoggle. Seating throughout is benches and wooden tables and chairs. Food is served lunch and evenings in the bars, though there is a café restaurant upstairs that reminds you of the seaside. Quality is fine reminiscent of village pubs - quaint I guess. The owners (BASS) have tried to force it up market of late (old landlord took over the the Silk Mill and turned it into a real ale haunt). Watch out for the ghost or read the papers. Can get totally like sardines Saturday.

This is one of the jewels in the Derby real ale scene. Both a real ale and a music pub (though the latter is in a separate part and doesn't destroy the chance to sit quietly with a drink), it is situated at the top of town near the A52 bypass and just round the corner from The Blessington. Looking like a couple of houses stitched together, the inside is larger than it looks from the outside. The bar is on the left on entrance and you are welcomed by about eight to twelve hand pulls, all with a different real ale on. The beers are reasonably priced and as they are ever changing it would be foolish to try and list them. This end of the pub has a gents toilet (a bit smelly at times) and round table seating with stools and benches around the edge of the wall. As you move further into the pub there is carpet on the  floors and more round tables. The bar snakes round to the left towards the large glass cellar room. There are a few small 'cubicles' as you move towards the food hatch/kitchen. The cellar room with another four beer pulls is next to the music area and although you can hear a low thud, it's not intrusive. The glass window reveals all the beers on stillage and excites the palette of all drinkers. This room is all bright pine and wood, though there is only one raised seating area and a jukebox on the entrance wall. Caricature pictures of the staff are on the walls. Food is served for most of the day till around 6.45 (6.30 Sunday), and is all home cooked while you wait. Choices are wholesome and tasty and there is plenty to eat. Prices are OK and there is a choice for vegetarians, though it's limited. For the summer there is a beer garden and access for the disabled to the pub and toilet. Beer choice is expansive, though of late a little boring. No accommodation here.

This used to be a traditional pub, but recently it has gone all 'bar' like with light wood furniture and a paint job that makes it more appealing to women and more like a wine bar. It still serves real ale, though the fonts are modern silver things. The inside is a single bar (two distinct areas) with a wooden hatch type serving area. There are tall ceilings and old pictures of Derby on the walls; towards the back is a wooden floor area. There is also a huge mirror from the days when the Hoskins brewery actually brewed beer. Here there is a phone and free newspapers to read with your pint. The area as you enter has lots of benches and tables and the area to the rear has high and low tables with stools and chairs. The floor at the rear is wooden but that near the door and bar has carpet. Beers are plentiful. On at the time were: Whim El culo, Dent Aviator, Shugborough Red Cap, plus two others. Plenty to try and worth a trip in conjunction with the Flowerpot which serves different ales as standard. Food is from a select menu and is brassiere orientated. Popular with students (residences just up the road) this pub can get busy, however, the ales never cease to amaze. Access for the disabled is possible. Toilets are basic and cold in winter, but serviceable. No accommodation here.

Opposite the bus depot by the side of the Derwent river, this pub was bought by the owner of The Flowerpot, another Derby gem of a pub. The Smithfield is an old Offlers pub that backs onto the picturesque river Derwent and in summer you can sit in the beer garden and watch the river flow past the back door. On the bar side of it, they have at least seven guest ales on at all times. At the time of visit they had Cottage - Goldrush and Golden Arrow, Burton Bridge - Bitter, Townes - First Light, Bass - Bass, Bass - Barley Wine 10.5% (!) and others. They had just finished a charity beer festival that raised £1000 for children with cerebral palsy. There is no accommodation, but the pub offers a good stop off if you are traveling on the nearby A52 (come off at Pentagon island and U-turn back towards the city centre, keeping left you will automatically pass the bus depot; take a left there [not under the road bridge] and you cant miss it). There are three rooms to the pub, which while making it cosy, can be a bit cramped if there are too many people in. Friendly and knowledgeable staff make it a pleasure to sample the beers. Food is wholesome but not fancy, there are no meals in the evening. (Try also The Friargate, 114 Friar Gate (01332) 297065 from the same team.)

This pub has two rooms, a small snug with real fire, settles and wooden tables. The longer bar on the left is 'L' shaped (carpet) with a raised area (wooden floor) at the rear - settles and wooden tables dominate. Walls are yellow to match the green ceiling. Popular for food with traditional pub fayre rather like the food you might find at a Banks' or Wetherspoon pub - mixed grills, burgers and jacket spuds, all day breakfast. however, the food (served 9-11pm) here is just as keenly priced (£3.95 for some). Sunday lunch is also inexpensive. The bar is at an angle to the room and usually there are eight real ales on and are all well kept. Within this is the staple Fullers London Pride that you seem to find everywhere these days. The walls are covered with pictures of old Derby and  even pottery in a glass case. There are real fires here that really warm the cockles in the cold weather. Try the small room to the right of the entrance as this is cosy and gets warmest - also doubles up as the stillage during occasional beer festivals. The cobalt blue tiles on the way to toilets are particularly striking. Outside there are picnic benches for summer, not winter and a whole wall is a mural of Derby life/history. There is also a large drop down screen for sports events, though it's not on all the time and so only occasionally does it intrude on the drinking and talking (usually Saturday's). No accommodation here. Food is served from 10-10.30pm Monday - Sat and 10-10 Sunday. Well worth a visit.

This is now a Wychwood Hobgoblin outlet serving up to three real ales. My favourite on this occasion was Kelham Island Pride of Sheffield. This is more like a Wetherspoon in design and style on the inside. There are wide access doors which allow for easy access and a ramp for the disabled. Once inside there are a number of different levels. The bar level is on the flat and is on the right and long. While a high bar wheelchair users should be able to be seen. The floor is dark, wooden and bare. There are seats at the far end - mixture of large round tables and comfortable chairs - though some suffer from cigarette burn holes (?) and beer stains (?). The sun enters the pub from this side and is bright and airy, especially through the balcony seating area above where there are stained glass window panes. To the left of the entrance there is a raised area with seating a a large drop down screen for the football all Saturday afternoon (the sound is off, so conversation is possible). Seating is similar here, but as the sun doesn't hit this side of the building it is cold - with the air-conditioning. There is music at certain times - evenings and is loud to suit the student market. Food is served all day and is wholesome and filling - on this occasion we tried the potato skins and beans - too many for one and the vegetarian sausage baguette - filling too. Prices are good, better than the Hogshead, more like Wetherspoon prices. Well worth a daytime stop off if doing the Derby crawl. No accommodation here but try:

This is a J. D. Wetherspoon pub and is nicer than the usual refurbishment as it is situated in the old Nat West bank dating back to the 1800s. consequently it has a nice high ceiling (30 - 40 ft) which gives it an airy feeling even when busy on a Saturday night and it does get busy - be prepared to push. During the week however, it is a great place to eat lunch as it has two areas, one non-smoking where you can eat in clean air. This is the low ceiling bit and has traditional tables and some booths. The main (central) bar area has traditional booths with bookshelves on the walls behind. The books are obscure, but that's so you wont steal them. I'm not sure you would be allowed to read them either. The menu is the same as the other pubs in the group, but that means wholesome, if a little too much emphasis on garlic with everything. The third area is the entrance hall, here you can sit at tables, or stand at leaning posts and feel a little less open to view than in the main area. Disabled access is good with a ramp up to the entrance with the proviso of a busy Saturday night. The usual beers have been described as insipid as they are usually too cold and comprise Youngers Scotch and Theakstons Best. However, like all Wetherspoons, they have a guest beer available most times. Yes that's right, only one guest usually, and not always available, especially on Saturday night. Try it anyway, you might be pleasantly surprised. No music here and none of those irresponsible fruit machines, and at least three beer festivals a year.

Also try:

The Old Crown, Cavendish Bridge, SHARDLOW, Nr Derby, DE72 2HL.

The Falstaff. Silverhill Road, Normanton. 01332 342902. brew pub

Dead Poets Inn, Holbrook, Derbyshire. 01332 780301. poets night 1st tuesday every month.

The Rowditch Inn, 246 Uttoxeter Road, Derby. guest beers.

The Wheel Inn, chapel street, Holbrook. 01332 880006. guest beers. real fire.

The Spotted Cow, Holbrook, Derbyshire. 01332 881200. guest beers. food. 

The Loudon Arms, off Normanton Road, Derby. 01332 342147. home cooked food.

Travellers Rest, Ashbourne Rd