Campaign for Real Pubs: September 2017

The Holly Bush, Makeney, Derbyshire DE56 0RX

A stone-built pub of considerable age situated on a narrow lane off the A6 south of Belper in the picturesque Derwent valley, with a superb unspoilt interior that earns it a place on CAMRA’s National Inventory. At its heart is a wonderful old snug formed from a quadrant of fixed bench seating with a glazed section filling the gap between the top and the ceiling. Next to this is the cosy main bar with dark beams and a quarry-tiled floor. There’s also a more a more conventional but still characterful lounge and a conservatory and beer garden at the rear. Children are not admitted to the main bar and snug.

The permanent beer range comprises Greene King Abbot Ale, Taylor’s Landlord and Fullers London Pride on handpump, plus Marston’s Pedigree drawn from the cellar and served from a jug. There are also three changing guest ales, and the pub stages regular beer festivals throughout the year. There’s an extensive menu of conventional pub food, plus a variety of snacks including pork pies and cheese platters. It’s a rare example of a pub occupying a stunning historic building that also excels in its customer offer.

The pub only has a small car park, and apart from this parking nearby can be difficult – at busy times, visitors may need to go down to the “main road” a couple of hundred yards away.

The Jolly Sailor, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 6HN

A street-corner pub in the lower part of the town on the busy Sunderland Street near to the railway station. In the 1980s, the interior was opened out somewhat, attracting criticism from a local CAMRA guide, but it has mellowed since then, and retains four distinct areas around the bar with a variety of comfortable seating. There’s an impressive collection of bric-a-brac and memorabilia including many photographs of old Macclesfield and the classic old Bass poster shown below.

It was once the only Bass tied house in the town, and Draught Bass remains at the core of the beer range alongside Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Everards Tiger. There are also a couple of changing guests which are typically the more familiar beers such as Bombardier and Landlord. Food is limited to simple weekday bar snacks, but the upstairs function room doubles as a steakhouse on Thursday to Saturday evenings. It attracts a wide cross-section of customers and provides a proper traditional pub atmosphere in an area of the town where modern bars predominate.

WHAT ARE REAL PUBS?

Real pubs are pubs whose primary function is still the original core purpose of pubs – for people to meet and socialise over a few drinks.

They may serve food, and very good food at that, but they don’t allow it to dominate to the exclusion of all else. They’ll probably have a strong core of regular customers, but still make casual drinkers welcome. They may well serve a good drop of real ale, but won’t be full of beer bores droning on about hop varieties and IBUs.

In many parts of the country they’re getting very hard to find. In recent years, the smoking ban, beer duty hikes, the demonisation of “one-drink driving” and the general anti-alcohol climate have all had their effect, but such pubs do still survive if you know where to look and deserve to be celebrated.

Although in many ways they are a laudable organisation, this blog is not connected with and does not in any way represent the Campaign for Real Ale.

The inclusion of a pub does not necessarily reflect a recent visit by myself, although often it does.