A nice quick quick train journey from Notttingham and i was in Newark again,a town i really like.
I walked from Newark Castle train station to the West side of town to get to my first pub of the day.
1: The Bridge
(c) Photo taken by Alan Winfield
A large roadside pub that was a John Smiths tied house,the pub had a few different rooms inside and was smart enough.
There were no real ales on here,so it was a drink of keg John Smiths bitter which was fizzy,but a lot better than the John Smiths Smooth Crap that pubs stock now.
Sadly this pub has been pulled down and there is now housing on its site.
I had walked past some pubs before opening time,so i would walk back to these on my way back into the middle of Newark.
2: The Spring House
(c) Photo taken by Alan Winfield
A decent looking pub that is on the apex of Mill Gate and Farndon Road.
The pub has two separate rooms inside with a decent sized lounge and a smaller bar.
This was a John Smiths tied house with no real ales on,i had a drink of keg John Smiths Bitter which was fizzy.
This pub is still open and i revisited it this year,the pub remains the same with the two separate rooms,but there is now John Smiths Extra Cold on the bar which is worse than the keg John Smiths Bitter.
(c) Photo taken by Alan Winfield 2nd June 2016
I walked down Mill Gate to get to my next pub.
3: The Watermill
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A decent looking pub that was a John Smiths tied house.
This pub is still up and running,i must visit it when in Newark next time.
I was now walking into the middle of Newark to get to my next pub.
4: The Malt Shovel
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
Once inside there was a small room to the front and a larger one to the rear,the pub was a Free house which was pretty unusual for Newark,there were two real ales on,i had a drink of Wards Bitter which was a very nice drink,there was also a beer on from Banks & Taylor.
This pub is still up and running.
It was a good walk to the East side of Newark to get to my next pub.
5: The Maple Leaf Brewery
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A large estate type pub that was situated on Winthorpe Road.
I was looking forward to doing this pub as it had its own on site brewery,well it did have,as it was not producing any beers on my Tuesday dinner visit.
The pub had a large bar and a decent sized lounge which was comfortable.
I had to settle for a half of very fizzy Ansells Bitter.
I was very dissapointed after a fairly long walk here.
The Maple Leaf as now been pulled down,there is now housing on its site.
I walked back towards Newark Northgate train station where there were a few pubs i had not yet done.
6: The Blue Man
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A decent looking town pub that was a John Smiths tied house.
The pub had a decent bar and a more comfortable lounge.
There was a decent drink of John Smiths hand pumped bitter on,which was a very nice drink.
This was a very pleasant pub to have a drink in.
The pub still stands but has been converted into private housing.
A short walk at the side of the train lines towards Newark Northgate train station and i found my next pub.
7: The Bowling Green
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A fairly large pub which faces Newark Northgate train station,so it was handy if waiting for a train or after a journey back to Newark.
The pub was quite plush inside and had a bit of a gay reputation,though it was empty on my Tuesday dinner visit,it was a John Smiths tied house, there were no real ales on,so it was a drink of keg John Smiths bitter which was very fizzy.
This pub is still standing but as been converted into a paint and hardware shop.
Another short walk and i was in my next pub.
8: Newcastle Arms
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A nice looking Home Ales tied house.
The pub had a basic bar and a more comfortable lounge,there were two real ales on,i had a drink of Home Ales Bitter which was a very nice drink,there was also Home Ales Mild on.
This pub is still up and running.
I was now walking back towards the middle of Newark and picking up any pubs i had not been in.
9: Newark Arms
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
This was a fairly large bare brick built pub.
The pub had a couple of rooms inside,with a smartish lounge.
This was a John Smiths tied house but did not have the usual John Smiths signage,there were no real ales on,so it was a drink of John Smiths Bitter which was cold and fizzy.
This pub is still standing,but now long closed.
I walked up to Northgate to get to my next pub.
I walked into the town centre to get to my next pub.
10: The Newark Royalist
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A large pub and hotel that was quite comfortable inside,this was a John Smiths tied house,there were no real ales on,i had a dink of keg John Smiths bitter which was fizzy.
This pub is still up and running and is now called The Rutland Arms Hotel.
On a recent visit it had two real ales on,Pedigree which was decent and Mansfield Cask.
(c) Photo taken by Alan Winfield 2nd June 2016
I carried on walking down from the Newark Royalist to get to a pub that i had waited outside with a couple of mates to open on a Sunday Night for nearly three hours, it never opened.
11: The Vine
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A large corner pub that looks different with it having loads of windows.
The pub had a main bar room and a smaller room to the right with no bar in it and a pool room to the rear.
On this visit the pub was an Ind Coope tied house with no real ales on,the Ind Coope Bitter was very fizzy.
I have done two more visits to this pub,one when it was still called The Vine and had Batemans real ales on the bar.
On my most recent visit this year the pub has changed its name to The Roaring Meg and is now run by Springhead brewery with a good choice of their real ales on,plus some guest beers.
The pub is still the same inside and outside as it was all those years ago.
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield 2nd June 2016 |
I walked back towards the middle of Newark and across to London Road to get to my next pub.
12: Castle and Falcon
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield |
A small pub that is close to the town centre.
This was a John Smiths tied house when i first did it,there were no real ales on,i had a drink of keg John Smiths bitter which was a pretty poor drink.
This pub is still up and running.
It was time to walk back to the train station,but i had time to do my last pub of the day which was quite close to Newark Castle train station.
13: The Ossington
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| Photo taken by Alan Winfield 19th March 2016 |
This was a very large pub that was housed in a old building that was either used as a coffee house or tea rooms,i can not remember now.
Once inside there was one large room with lots of tables and chairs.
The pub was run by Whitbread Brewery,there were no real ales on,the Whitbread Tankard was drinkable.
The building is still there and is now a restaurant called Zizzi.
A very short walk back to Newark Castle train station and i was on a train back to Nottingham.
A good Tuesday dinner crawl round Newark.
All photos were taken while dong the Pub Crawl,apart from The Ossington,Spring House and Vine which have the dates they were taken.
Did you do the Malt Shovel twice on the actual crawl itself? ;-)
ReplyDeleteWell spotted,i have now deleted one of them,i never visit a pub twice while on a crawl as its wasting one more half in a new pub.
DeleteThanks Alan
Thanks again for posting Alan. Really interesting how much keg you had to drink back then, when I'd have assumed real ale was fairly common in Newark.
ReplyDeleteSome great pubs there, and quite a lot of casualties.
Didn't know Banks & Taylor were around back then !
John Smith's were dominant in Newark because of the takeover of Holes and Warwicks & Richardsons, and I don't think at that time offered any real ale at all.
DeleteJohn Smiths were doing real ale in 1987,just one the hand pumped John Smiths bitter which was a decent drink.
DeleteWhen i did Newark in 1983 with a couple mates john Smiths was a keg only brewery,so you knew if you went in one you were guaranteed a fizzy drink of keg John Smiths bitter.
Newark was different to Nottingham in being dominated by John Smiths who had taken over Holes of Newark,i never had their beers before my time,while Nottingham had three large independant brewerys being Shipstone and Home Ales which probably had well over half of the cities pub stock and Kimberley brewery who were not so dominant in the City.
DeleteActually IIRC Courage had taken over Holes, and John Smith's Warwicks & Richardsons, so when Courage bought John Smith's they ended up with a local near-monopoly.
DeleteThe reintroduction of cask John Smiths was sometime in the mid-80s.
I did know that John Smiths was like the Northern arm of Courage but not in what order the older brewerys were taken over.
DeleteSome of John Smiths pubs in Newark in the 80s had Courage signage outside as you can see on the Bridge pub,but there was only keg John Smiths bitter on he bar and no Courage Best.