Pints of View Summer 2026 - the branch magazine of Mansfield & Ashfield CAMRA.
Stagecoach 1 Route
Ahead of 'Better Transport Week' in June, I thought it was time another guide was added to the website's Bus Routes page. Thinking, 'Where better to start than from my nearest bus stop in Huthwaite', I caught the Stagecoach 1 to Mansfield Woodhouse and worked my way home, with an open ticket costing £7, allowing unlimited travel for the day. My rules for the trip were that the pub must serve real ale and be no more than 30 seconds from the bus stop. This is how it went...
BARREL MICROPUB
DAR EL MICROPL
The first pub that meets my criteria in Mansfield Woodhouse is the Barrel Micropub, where the bus stops right outside. Mark and Bev, who opened the pub in October 2024, have recently extended into what was originally the proposed café area, roughly doubling its space and enabling them to have live music. There are always three changing guests available alongside a house bitter from Lenton Lane. On my visit, the guests were Magpie Nottingham Session, and a duo from Lenton Lane in Pale Moonlight and Sample & Hold; the latter being a porter and my first choice for the day.
GREYHOUND
From the Barrel, I decided it was much easier to walk a couple of hundred yards along Station Street to the Greyhound Inn, rather than catch the bus around town. The pub has been in the Good Beer Guide 27 times since the branch's inception in 1992 - the most out of any pub - all under the stewardship of landlady Lynda Britten, who remains at the helm today. Ales on my visit were Robinson's Dizzy Blonde, Marston's Pedigree, Timothy Taylor's Landlord, Bass and Welbeck Abbey Sligo, of which I chose the latter and very much enjoyed.
THE GARRISON
HEALTHC
Hopping back onto the bus, the ten-minute ride into the heart of Mansfield gave me two options within a few seconds of the stop: The Garrison and Stag & Pheasant, of which I chose the former as my first stop. The Garrison is Mansfield's only town centre micropub and has nods to the hit TV show Peaky Blinders. The light, spacious one-roomed pub added an outside decked area fairly recently, giving the option of indoor or outdoor drinking depending on the weather. Up to six real ales are available, and a similar number of craft- keg options. Rat Cheating Rat, Dancing Duck Ay Up and Beermats Hazmat were the cask choices. The pub is also a big champion of real cider.
Back across the road is my first of two JD Wetherspoon pubs I visited - the Stag & Pheasant. As with most Wetherspoon pubs, it was unsurprisingly busy with a mix of drinkers and diners. Cask ales are split between two rows of handpulls here, which isn't unusual for a Wetherspoon pub, but the guest ales tend to be to the rear of the bar here and could be easily missed if you aren't used to the arrangement. Alongside the usual cask options were Beermats Legitimate and Summat Twisted, Zest Heavenly Blonde, Theakston Old Peculier, Welbeck Abbey Henrietta and Titanic White Star.
The Stag & Pheasant
RALL
I questioned the point of catching the bus to my next planned stop, The Railway Inn, so I again opted to stretch my legs and walk the few hundred yards instead. This pub tested my rule that it should be within 30 seconds of the bus stop (or station in this case), but I walk pretty fast (in my opinion), so it got in. The Railway always feels to me like an oasis of calm in the centre of Mansfield, mixing diners enjoying the much-loved home-cooked food or drinkers simply enjoying the ales. There are always four available and often feature Batemans and Full Mash, and on my visit, that was the case, with 12 | Pints of View Summer 2026
The Railway Inn