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Travel & Lifestyle

Pints of View Summer 2026

By Kirsten Yates

Pints of View Summer 2026 - the branch magazine of Mansfield & Ashfield CAMRA.

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https://covver.com/magazine/djyatesy-xnqw/pints-of-view-summer-2026-XIsVyTXM82tHNFIf15N5
Published
May 18, 2026
Pages
36

More in this magazine

  • Mansfield and AshfieldPints of View The branch magazine of Mansfield and Ashfield CAMRA Issue 11 - Summer 2026 Edition
  • Page 2REAL ALE - CRAFT BEER - ARTISAN SPIRITS - FINE WINES LIVE MUSIC EVERY WEEK THE BROWN
  • Page 3f ل
  • View From The Chair(s)Hello, and welcome to our Summer 2026 edition of Pints of View... I've had only limited involvement in the branch so far this year due to ill health, and haven't even had a beer since January 25th (when I had to abandon the #31PubsInJanuary challenge), as I then spent the next 8 weeks in hospital. My thanks, therefore, go to fellow committee members for stepping up and taking on extra responsibilities in my absence. I'll therefore leave it to my Vice-Chair to complete the rest of this piece, but I wanted to mention just a few points first.
  • Page 5As well as getting a printed magazine back into our pubs, the committee would still very much like to bring back a Mansfield and Ashfield Branch Beer Festival. It's our top priority, and there is work going on behind the scenes. However, as I mentioned earlier, we're a small team of volunteers, doing whatever we can along with our work/home/family commitments. Again, if you think you can help us with any of this, including getting a beer festival up and running, please do get in touch. Looking forward, we have our Annual General Meeting on Sunday 28th June at 2pm at The Brown Cow in Mansfield. We've booked The Cow Shed (the upstairs room) for this. At the meeting, all committee posts will be up for re-election. Again, our AGM is open to all, and we'd love to have the place full of people. If you're interested, do come along - you won't be forced to sign up to anything, and you can just come along to meet us, have a beer, and see what happens. Equally, if you would like to become involved, either formally or informally ('minister without portfolio' is still an option!), we would really appreciate a few more people helping with our committee roles - and if you're interested in real cider, you could even consider taking the Cider Rep role from me!
  • Branch NewsPub of the Season nominations... PUB OF T
  • Page 724 Branch Diary
  • Horse & JockeyFree House Fine Selection of Traditional Ales Est 1664
  • Page 9IRA CAMRA
  • Branch Pub of the YearBranch Pub of the Year 2026 CAMRA
  • Stagecoach 1 RouteAhead 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
  • Stagecoach 1 RouteWoodfordes Nog complementing Batemans Eggs-B and a brace from Full Mash in Shoreline and Illuminati - the latter of which I had to look up, as it was hard to tell from the pump clip. There seemed to be a party of some kind going on, so I retired to one of the front rooms where I could read a CAMRA branch magazine I hadn't seen before while enjoying my ale. Bold Forester
  • PUB OF THSEASON Winter 2025/26 Town Pub of the Season
  • PUB OF TSEASON Winter 2025/26 Village Pub of the Season
  • MICROPUBMARKET T TAVERN
  • Social Round-upOur first social event of the year took place at the 2025 Branch Pub of the Year, FireRock. A good turnout from committee and branch members was bolstered by guests from Amber Valley branch, making for a convivial and cosy winter afternoon.
  • Mo d treetSocial Round-up The Talbot
  • Page 19I TOM SAID
  • Out and about inn... WarehamSt. Martins Church The Purbeck area of Dorset has been our go-to place for nearly 20 years, and at the 'Gateway to the Purbecks' is the Saxon town of Wareham.
  • Page 212. Out and about inn... Wareham
  • Opinion"There's no room for complacency" - they were the wise words of CAMRA's national chairman Joe Goodwin when he addressed annual meetings in the 1970s. He stressed that while the Campaign could record many successes, the battle to save real ale was far from over. Today, as we celebrate CAMRA's 55th anniversary, Joe's mantra is as true as ever. We can indeed look back with pride on our undoubted achievements but we face an even more daunting battle to save and promote this country's unique contribution to the world of beer.
  • OpinionIn Yorkshire, Theakston, which will celebrate 200 years of brewing in 2027, says it had its best year ever in 2025. In the same county, Timothy Taylor says it's brewing more cask beer than before the Covid pandemic. It's not exactly a micro - it brews 70,000 barrels a year of which 80 per cent is cask, with Landlord leading the field. Across the Pennines, Robinsons family brewery in Stockport has built a new plant to supply cask beer to its 300 pubs. In Derbyshire, Thornbridge also reports a strong surge for its cask beers, some of which are brewed in a Burton union fermenter, that was surplus to requirements at Marston's.
  • Page 24Brook Two Blokes, a Dog, and 26 Letters - G
  • Page 25Brook Two Blokes, a Dog, and 26 Letters - G
  • Page 26Brook Two Blokes, a Dog, and 26 Letters - G
  • Favourite PubsYou may or may not have heard of the ‘Famous Five'. No, not Enid Blyton's band of child sleuths (though there is a connection here), but the five pubs which have been in every edition of the Good Beer Guide... My favourite pub happens to be one of those, but it is its location and individuality that never fails to put a smile on my face. The pub was introduced to me by my brother-in-law on my first holiday in Dorset - not just as a place to go for a drink, but somewhere to experience - that's quite a thing in an area boasting Corfe Castle, Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door, Tyneham and much more.
  • UnusuAleHighlighting unusual, rare or one-off ales and the pubs that serve them... AL STOUT
  • THE DIXIES ARMSSCHOOLROAD BAGTHORPE NG16 5HF EINE ALES, A GREAT SELECTION OF TRADITIONAL CIDER PRIVATE WHISKY LOUNGE
  • Trail and Ale with DuggieA regular feature highlighting a dog-friendly pub, in or around our branch, with a good walk from the door and great beer at the end. The branch has an abundance of scenic countryside with Sherwood Forest, The Dukeries and Robin Hood Way, to name a few of the highlights. Nothing beats a nice pint at the end of a good walk, so lace up your boots and enjoy what our branch has to offer. The Beehive, Maplebeck, and east of the branch
  • Page 32A631 From the Archives - Good Beer Guide 2000
  • Page 33SOUTH A631
  • Page 34A631 From the Archives - Good Beer Guide 2000
  • Aither Brewery12 Mill Way Old Mill Lane Industrial Estate, Mansfield Woodhouse, NG19 9BG 07703828594
  • Page 36Give a gift membership to the beer lover in your life! Pubs, Pints, People.
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Stagecoach 1 Route

Woodfordes Nog complementing Batemans Eggs-B and a brace from Full Mash in Shoreline and Illuminati - the latter of which I had to look up, as it was hard to tell from the pump clip. There seemed to be a party of some kind going on, so I retired to one of the front rooms where I could read a CAMRA branch magazine I hadn't seen before while enjoying my ale.

Bold Forester

I again mulled over whether to walk to the next pub or take the bus, and in the end decided to walk. Either way, it doesn't take too long to get to the Bold Forester. The Greene King pub, situated on Botany Avenue, operates under the Hungry Horse banner and hosts drinkers and diners alike in a split- roomed arrangement, where one half is over 18's only and features a pool table and numerous large screens to show live sport. Ales on offer were Greene King Abbot, Titanic Plum Porter, Abbeydale Deception and Ossett Excelsius.

Back onto the bus and into Sutton, my first stop was at Speed The Plough. The pub has been in the care of Alby and Mandy since 2007 and is very much community-focused, with most nights of the week featuring activities such as guitar lessons, open mic, karaoke and bingo. The pub has LocAle accreditation, with up to three ales available, usually from Blue Monkey and Shipstone's. On my visit, Blue Monkey BG Sips and Shipstone's Gold Star were available, from which I picked the BG Sips - a lovely session pale, which is one of my favourite Blue Monkey ales.

Speed The Plough

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Back on the bus for the short ride into Sutton town centre brought me to the 2025 branch Pub of the Year winners, FireRock. The pub is another LocAle champion, with all three sticks regularly featuring local breweries, from Pentrich to Two Matts, and of course, their own ales brewed on-site. There's an embarrassment of riches for craft-keg fans, with over ten always available, including sours and often one or more imperial stouts. On my visit, two of their own were on cask: core stout Kill The Ghosts and Phantom Pigeon Sticker Bomber, and one from Weekend Project called The Circus.

FireRock

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THE NCTURE HOUSE

Deciding it would take longer to ride the bus than to walk, the next pub was again reached on foot. The Picture House is a JD Wetherspoon pub and former cinema in the centre of town, which opened at the turn of the century. During my visit, it was as busy as ever, and four out of the six guest pumps featured Magpie Brewery, with Nottingham Mild, Nottingham Session, and Cherry Raven Porter complementing Titanic Plum Porter. I find Cherry Raven is always a good choice, and it was no different in this instance.

Picture House

One last ride into Huthwaite and my last stop before heading home was at the Market Inn, where the bus drops you off right outside. There's usually one or two ales available, often from Lenton Lane, Shiny or Ossett. The pub picked up branch Pub of the Season awards in both Spring 2024 and Summer 2025 and has featured in the last two Good Beer Guides, which is a testament to the quality of the ale here. On my visit, I had Hazmat from local brewery, Beermats, which was a nice way to round off the day.

M MARKET INN

Of course, you could jump back on and head out of the branch into Alfreton, but these are my picks for the Stagecoach 1 route within the branch borders. Would you have done it any differently?

Market Inn

Summer 2026 Pints of View | 13