G. Buckley has a birthday in early January each year, and 2011 was to prove to be no exception. A plan was made for Avril and I to go on a pub crawl with Graham and Elizabeth, as well as Dave Wacey who happened to be over from Australia. Doggies Mylo and Marley were to stay at home to keep an eye on the house. After a rapid drive to Teversall, my needs were catered for with a quick toilet stop and then a drive to Hucknall to get a tram into the middle of Nottingham. It is quite a nice and well-used system and although we were anticipating using the tram a lot that day, that turned out to be our only go on it. The first pub up was the Bell Inn which is one of the hostelries that claims to be the oldest in Nottingham (dating from 1437). As we were thirsty, this proved to be somewhat of an irrelevance, given our haste to get to the bar. In the end, we chose to drink in the large bar at the back of the pub although there were also some equally good places off to the sides which might well have had different ales. Anyway, our choice was excellent, with Greene King IPA, XX Mild and Fireside, Old Speckled Hen, Olde Trip, Abbot, and Nottingham Brewery were represented with three beers including Legend and Rock. Quality was excellent, as were the prices.

With the G nuptials just around the corner, Dave had to go for an usher suit fitting at Moss Bros or somewhere like that. Our walk allowed us to take in one of the shrines of Nottingham, the Brian Clough statue. Whilst Dave's inside leg got measured, Avril and I went into the Hogshead, a toilet of a pub that had no beer and few customers, yet an enormous wait for service. We had only just sat down by the time the others joined us. There were no snacks either, although cheap meals made out of poor quality ingredients were available, and I did not bother rating the toilets, although reports were that they were also substandard. It is probably a hangout for trendier youngsters whom you might not want in your pub so it has its uses.

A short walk down some back streets followed, and I wondered where we were going. However, a gem of a pub was discovered, the Kean's Head. This is down a quiet side street and is not immediately obvious, especially as it is in quite a modern looking space with slightly cafe like round tables rather than cosy wooden panelling, but I think the building itself used to be a mill. Anyway, enough of that, as we enjoyed our beers very much here, and the offerings included foreign cherry beer, Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Castle Rock Screech Owl, Batemans GHA, Thornbridge Kipling, Nomad Dusk and Oakham White Dwarf. Avril liked the Kipling - calling itself a South Pacific Pale Ale - that she managed to squeeze another in whilst G was in the toilet before leaving. The toilets were very good too, it must be noted.

We had intended to go somewhere else but fate intervened and only a few yards round the corner we stopped at the Cock and Hoop, an interesting and small pub with, again, an extensive array of beer. The barman deserves special mention for allowing us the opportunity to sample his wares. The range was quite quirky, and our choice included Nottingham surrender, Bluemonkey King Kong, Cock and Hoop and Bramley Apple. The part that we sat in was pretty quiet and only had a few tables, but was an excellent example of an uncomplicated Victorian Ale House. I didn't like my beer that much, but that was down to its character rather than it being off. The gents' was noteworthy in again being very clean, and also had one of the smallest sinks imaginable. There seems to be another room for drinking/eating at the side but we didn't go there.

A bit of a gap followed before we reached the Victoria, in Beeston, one stop on the train outside Nottingham. This involved a walk to the station taking in some sort of flyover, and then getting on the train itself, ably helped by a very nice employee of British Railways. The ride was only about 5 minutes, but G managed to cause me to have some urine leakage by presenting a gift of Golden Root to Dave, purchased from a vending machine in one of the Gents' in a previous pub. The conversation then turned to whether Dave would be able to get this back to Australia without customs difficulties. Matters were made worse for me as we took a wrong turn outside the station, but we eventually made it to the pub (I had to sprint) for a much needed piss followed by a well earned pint or two, and some dinner in their upstairs room. The pub was really quite busy and was very interesting with a myriad of choices of beer and wine on chalkboards around the place. We managed to get served through a small hatch at the side of the main bar which was useful, retreating to the emptiness of upstairs whilst we awaited our solids. A very popular and lively pub and one that we were pleased to have taken the detour to visit.

All of a sudden, time seemed to be catching up with us and we had to rush. The situation was not helped because we had to go all the way over the railway bridge onto the station platform rather than just through a little side gate in a pub garden. Fairly near to the station was the Vat and Fiddle, the Castle Rock brewery tap although for some reason I still didn't get round to having any of the Harvest Pale despite it probably being available. There were however a few other tempting brews, and I think that one might have been a mild which would have stolen my attention. It was a bit tatty in there but a good place to drink nonetheless. I think there might have even been pool tables on one side although this could be completely made up. Anyway, our attention was taken by the pub cat whom Avril spent some time petting. He was black with white paws.

No trip to Nottingham is complete without a visit to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem at the bottom of the castle mound. Without doubt this is one of the most outstanding pubs in the country, even though it is owned by Greene King. The usual array of Greene King products are available (Abbot, Olde Trip, Old Speckled Hen, Fireside, IPA), but they also have an extensive array of guests and it looks like the Nottingham Brewery Ltd are regulars too (Sooty Stout, Extra Pale Ale, etc). I am recounting this list of beers from blurred photos that I took there. Anyway, back to the pub. It is an extraordinary building, over 800 years old, on two floors, and the interior extends into the caves in the castle mound, so you can actually be having a drink in the cave. We had a good look around before retreating to a suitable seat to enjoy the interior, and decided to go upstairs. Much fun was had waving and making faces and rude hand gestures whilst looking through some of the holes between floors. All of the pub is very traditionally furnished, with the cave rooms being particularly spartan, whilst the rooms with manmade walls do have a bit more bric-a-brac around. There is a single bar, with small openings onto a number of sides. My photos don't do it justice, so you can see a much better gallery and virtual tour at http://www.triptojerusalem.com/. Needless to say, the variety and quality of ale was excellent, so much so that we decided not to go anywhere else, and stayed to enjoy the place. The Nottingham Sooty Stout and Mild were excellent. Eventually though, we had to leave and after much confusion, resulting in the cancellation of our taxi and missing of the tram, we decided that the most sensible thing to do would be to get a taxi all the way back to Chez G, which we did, and even managed to have a piss stop for me on the way back (G also too full advantage of the opportunity whilst we had stopped.

The evening was not over and when we got back to the house, more drink was taken, whilst listening to a number of obscure early 90s dance CDs. This did however mean that we felt rather wretched the following day although Elizabeth made one of her customary fry ups which, along with a nice walk around the village, made us feel human again. Overall, a fantastic weekend out - if one is ever presented with the opportunity to go to Nottingham to sample the pubs and partake of that tramway, my advice would be to take that opportunity with both hands!