TBI – Trent Bridge Inn, the Wetherspoons way

Exterior

It's a 'spoons Jim, but not as we know it.

Today marks the re-opening of the ‘World Famous Trent Bridge Inn‘ after its acquisition by Wetherspoons, clearly not messing around they chucked well over £1,000,000  at it giving the place a complete refurbishment. Whilst a little dark in places it’s full of artwork and cricket memorabilia, with the occasional Pies and Forest shot thrown in for good measure; given the size of this thing this is clearly the target audience as this is the largest Wetherspoons I have ever set foot in, if not the biggest pub, in places it’s massive, one of the rooms is like an assembly hall!

lounge lower

The decor is dark, and changes throughout.

lounge up

The top floor bar.

Last year prior to take over this famous building was a shambles and to be quite honest had been for quite some years, the beer ‘selection’ was practically none existent, the decor was tired and every time England had a cricket match next door the place was nothing but an embarrassment to Nottingham. Wetherspoons love them or hate them have swooped in and done a great job in modernising and making good use of the space, hopefully this will stand the test of time.

But enough about the decor, this isn’t Homos Homes under the Hammer, what’s the beer like? and this is where it gets a bit interesting, it depends what bar you go to, the TBI has a split bar as you walk in, another bar round the back, a bar on the left of the upper floor and a bar on the right of the upper floor, so that’s five bars, yes, the TBI now has FIVE bars.

bar lower

The downstairs 'hall' bar

bar 5

The top floor bar.

The beer selection changes with each bar, I only managed to get shots of 2 of the less impressive bars as the downstairs areas where packed, the main ale selection is as you walk in on the side bar. Unfortunately however even with the ‘full selection’ available at the side bar it’s quite disappointing. The ‘guest’ beers are the Wetherspoons generic uninspired choices such as Batemans XXB and Caledonian Deuchars, coupled with the normal snore festival of Abbot, Speckled Hen and the rest of the Greene King crew there was actually only 2 real beers that caught my eye, and one had just gone! Perhaps this will change, it is opening week. The beer selection is much better now the pub has had time to get into its stride, the usual Abbot, Speckled Hen etc generic beers of course adorn the bar, but 3/4 proper guests are now in action.

Nottingham Brewery thankfully have brewed a special bitter aptly named Trent Bridge Ale, now after 5 pints I can confirm confidently that this is a fine beer and I hope to see it on here all the time will continue to be brewed for the pub. Perhaps what I didn’t expect was the pricing, guest ales where £2.45 which is quite a bit more than the prices some will be used to from Wetherspoons, competing local landlords will no doubt be happy to hear this as all their business won’t be scalped from them!

menu

Correct as of May 2011. Pricier than most Wetherspoons pubs.

Pay and display?  yep, Euro Carparks seem to own the (tiny) carpark at the side of the TBI, and they charge £1 an hour, the longest ticket you can buy is 3 hours.

pay and display

Note sly, 'have you paid and displayed' sign on the left!

So a half decent boozer then, but with the mediocre selection of ale I won’t be in any rush to get back, and those of you thinking you can sneak a view of the cricket unfortunately below is the best you can get, still you can see the scoreboard eh?

balcony

Unlucky!

West Bridgford Monarchs (hockey club) Beer Festival – Thu 3rd -> Sat 5th March

Thursday 3rd March 6pm – 11pm / Friday 4th March 4pm – 11pm / Saturday 5th March 12 midday – 11pm

The previous WB Hockey beer festival was in November, I reviewed it here and I had nothing but praise for it, I’ve been to many of these now and they offer a great atmosphere and most importantly the organisers always choose top beer, as well as charging a very fair £2.40 a pint they set it up a week prior to the festival.

WB Hockey

Good cheap food, and well priced beer, yes please.

If you fancy looking at the previous festivals list it’s here but without further ado, here’s the March list (not listed is an undisclosed scrumpy cider)

(A very pale to E very dark)

E BEARTOWN PANDAMONIUM 4.8% Strong Congleton stout
B BLINDMANS GOLDEN SPRING 4% Straw coloured brewed with lager malt
B BLUE MONKEY APE ALE 5.2% Pale strong and very drinkable
A CASTLE ROCK HARVEST PALE 3.8% The award winning pale
A COPPICE SIDE SCARY CROW 5% A strong blond from new Heanor brewery
C DANCING DUCK 22 4.5% Another new brewery with growing reputation
A DERBY BREWING PERFECT 10 4.5% Pale golden ale with hoppy finish
A KELHAM ISLAND PALE RIDER 5.2% Infamous Sheffield pale ale
C MAGPIE JPA 5.2% A special brewed in honour of the landlord of the Globe
B NEWBY WYKE HMS REVENGE 4.2% Golden beer with fruit / floral hop aromas
A NOTTINGHAM BULLION 4.7% Triple hopped premium golden beer
A OAKHAM BISHOPS FAREWELL 4.6% Golden ale with citrus and dry hoppy aftertaste
A OSSETT SNOWDROP 4.2% Very pale beer with malty hints
C PURITY UBU 4.5% Premium amber ale
A ROOSTERS ORANGE BLOSSOM CREAM 3.9% Very pale beer with citrus aromas
E SARAH HUGHES DARK RUBY 6% The best ruby mild from Sedgley W. Mids
C SHARPS DOOM BAR 4% Balanced blend of spicy hops and sweet roasted malt
B SUMMER WINE ZENITH 4% Dry hopped pale ale with notes of lime

How do you get there? well, jump on the number 10 bus; where Asda is you need to get off at the stop just after it (assuming you are coming into West Bridgford from town) then it’s a 7/8 minute walk up the main road, next to the fire station. Check out the WB Hockey website for more information.

West Bridgford Hockey Festival – Review.

Hockey and beer festivals are not an obvious mix and to me at least it practically sticks two fingers up at logic, so it’s a good job then I was there to drink beer and not crudely waft my big stick around, I’ve been there and got arrested; indecent exposure, I wouldn’t recommend it.

The festival takes part in the hockey clubhouse, it’s of decent size with the beer barrels out of sight behind the bar, a good amount of seating is available for the numbers who show up which on a Friday was busy but at the very worst a 2 minute wait for beer.

WBHockey10

Well priced? you bet.

So onto the beer and food then, the two things you go for! How was the beer? fantastic as usual, all are left to stand for a week prior to the festival so it goes without saying they’re well kept. Beers (all of them, yes including Jaipur) where priced at £2.40 a pint, selection and quality where both excellent Roosters – Jasmine IPA 5.0% my favourite of the festival, and a mention for the Magpie Brewery who I am usually to put it nicely ‘not a fan of’ Magic Lantern 4.4% was very nice indeed.

Value in this climate is a big talking point, so when they’re selling off good burgers for £1, samosas for 50p and pair of spring rolls also for 50p you can’t go wrong, and having sampled them all, they where as good as the beer!

A Hockey club showing other beer festivals how it’s done!? it certainly looks like it.

West Bridgford hockey festival – ale + hockey = alckey

Hockey and beer, a match made in some laboratory no doubt, it’s fair to say this is hardly a conventional mix. As you have probably gathered by now this is a beer festival ran in a hockey club, yet despite being a moderate sized venue those in charge really do know their beer and not only is the selection yet again excellent, but the pricing also remains fair at £2.40 a pint.

WB09

It's obvious from behind the bar they know good beer (no not the Fosters pump)

Having been to previous festivals it’s difficult not to recommend it and certainly worth journeying out into West Bridgford for, jump on the number 10 bus; where Asda is you need to get off at the stop just after it (assuming you are coming into West Bridgford from town) then it’s a 7/8 minute walk up the main road, next to the fire station.

West Bridgford Hockey Club Festival 11-14th November – WB Hockey website

A-E represents colour, E being the darkest.

A
Abbeydale Absolution
5.3
Sweetish, fruity pale ale
B
Black Hole Supa Nova
4.8
Premium pale using lager malt
C
Blue Monkey Evolution
4.3
Amber hoppy ale
A
Brunswick Triple Hop
4.0
Dry hoppy bitter
B
Castle Rock Screech Owl
5.5
Golden IPA
A
Copper Dragon Golden Pippin
3.9
Blond citrus ale
B
Crouch Vale Appollo
4.3
Very hoppy pale amber ale
A
Dark Star Hophead
3.8
Pale fruity/hoppy ale
A
Funfair Teacups
4.0
Made using ginger and lemon
?
Hambleton Ghostly Glory
4.0
Replaced Headless Horseman
D
Holdens Black Country Mild
3.7
Red/brown malty mild
D
Magpie Magic Lantern
4.4
Dark warming best bitter
D
Mauldons Broomstick
4.0
Dark hoppy bitter
A
Moorhouses Blond Witch
4.5
Dry refreshing blond ale
A
Newby Wyke Bear Island
4.6
Blond crisp dry bitter
C
Nottingham Robin Hood
3.9
Copper session bitter
A
Oakham Bishops Farewell
4.6
Pale citrus hoppy ale
B
Ossett Spellbound
4.3
Golden citrus hoppy ale
B
Roosters Jasmine IPA
5.0
Smooth and silky IPA
E
Rudgate Ruby Mild
4.4
Champ. beer of GBBF 2009
D
Saltaire Harvest Moon
4.2
Deep red with malt /fruit
E
Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby
6.0
Strong classic ruby mild
C
Sharps Doombar
4.0
Fruity sweet malty ale
A
Thornbridge Jaipur
5.9
Champion IPA
B
Wadworths Bishops Tipple
5.0
Golden well balanced ale
A
Whim Hartington IPA
4.5
Well rounded IPA
Hecks Somerset cider
6.5
Dry cider
Mr.Whiteheads Cirrus Minor
5.0
Medium cider

A

Abbeydale Absolution

5.3

Sweetish, fruity pale ale

B

Black Hole Supa Nova

4.8

Premium pale using lager malt

C

Blue Monkey Evolution

4.3

Amber hoppy ale

A

Brunswick Triple Hop

4.0

Dry hoppy bitter

B

Castle Rock Screech Owl

5.5

Golden IPA

A

Copper Dragon Golden Pippin

3.9

Blond citrus ale

B

Crouch Vale Appollo

4.3

Very hoppy pale amber ale

A

Dark Star Hophead

3.8

Pale fruity/hoppy ale

A

Funfair Teacups

4.0

Made using ginger and lemon

?

Hambleton Ghostly Glory

4.0

Replaced Headless Horseman

D

Holdens Black Country Mild

3.7

Red/brown malty mild

D

Magpie Magic Lantern

4.4

Dark warming best bitter

D

Mauldons Broomstick

4.0

Dark hoppy bitter

A

Moorhouses Blond Witch

4.5

Dry refreshing blond ale

A

Newby Wyke Bear Island

4.6

Blond crisp dry bitter

C

Nottingham Robin Hood

3.9

Copper session bitter

A

Oakham Bishops Farewell

4.6

Pale citrus hoppy ale

B

Ossett Spellbound

4.3

Golden citrus hoppy ale

B

Roosters Jasmine IPA

5.0

Smooth and silky IPA

E

Rudgate Ruby Mild

4.4

Champ. beer of GBBF 2009

D

Saltaire Harvest Moon

4.2

Deep red with malt /fruit

E

Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby

6.0

Strong classic ruby mild

C

Sharps Doombar

4.0

Fruity sweet malty ale

A

Thornbridge Jaipur

5.9

Champion IPA

B

Wadworths Bishops Tipple

5.0

Golden well balanced ale

A

Whim Hartington IPA

4.5

Well rounded IPA

Hecks Somerset cider

6.5

Dry cider

Mr.Whiteheads Cirrus Minor

5.0

Medium cider