My Type Of Pub

Rothwell is a rather unremarkable town in the shire county of Northants, and for most of the 1990s I called it home. I was as keen on beer then as I am now, probably more so where cask ale is concerned, but I rarely set foot in any of its five pubs because, frankly, they were all pretty crap and the beer range was pedestrian and dull.

However the 2008 Good Beer Guide includes an entry for The Woolpack which of the five was probably the pub I did prefer the most, probably because I saw it as being the 'old man's pub' in town. It didn't though have any decent beer so I still probably averaged less than one visit per year.

The entry in the GBG though prompted me to pay it a visit today. The guide promised me local guest beers and in the light of one of my resolutions being to drink more local ales, I saw this as a plus point.

The exterior of the pub has not changed since I was last there, but the inside, if anything, is now even more suited to the older male customer than previously; I was the youngest customer by a good twenty years. The small room off the bar area is akin to someone's lounge cum dining room with comfy chairs, rickety wooden tables and a fire trying its damnedest to be roaring. The widescreen TV looked a little out of place but hey ho! It's a throwback to the 50s but so so the type of room I love to drink in.

To the beer: four handpumps adorned the bar, enough for a pub of its type. Three local guest beers accompanied the ugly Marstons Pedigree. These guest beers were Best brewed by Potbelly, Winter Ale brewed by Nobbys, and Parsons Nose brewed at the Nobbys plant by J Church. The beers were on good form and cheap; just £2.20 for a pint of the 4.7% Winter Ale.

Killing an hour in a pub like this with beers brewed less than five miles away at such good value is a real treat we beer lovers don't experience often enough, and is certainly the way I'd like to spend more Monday afternoons.