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The Plough Inn at Radford was actually one of the houses of the original Nottingham Brewery which was sold to Tennants of Sheffield in WW2 which itself was bought by Whitbread's who then owned the Nottingham Brewery name. Presumably Whitbread's exit from brewing is what as enabled this brewing enterprise now to use the name. Partners Philip Darby and Niven Balfour first ventured into brewing with the Bramcote Brewery, then founding Castle Rock Brewery next to the Vat & Fiddle as a joint venture with what was then the Tynemill pub company. In 2001 the boys decided to sell their share in the very successful brewery to Tynemill itself. |
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They bought the Plough, which had
tumbledown outbuildings with solid enough foundations for the
erection of what was in effect a purpose-built brewhouse. The pub
itself, whilst serving as the brewery tap, is tenanted to the Pub
People Group, the view being that you can't be properly focused on
running both a thriving brewery and a thriving pub.
Nottingham Brewery uses Warminster malt plus coloured malts from Fawcett's of Castleford. The yeast is derived from a Bass strain. Photo shows Philip Darby. |
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Here the Wakefield crew, with a few Leeds members too, are sampling Nottingham IPA in the brewery yard. Incidentally the original Nottingham Brewery's famously bitter beers used to use the very bitter North Clay hop grown between Retford and Tuxford in the North Clay Division of the Hundred of Bassetlaw, in the north-eastern part of Notts. At the beginning of the 19th Century no less than 11,000 acres were devoted to this cultivation. By 1880 it had dwindled to 29 acres. Now they are not grown at all. |
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Drinking around Nottingham has this added attraction: http://www.thetram.net/attractions/beerbytram/default.asp