Wellington Inn, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire

I would imagine that most regular pub-goers have their own personal favourite part of the country for the pubs and social drinking. A county or region where there's plenty of good pubs of course, but also where a good few of them meet, or at the very least approach their ideal of what really 'great' pubs should be. It may be that a certain area favours the beers and breweries they like, or perhaps the pubs are just that little bit less spoilt by 'progress'. Or maybe it's the locals that make the difference rather than the pubs themselves...

Some are lucky enough to actually live in their favoured area. Others, myself included, need to travel for their 'ideal' pub pleasure. For me it's a combination of the notably gregarious locals, and the continued focus on pubs as 'Pubs' rather than foodie destinations that make the smaller (often ex-mining) towns and villages of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire my own favourite (though if I'm honest, it's not my only favourite area!). As luck would have it I don't have to travel too far, less than an hour by train for me under normal circumstances. Sadly the last time I was 'up north' enjoying the pubs was over a year ago now, the current restrictions on travel, and of course pub opening, cutting short any chance of a re-visit for the time being.

Not all of the pubs in my favoured area are 'great' of course, in fact there are just as many identikit refurbished, family dining, and chronically run-down boozers to be found there as anywhere else in the country. It's just that the ones which have escaped the scourge of corporate neglect or bland makeover tend to be very-much my kind of pubs. Essentially licensed social clubs, run largely for the benefit of the locals rather than as destinations for diners or travelling beer enthusiasts. And it's to the credit of the local drinkers that so many pubs remain this way, because clearly there's still a demand for what some might regard as a slightly old-fangled tradition of social drinking.

Another aspect of pubs in the Notts and Derby area that particularly appeals to me is the relative strength of games play. It's getting ever-rarer to find traditional pub games like Long Alley Skittles at pubs in the centre of town, but this and other games are still relatively common in the smaller towns and urban villages of the area. Take the Wellington Inn for example, a pub which commands a position at the very heart of Eastwood village, and yet still has room for a serviceable skittle alley in what is quite a small beer garden.

The Wellington is one of those solid but unassuming, all-day-opening boltholes for shoppers and locals that's still very common to market towns everywhere. Not exactly busy on the wet weekday lunchtime when I visited, but then where is these days! Nevertheless, there always seems to be a gaggle of chatty, loyal regulars settled-in around the bar at these town-centre locals, the kind of minor but important continuity of trade that helps take the chill off a pub on slow winter days like this.

The skittle alley is located to the side of the pub, and traditional for the area in that it's situated entirely outdoors with no apparent shelter from the elements. I'm not sure which if any local team(s) play from the Wellington, but the lack of cover would likely make the Wellington a Summer venue only. The pub is certainly listed as a venue on the Ilkeston & District Skittles League website, but this is sadly a few years out of date now. Needless to say, league games of all types have stalled under the current social distancing rules, and it's hard to see at this stage how traditional team games like skittles will be able to safely re-commence, even when the pubs that host them are finally allowed to open again.

I certainly hope that some way can be found to get these leagues up and running again, even if it means (temporarily) abandoning some of the long-standing traditions and conventions that make these games special. Traditional games like this may be just a small part of what makes a pub like the Wellington Inn tick, but they represent the single most important aspect of pub-going for me, the social side. Because it's this social side rather than the beer and food that many regular pub-goers like myself are missing the most.