Coach and Horses, Derby

Derby and its pubs rarely feature on this blog, which is perhaps surprising given that it's been one of my most frequent pub and beer destinations of the last 30 years! The self-styled 'Real Ale Capital of England' has always had a good reputation for its traditional pubs, but came to prominence as a serious beer enthusiasts destination around the time the Brunswick Inn reopened as a specialist alehouse in the late 80's. This at a time when pubs that were truly free of tie and able to offer a wide range of beers were something of a rarity, the market dominated by regional and national brewers. The later addition of a micro-brewery at the Brunswick, as well as the revival of the nearby Alexandra Hotel by the Tynemill group (latterly Castle Rock) would only increase the attraction of Derby to boozy day-trippers like ourselves.

Derby remains an essential destination for beer and pub fans, boasting several small breweries and dozens of specialist beer pubs, as well as some great traditional old boozers if you know where to look. What it lacks though is a strong local or regional pub games tradition. Not an unusual state of affairs for one of the Midlands larger cities of course, traditional pub games continue to be pushed to the fringes of towns almost everywhere. It's disappointing nevertheless, particularly given that Derby lies at the heart of a skittles tradition which is still popular throughout much of the county as well as the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

I've searched long and hard in the Derby area for pubs where the local skittles game is still played, sadly with little success up to now. Long Alley Skittles, as it's known in this part of the East Midlands, remains predominantly an outdoor game, played through the summer months and in all weather conditions on alleys located on the car park or beer garden of pubs. Which is why the car park is often my first port of call when visiting pubs in an area where Long Alley is still played.

Because even where the game hasn't been played for a good few years, the distinctive metal 'frame' that the skittles stand on, and sometimes the foot-sized depression which marks the throwing point, can often still be found in the grounds of the pub. Not so in Derby though! I've yet to find a single pub where an original skittle alley survives, least of all one where the game is still actually played. That is until my most recent visit to the city, albeit this is not in fact a surviving old skittle alley. Rarer still, this is an entirely new one!

The Coach & Horses is a large locals pub situated just a short walk from the town centre in the leafy suburb of Chester Green. This part of Derby is probably best known to beer enthusiasts for its micropub, The Little Chester Alehouse, the first of its kind in Derby, and as it happens the first micropub I ever visited shortly after it opened in 2012. There are one or two other pubs nearby, though sadly the nearby Garden City appears to have closed for good, a pub that had an example of the rare traditional pub game Ring The Bull. So the Coach & Horses fights the corner for more traditionally styled pubs in the area, a substantial two-roomer with the pub staples of Darts and Pool in the smaller public bar, and a busy schedule of league Dominoes in the plusher lounge bar.

It's not at all clear whether skittles was ever played at the Coach & Horses prior to this most recent revival, or indeed whether there was a Derby league for the game, but the pub now fields a team in the Belper & District Skittles League, probably the nearest Summer league available to the pub. In fact it was a casual match at one of the venues in the Belper league that inspired locals to set up a skittle alley at the pub in the first place.

At first glance you might think there was a long history of skittles play at the Coach & Horses given the evidence of not one, but three separate 'frames' on and around the car park at the rear of the pub. The truth is that none of these are more than a few years old, and the game has only been established at the pub for a few seasons. The diamond-shaped concrete frame shown below, and the small indentation in the tarmac below that, mark the position of the first skittle alley created at the pub. For reasons known only to the pubs keen skittlers, a new frame was then created further out on the car park, the position of this one indicated by a diamond of steel circles set into the tarmac. These frames are necessary in Long Alley Skittles to give a firm flat footing for wooden pins that are taller than in almost all other skittles traditions, and somewhat top-heavy as a result.

The most recent, and presumably final position of the skittle alley at the Coach and Horses is on a purpose-built raised platform at the edge of the car park (left & below) seen here during the leagues off-season, a convenient home for some of the pubs outdoor seating. This slightly elevated position is much less prone to interruption from vehicles coming and going at the pub, but it also affords the opportunity to install a permanent ball-return pipe down the length of the adjacent wall. Note that the alley has been christened 'CJ's Alley' in memory of a popular local at the pub who passed away recently.

This new alley had only recently been completed when I visited the pub early last year, and I fully intended to return and observe a league match when things got going in the Summer. Unfortunately time, and the national lockdown that has forced all pubs to close and most league games to cease, got the better of me. Pubs are now reopening, but it's unlikely that social games like skittles will resume until next year at the earliest. When skittles does eventually resume, I'll certainly be aiming to revisit the Coach and Horses for a pint or two of the excellent Draught Bass, and a ringside seat at the new Skittle Alley one fine Summer evening.