Alan Winfield's local chosen as one of Camra's top 16 pubs in the UK
Regulars on this site will no doubt remember the memorial pub crawl I did a few weeks after the death of legendary pub man Alan Winfield. That was five years ago, and from time to time I have thought about going back and doing the best of those pubs again, the Horse & Jockey in Stapleford. His brother Steve (who did the first 12 pubs of the crawl with me) told me that they had held a wake for Alan here, and although we only had a swift half each before moving on, I formed a good impression of the pub.
Yesterday's announcement of the 16 regional finalists in Camra's Pub of the Year included the news that Alan Winfield's local is the East Midlands Pub of the Year. An opportunity to kill two birds with one stone immediately presented itself. An unconnected announcement that the Leeds Rhinos match against Wigan Warriors on Friday, 8th September has been moved to the Saturday left me with a spare day on my hands and now here was something to plug that gap.
So, I'll be going to the Horse & Jockey in Stapleford for a pint or three on Friday, 8th September. The pub opens at 3pm on Fridays. If anyone feels like joining me, it would be good to see you there. I realise it's only two weeks away and so fairly short notice, and also not the easiest place to get to for some people. My route from Sheffield will be by train to Derby then the i4 bus from the bus station. If all goes to plan I should be in Stapleford at opening time (bus at 14:21 due to arrive at 14:58). Others may find it more convenient to get trains to Nottingham: it's the same bus, but in the opposite direction (every 10 minutes and a slightly shorter journey than from Derby).
Buses back to Derby are every 20 minutes or so, at 16:50, 17:10 and 17:30, and frequent trains from there to wherever you're going.
