Review: The Wheel Inn, Ticknall

The Wheel Inn
50 Main St, Ticknall, Derby DE73 7JZ

Having passed through Ticknall many, many times I have often thought what a lovely, inviting looking pub this place looks. As I was planning on spending some time walking locally, I thought it would be an ideal place to stop for lunch and start my walk from. Inside the place is gorgeous, clean, tidy and very nicely decorated, making good use of its many period features.

Despite there being many free tables, none of which were reserved, I had to wait to be seated. Unfortunately there is no real area set aside for waiting so your choices are standing around in the bar area, where people are sitting eating, or standing in front of the main entrance. I opted to stand awkwardly in the bar area, where I could at least get a drink.

Generally in a country pub of this style and supposed level of quality I'd expect to see a reasonable range of beers on offer, besides the usual awful lagers, unfortunately this is not the case, the beers on offer here are so run of the mill they're not even worth mentioning.

After a brief wait of 10 minutes or so I was taken upstairs to a, largely empty but very well decorated, dining room and shown to my seat. Looking over the menu the food choices seemed of a slightly higher end than other places I've visited locally and obviously the prices were higher to match. I ordered battered cod with hand cut chips and minted mushy peas, then sat back looking forward to what should be a very nice meal.

After about 30 minutes my food was bought out and my first reaction was one of disappointment, the fish was absolutely tiny and the portion of chips, though clearly hand cut and fried, was very small. I shrugged it off, opting for the mind set of "if the food is good quality then this could still be a very nice meal." The chips did not disappoint, they were lovely, crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside and tasted exactly how proper chips should taste. Unfortunately the same could not be said about the fish, not only was it very small, but the batter was quite thick, not at all crispy and didn't have much of a flavour at all. The fish its self had that fishy smell and taste that speaks of it being not particularly fresh, that said it was perfectly cooked. The peas were quite simply forgettable, slightly over cooked and over minted.

Overall not the best experience ever, not entirely great service, a lacklustre beer selection and food that simply did not live up to the price tag. There are better, cheaper places to eat in the local vicinity, though apparently it closes early on a Saturday.

Death On The High Street

I'm a gamer, I've been a gamer for most of my life and I don't expect that to change any time soon. I have a lot of good memories involving video games, a fair number of those take place in local video game stores.

When I was younger local, independent video game stores where quite common place, in fact even small towns would often have at least one, sometimes several. These independent stores would usually only stock a handful of new games, often only ten or so titles for each console. What they were really good for is having large libraries of used games, usually at a considerably cheaper price than they would be to buy new. 

Growing up fairly poor buying used was basically my only option when it came to owning a copy of a video game. For me even getting a used copy of a game was a big thing and I would often spend 30-40 minutes browsing through a shops collection, reading boxes, checking the condition of cartridges and disks and generally making sure I made the best purchase possible with my hard come by coin. This experience was shared by a fair number of other people I knew and over time you'd become familiar with other regulars of the store and the people running them. These stores were often ran by people with a passion for gaming and as such you would frequently find stores holding small tournaments, competitions and open days where customers were encouraged to play the latest releases on the newest consoles. This meant for a lot of gamers shopping for video games became almost a social thing, you knew that in those shops you were amongst other people that shared a common interest with you and that made you feel comfortable.

Unfortunately this period of a market driven by small independent stores didn't last and before long big chain companies like Game, Gamestation and Grainger Games started to push the smaller independents out of the market and over a period of years these stores became more or less none existent. As the larger stores dominated the market the price of used games rose fairly sharply to the point where there was, and there still is, so little saving to be made buying used that it became almost pointless. This turned a lot of people away from high street stores and sent them looking else where in the search for bargains and the internet was more than happy to oblige.

It soon became clear that it wasn't only cheaper to buy used games online, new games were also considerably cheaper too. This was largely due to selling online costing less, everything can be stored and shipped from a warehouse in the middle of nowhere at minimal cost to the company doing the selling. The chains caught on fairly quickly and were soon offering online sales, often to the detriment to their own high street stores.

As the popularity of online shopping increases the high street game store continues to decline, even the chains are now shutting shops and those that don't shut have seen a marked decline in the number of products and titles in stock. Are we on the verge of witnessing the death of the high street video game shop? Something that played such a huge role in the lives of so many, now adult, gamers. Unfortunately I think we might be, I think we've come too far down the path to turn back. The big chains drove the independents out of the market and now it seems they're doing the same to themselves.

Review: Cherry Tree Farm, Willington

Cherry Tree Farm
Etwall Rd, Willington DE65 6DX

From the outside this just looks like a run of the mill chain pub/carvery, a look that definitely caries through to the interior, that said the place is clean, tidy and seems fairly well looked after.

This is my mothers favourite place to eat out so I have visited on several occasions, unfortunately on almost every occasion something has let it down. During in the most recent visit the service was very slow, it took nearly 10 minutes to get served at the bar. It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't the only person standing at it, then once I finally got served I had to send one of the drinks back because it tasted foul.

The menu actually has a fairly decent selection available, I chose a chilli burger with chips. After nearly an hour's wait the food finally arrived and the disappointingly frozen chips (how hard is it to hand cut and fry a potato?) had gone cold, the chilli had virtually no meat or beans in it, and the burger was so dry I had to buy another drink to wash it down. I brought my issues up with a staff member who didn't really seem to care and merely offered to take my plate away to replace the cold chips, I declined the offer as cold chips aren't as bad as a cold burger.

Overall a very disappointing experience, had it been a one off I would have been inclined to chalk it up to a bad day, but this was the third consecutive occasion that I've been disappointed by this place.

Review: The Staff of Life, Ticknall

The Staff of Life
7 High St, Ticknall, Derby DE73 7JH

Firstly this is a truly gorgeous pub, set in equally gorgeous surroundings, I loved the place before stepping through the door.

The inside is just as nice as the out, clean, tidy and tastefully decorated. The pub is separated into several cosy rooms, each furnished with chunky, rustic furniture that suits the pubs country ascetic. Only having a fairly small bar the pub has a limited selection of beers, however the ones it does have are good quality and well kept.

We went on a Sunday afternoon so I chose to have the 2 course set menu, I had soup of the day starter followed by a roast beef dinner. The soup was spiced parsnip and it was beautiful, nicely seasoned with a rich creamy flavour and served with warm bread and butter, genuine comfort food. The roast beef was served with roast potatoes, a large homemade Yorkshire pudding and plenty of proper beef gravy. The beef itself was locally sourced and really good quality, the potatoes were crisp but still nice and fluffy inside and the Yorkshire pudding was clearly homemade and just purely epic. The meal comes with a side of seasonal veg, which unfortunately was disappointing as it was overcooked, a bit flavourless and slightly cold.

Whilst the pudding menu looked amazing I was far too full to actually try one. Overall the experience was excellent, the food was good and the atmosphere in the pub was very welcoming. I am looking forward to going back during the week or on a Saturday to enjoy the standard daily menu.

Review: The John Thompson, Ingleby

The John Thompson Inn & Brewery
Ingleby, Derby DE73 7HW

Another gorgeous pub in gorgeous surroundings. I was using this as a starting & finishing point for a country walk and thought it would be rude not to call in and have at least a pint before setting off. From the outside the pub looks like a proper country pub and I'm happy to say the inside is equally as charming and rustic. The pub actually has its own brewery so has a reasonable selection of small batch brewed beer available on tap, I opted for one of the pubs own brews and found it to be very pleasant indeed.

Whilst they do serve food I didn't try any on this occasion so am unable to comment on the quality, however if it's anything like the rest of the pub I'd expect it to be nice, homemade fayre.

Review: The Exeter Arms, Derby

The Exeter Arms
Exeter Pl, Derby DE1 2EU

This place is a diamond in the rough, the surrounding area of this pub is run down and somewhat grotty, please do not let this put you off. Step inside and you're almost in another world, this is an old, well loved and beautiful building with big old oak beams, open fires, cast iron stoves and gorgeous, chunky rustic furniture. Warm, friendly and bustling, yet somehow there's still an air of relaxation about the place.

The bar is small but well stocked with a decent selection of real ales, the staff really know how to keep bar, the beer is excellent. The food is second to none, the prices are ever so slightly higher than some of the other places in town, but trust me the quality of the food you're getting for your money is well worth it.

My friend and I shared 'The Chip Tank' chips topped with cheese, bacon, sausage, chorizo, black pudding and jalapenos, between us and we were both blown away. This is a massive portion of chips, that are clearly home made and are absolutely incredible. The toppings aren't just a small scattering on top of the chips, they're mixed in throughout, every chip is almost guaranteed to have some topping with it.

I am seriously impressed with this place and I really can't wait to go back and try some of their main menu and sample more of their ale, definitely, definitely worth a visit or several.

Review: The Forge, Derby

The Forge Bar & Gourmet Grill
1-6 Blacksmiths Yard, Sadler Gate, Derby DE1 3PD

The restaurant itself is a little hidden away so wasn't overly busy for a Friday night. Inside it's clean, bright and nicely laid out with a good number of tables for a fairly small place. The menu isn't overly priced and has a a fairly wide variety of items, including a couple of vegetarian options. The beer menu is impressive, though don't be surprised if they don't have your first or even second choice of drink.

After ordering, the food was brought out to the table fairly quickly. The food itself was of good quality, the chips were all clearly hand cut and nicely seasoned, the burgers looked to be hand made, had a really nice flavour and a decent texture. I personally prefer my burgers a little pink in the middle and although the burger wasn't pink, it wasn't overcooked either.

I'd personally recommend The Forge as a nice place to get a decent quality, not overly expensive meal and would happily visit again.