Spotted Cow - Update

The Spotted Cow in Holbrook now has 225 new owners after a community group collected the keys for its local village pub.

Campaigners of the Holbrook Community Society had been fighting to buy their beloved village pub since it closed its doors in 2014. But last year, its owner applied for planning permission to build houses on the site. In November 2016, Amber Valley Borough Council surprised many observers by turning down developer Ian McNair's plans to demolish part of the pub and build eight houses on the land. Mr McNair was not planning to retain the remaining part of the pub as licensed premises.  The pub was declared an Asset of Community Value - giving villagers time to put in a bid to buy the premises themselves.

Since then the campaign to save the Spotted Cow has gained serious momentum - with a final tally of 225 investors - joining forces to buy pub itself and the lower car park for £275,000

Read the full story here

Change of Day For Monthly Socials

As explained in recent monthly Social Survey reports, we have had difficulty booking transport for the beer survey trips on Saturday nights so have changed the nights to Friday for 2017.  The provisional dates for the year are being finalised but the first one will be on Friday 3rd February 2017.  Look out for the full schedule on the Socials & Survey Trips page at the beginning of January.

Pub and Club of The Year

We are pleased to announce that our Pub of the Year for 2017 is the White Hart, Bargate