Socials & Survey Trips

Survey Trips

With around 106 Real Ale pubs, and the possibility of that number being added to, the Amber Valley Branch of CAMRA encompasses a wide area with three main towns – Alfreton, Belper and Ripley – and many villages. It’s important to note that the Amber Valley Borough Council’s area and Amber Valley CAMRA’s area are not the same – the Erewash Valley Branch is responsible for Loscoe, Heanor, Langley Mill, which are all within the Borough Council territory.

Amber Valley CAMRA’s boundaries go from as far west as Idridgehay, near Wirksworth, which we don’t cover, to Jacksdale, just over the border in Nottinghamshire. We go north to South Wingfield and Oakerthorpe, while Milford, Makeney and Holbrook are ours, but Duffield isn’t. We have Kilburn and Horsley Woodhouse, but not Horsley or Smalley, while our boundary with the Erewash Branch is Codnor, for which we are responsible. We also have Shottle, Turnditch and Ambergate pubs.

With so many pubs scattered over a wide area, it’s difficult to get to them all, and although we run monthly Beer Survey trips from March to November we can only cover around 54 pubs, just over half the total, so any feedback regarding beer quality and availability of Real Ale is much appreciated.

For details of the previous survey trips please read the various posts on our blog.

Coming Up

We are proposing the following dates for free minibus beer survey trips in 2019 - all Friday nights and all having the first pick up at either Alfreton or Belper at 7.15pm and Ripley at 7.30pm, depending on who is coming and the route we are taking. The other picks up points offered are Swanwick and either Heage or Kilburn Toll Bar (its not very practical to do both so again it will depend on who is coming). We will try to book a 16 seater every month but may sometimes be limited to a 14 seater so, as always, its first come first served once the trip is confirmed.

Future Social Survey Dates for your diary:

Friday 15^th November - last event of the year a not to miss evening.

For the monthly social survey trips via minibus please contact Trevor Spencer by e-mail at: dedpoet702@yahoo.co.uk, or mobile number 07982 943 944 for more details or to book your place.

Additionally, please find below a list of proposed dates for City and Town Pub Walks.

These trips are all undertaken by public transport and confirmation of meeting places and times will be made over social media, closer to the dates, although it is generally a 1pm start. Non-CAMRA members are always welcome on these trips. We only tend to walk half a mile at the most between pubs as they are generally city and town centre walks.

Once the walks have started, people tend to stop and eat when they feel like it and catch up with us later if we have moved on. Its up to you when you decide to leave for home - we usually go to 7 or 8 pubs and finish around 6-7pm but some hardy individuals carry on until much later.

Future Walks

Saturday 23rd November - Chesterfield & Brampton Mile

Saturday 7th December - Burton

Friday 27th December - Our annual Nottingham Xmas crawl

Further walks to be confirmed.

Previous Walks

Saturday 21st September - Ashfield (Sutton, Kirkby & Mansfield)

Not as well attended as some but more joined as we went around, pubs visited were -

Dog House.
Scruffy Dog
Wrinkly Dog (see the theme here…)
Brown Cow
Old Brewery Bar (Prior’s Well brewery’s new bar which opened in July 2019)
Railway Inn
Garrison

Saturday 31st August - Derby -

Around 16 members and guests gathered at the Furnace to commence a stroll around Derby. We then visited -

Flowerpot
Annie's Burger Shack
Peacock Inn
Smithfield
Alexandra
Brunswick

Monday 26th August - Bank Holiday Monday around Ripley visiting -

Red Lion,
Thorn Tree,
Tom Said,
Cock Inn,
George Inn
Talbot.

Cider Saunter Sat 27 July

A stroll around Nottingham took place to coincide with their cider month on Saturday 27 July 2019. The pubs visited included:

BeerHeadz

VAT & Fiddle

Canalhouse

Crafty Crow

Overdraft

Organ Grinder

Barrel Drop

Keans Head

The Angel

Hockley Rebel

*Saturday 22 Ju**ly Nottingham*

Walkers met in the VAT & Fiddle and then visited:

BeerHeadz

Canalhouse

Fellows Morton & Clayton

Newshouse

King William IV

Fox & Grapes

Keans Head

Bunkers Hill

The Angel

Saturday 22 June - Sheffield

13 members enjoyed a walk on a lovely sunny day taking in the pubs below.

Sheffield Tap

Broadfield

Crown Inn

White Lion

Brothers Arms (the pub owned by the Everly Pregnant Brothers)

Sheaf View

Cremorne

Albion

Beer Engine

Saturday 25 May - Chesterfield & Whittington Moor

14 members enjoyed a walk on a nice day taking in the pubs below.

Red Lion
Jacey’s Micropub
Beer Parlour
Glass Works (formerly the Spireite)
Neptune
Chesterfield Arms
Chesterfield Alehouse