Real Ale Capital

Derby Real Ale Capital of Britain Again

The latest edition of the Lonely Plant Guide describes Derby as the "Best place to drink Real Ale in the World" and who are we to disagree as the results of the City's Annual Beer Census undertaken by members of The Derby Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale have confirmed Derby's status as Real Ale Capital of Britain per population head for yet another year.

The census took place in February and involved 8 different pub crawls around the City which saw a record number of Real Ales available on any one given night. 290 were counted (up 20 on last year) with 176 different ones available (up 15 on last year) and these came from just 68 pubs averaging 4.3 Real Ales per pub.

In total 74 pubs were visited, 1 was shut and 5 had no real ale. 10 pubs had 10 or more Real Ales on and leading the way was the Flowerpot (18), Babington Arms (17), Brunswick (14), Alexandra (13), Thomas Leaper (12), Five Lamps (11), Mr Grundy's (11), Old Silk Mill (11), Standing Order (11) and Brewery Tap (10).

Marstons Pedigree was still the most dominant brand in the City available in 40 pubs followed by Bass in 11 pubs and Timothy Taylor Landlord in 10. But local ales are well represented with beers from 7 of the City's breweries widely available - Brunswick, Black Iris, Dancing Duck, Derby, Derventio, Falstaff, Mr Grundy's and the Rowditch.  Beers from other breweries around the area were also well represented - Blue Monkey, Burton Bridge, Castle Rock, Leatherbritches, Nutbrook and Muirhouse to name a few.

The average price of a pint was found to be £2.77  (5p up on previous year). However in reality a lot of pubs were hovering around the £3 a pint mark with some now regularly topping it. The dearest pint of the night was found at the Alexandra Hotel - £4.00 for Fullers Golden Pride although at 8.5% this can be slightly excused as most of their other beers are more than reasonably priced and with a 20p CAMRA discount to boot. The cheapest pint was found at the City's 3 Wetherspoons pubs at £1.60 for both Marstons Burton Bitter & Greene King Ruddles Bitter.

So there you have it, a few stats to bear in mind while crawling around Beer City once again proving that per population head Derby has more Real Ales available than any other City. 

Derby CAMRA Chairman, Gareth Stead said " For Real Ale enthusiasts Derby is probably the best place to drink in Britain, if not the World as the Lonely Planet Guide states. People come from far and wide to sample the City's delights as its pubs truly provide a Beer Festival everyday of the year".