The Derbyshire village of Castleton is home to the ruined
Peveril Castle, four show
caverns, a visitor centre and six pubs. It can be reached by buses
271/272 or
273/274 from Sheffield. For my visit on 4th November 2015, I travelled on the 11:40
271 from the Interchange. This goes via Brough, home of the Intrepid Brewery, and those needing to work up a thirst can take a footpath from there, about 3-4 miles. My thirst, however, was already worked up so I continued on the bus.
Shortly before pulling in to the bus turn-round (where timetables for return buses are displayed), we passed the first two pubs.
Olde Cheshire Cheese is the first. Turn left for the bar, right for the restaurant. The names of all past landlords, starting 1748, are displayed written on beams in the cosy bar. There are 6 real ales: Abbeydale
Moonshine, Storm
Ale Force, Acorn
Barnsley Bitter, Bradfield
Farmers Brown Cow and
Farmers Ale and my choice Peak Ales
Chatsworth Gold (£1.80 half). There is a £5.50 lunch menu M-F, but you can also pay considerably more (eg Barnsley Chop £13.95). Those with a sweet tooth may like to visit the Fudge Shop opposite.
Our next pub is the
Peak Hotel, a few yards back towards the village centre. Under the same management as the Old Hall in Hope, the Peak is open for breakfast from 08:00, but I think you have to wait a little longer before you can get a beer! Those available were Wychwood
Hobgoblin, Black Sheep
Best, Kelham Island
Easy Rider and my choice Bradfield
Farmers Blonde (£1.70 half). Also one vacant handpump. Meals were mainly priced around £10 to £15.
Turn left from here, then left at the t-junction for the village centre and the other pubs, but before I describe these, a few words about the other attractions. The castle is quite close to the centre, but up a steep hill and approachable on foot only. Of the show caverns, only the ‘Devil’s Arse’ is central. The others, Speedwell, explored by boat, Treak Cliff and Blue John caverns are further out, accessible by road, but not public transport, or on foot. The footpaths are rocky and quite steep, and you have to endure the sneers and bleats of laughter from the sure-footed sheep as you stumble past them. Oddly, it is the Treak Cliff Cavern which is home to the famous mineral Blue John, rather than the Cavern named after it.
But back to the pubs. Next is
Ye Olde Nag’s Head on the first corner after the t-junction. There is a restaurant area to the left, and the bar is straight ahead. Beers available were Bradfield
Farmers Poppy Ale, Sharp’s
Doombar and
Atlantic, Black Sheep
Best, and two from Intrepid:
Porter and my choice
Explorer (£1.75). Also a vacant pump. Tasting notes accompanied each beer. There’s a very wide-ranging menu here. You could pay up to £40 for three courses and a pint, but there are also mains at well under a tenner. With steps up to the entrance, and toilets upstairs, this pub is not wheelchair accessible.
Turn left out of the Nag’s and you will soon see the next two pubs: the Castle on the same side of the road, and the
Bull’s Head. The latter is our first tied house, a Robinson’s establishment. Four of their beers were on:
Unicorn,
Dizzy Blonde, my choice
Trick or Treat (£1.85) and the excellent
Old Tom at 8.5% abv and £5 a pint. Food was the usual £10-15 mains, but they also offer pork pies and cream teas. There was a poster advertising a numberplate TR02PER for £1,000. As I own neither a car nor £1,000 I was not tempted.
Opposite is the
Castle, and we are back to a freehouse. The bar area is quite small, but there is a larger restaurant. The beers available were Sharp’s
Doombar, Marston’s
Pedigree, Leeds
Pale (my choice £1.85 half), GK
Old Speckled Hen and Brain’s
Rev James, with Exmoor
Silver Stallion coming soon. Unfortunately, my shock at seeing their three course Christmas lunch advertised at £52.95 caused me to forget to check out their “normal” menu. (My local has 5 courses for £40 and includes a half-bottle of wine.)
Turning right out of here you will soon see the final pub, the
George, another tied house. If you had to guess the brewery, it might take you a while before coming up with Charles Wells of Bedford! This pub closes between 3 and 5 weekdays; all the others open all day. Rather like the Cheshire Cheese, the bar is to the left, with the restaurant on the right. Four beers were on, all from Wells
Bombardier, Young’s
Bitter and London
Gold, and Wells
Try Time, which I, er, tried (£1.70 half). A more limited food menu here and similar prices to the other pubs. No food on my visit, however, as the chef had had a flu jab and was unwell. I was about to send this article to the editor when my tablet ran out of charge, so I plugged in my charger and prepared to order another beer. However, I was told that they don’t allow people to use chargers! I’ve never encountered this before. So they lost the sale of another beer for a tiny fraction of a penny that charging would’ve cost. Unbelievable.
So, six pubs. Many similarities, especially the food offers and generally rather unimaginative beer ranges. But, I suppose, people come here for the castle, the caverns and the walking. I wonder whether there might be an opportunity for at least one of the pubs to offer more exciting beers. Only three Sheffield breweries represented, and only two from Derbyshire of the 28 different beers available.
All the pubs welcome children, dogs and muddy boots. They all serve real ale and food, and have WiFi. If you are visiting Castleton anyway, you will find no difficulty getting decent beer, but I’m not convinced it’s really worthwhile for a pub crawl. Only one way to judge for yourselves, though, and that’s to judge it for yourselves. And make sure your device is charged if you go to the George!
John Bratley 
In January 2014, North East Derbyshire District Council refused an application to convert The Angel after villagers, with the support of Sheffield & District CAMRA, made their case to save the pub at a planning meeting. The plan would have allowed a property developer to have converted The Angel into two houses, retain a small portion of the pub for a small public bar and build two detached houses in the garden. The council’s planning committee unanimously refused the application due to the site being listed as an ACV – the first in North East Derbyshire. It was the first time in the country an ACV listing was been cited as the primary reason for a council to refuse planning permission.
The Angel now has a new website and is now open for business. All booking enquiries may be made via their website: