Campaign for Real Pubs: The Barley Mow

The Barley Mow, Kirk Ireton, Derbyshire DE6 3JP

A historic 17th century stone-built pub in a quiet village on the southern fringes of the Peak District between Wirksworth and Ashbourne. The exterior, with its two prominent gables, resembles a small manor house. It may not look very open from outside, but if it’s within the scheduled opening hours (12-2 and 7-11 or 10.30 on Sunday), turn the latch and you should be able to get in.

The interior, not surprisingly, features on CAMRA’s National Inventory, although some of the furnishings are more modern than they look. The heart of the pub is the main bar with its massive fireplace, quarry-tiled floor, wall benches and counter, not much more than a serving hatch, in the far corner. There’s also another room with a parquet floor, more benches and French window opening out into the garden.

Hartington IPA, served from the jug, is stillaged in the cellar, with two or three guest beers in casks behind the bar. Food is limited to a choice of cheese or salami cobs. It’s a true old-fashioned character pub that makes no concessions to modern marketing gimmicks, but its fame means it attracts ramblers and other outside visitors as well as a core of regulars.

WHAT ARE REAL PUBS?

Real pubs are pubs whose primary function is still the original core purpose of pubs – for people to meet and socialise over a few drinks.

They may serve food, and very good food at that, but they don’t allow it to dominate to the exclusion of all else. They’ll probably have a strong core of regular customers, but still make casual drinkers welcome. They may well serve a good drop of real ale, but won’t be full of beer bores droning on about hop varieties and IBUs.

In many parts of the country they’re getting very hard to find. In recent years, the smoking ban, beer duty hikes, the demonisation of “one-drink driving” and the general anti-alcohol climate have all had their effect, but such pubs do still survive if you know where to look and deserve to be celebrated.

Although in many ways they are a laudable organisation, this blog is not connected with and does not in any way represent the Campaign for Real Ale.

The inclusion of a pub does not necessarily reflect a recent visit by myself, although often it does.

1 comment:

Anonymous19 October 2017 at 18:34
Not surprisingly, one of my favourites. I stayed overnight here in 2016 as a stopover walking between Litton and Burton. A fine evening with an old schoolmate working our way through the beers and in the morning Mary cooked me a fine breakfast in the half light of the back room. I left with a spring in my step.