Barrel Micropub Greyhound Inn The Garrison Stag & Pheasant Railway Inn Bold Forester Speed The Plough FireRock The Picture House Market Inn

Ahead of ‘Better Transport Week’ in June, I thought it was time another guide was added to the website’s Bus Routes page. Thinking, ‘Where better to start than from my nearest bus stop in Huthwaite’ , I caught the Stagecoach 1 to Mansfield Woodhouse and worked my way home, with an open ticket costing £7, allowing unlimited travel for the day. My rules for the trip were that the pub must serve real ale and be no more than 30 seconds from the bus stop. This is how it went...

The first pub that meets my criteria in Mansfield Woodhouse is the Barrel Micropub, where the bus stops right outside. Mark and Bev, who opened the pub in October 2024, have recently extended into what was originally the proposed café area, roughly doubling its space and enabling them to have live music. There are always three changing guests available alongside a house bitter from Lenton Lane. On my visit, the guests were Magpie Nottingham Session, and a duo from Lenton Lane in Pale Moonlight and Sample & Hold; the latter being a porter and my first choice for the day.

From the Barrel, I decided it was much easier to walk a couple of hundred yards along Station Street to the Greyhound Inn, rather than catch the bus around town. The pub has been in the Good Beer Guide 27 times since the branch’s inception in 1992 - the most out of any pub - all under the stewardship of landlady Lynda Britten, who remains at the helm today. Ales on my visit were Robinson’s Dizzy Blonde, Marston’s Pedigree, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, Bass and Welbeck Abbey Sligo, of which I chose the latter and very much enjoyed.

Hopping back onto the bus, the ten-minute ride into the heart of Mansfield gave me two options within a few seconds of the stop: The Garrison and Stag & Pheasant, of which I chose the former as my first stop. The Garrison is Mansfield’s only town centre micropub and has nods to the hit TV show Peaky Blinders. The light, spacious one-roomed pub added an outside decked area fairly recently, giving the option of indoor or outdoor drinking depending on the weather. Up to six real ales are available, and a similar number of craft keg options. Rat Cheating Rat, Dancing Duck Ay Up and Beermats Hazmat were the cask choices. The pub is also a big champion of real cider.

Back across the road is my first of two JD Wetherspoon pubs I visited - the Stag & Pheasant. As with most Wetherspoon pubs, it was unsurprisingly busy with a mix of drinkers and diners. Cask ales are split between two rows of handpulls here, which isn’t unusual for a Wetherspoon pub, but the guest ales tend to be to the rear of the bar here and could be easily missed if you aren’t used to the arrangement. Alongside the usual cask options were Beermats Legitimate and Summat Twisted, Zest Heavenly Blonde, Theakston Old Peculier, Welbeck Abbey Henrietta and Titanic White Star.

I questioned the point of catching the bus to my next planned stop, The Railway Inn, so I again opted to stretch my legs and walk the few hundred yards instead. This pub tested my rule that it should be within 30 seconds of the bus stop (or station in this case), but I walk pretty fast (in my opinion), so it got in. The Railway always feels to me like an oasis of calm in the centre of Mansfield, mixing diners enjoying the much-loved home-cooked food or drinkers simply enjoying the ales. There are always four available and often feature Batemans and Full Mash, and on my visit, that was the case, with Woodfordes Nog complementing Batemans Eggs-B and a brace from Full Mash in Shoreline and Illuminati - the latter of which I had to look up, as it was hard to tell from the pump clip. There seemed to be a party of some kind going on, so I retired to one of the front rooms where I could read a CAMRA branch magazine I hadn’t seen before while enjoying my ale.

I again mulled over whether to walk to the next pub or take the bus, and in the end decided to walk. Either way, it doesn’t take too long to get to the Bold Forester. The Greene King pub, situated on Botany Avenue, operates under the Hungry Horse banner and hosts drinkers and diners alike in a split-roomed arrangement, where one half is over 18's only and features a pool table and numerous large screens to show live sport. Ales on offer were Greene King Abbot, Titanic Plum Porter, Abbeydale Deception and Ossett Excelsius.

Back onto the bus and into Sutton, my first stop was at Speed The Plough. The pub has been in the care of Alby and Mandy since 2007 and is very much community-focused, with most nights of the week featuring activities such as guitar lessons, open mic, karaoke and bingo. The pub has LocAle accreditation, with up to three ales available, usually from Blue Monkey and Shipstone’s. On my visit, Blue Monkey BG Sips and Shipstone’s Gold Star were available, from which I picked the BG Sips - a lovely session pale, which is one of my favourite Blue Monkey ales.

Back on the bus for the short ride into Sutton town centre brought me to the 2025 branch Pub of the Year winners, FireRock. The pub is another LocAle champion, with all three sticks regularly featuring local breweries, from Pentrich to Two Matts, and of course, their own ales brewed on-site. There’s an embarrassment of riches for craft-keg fans, with over ten always available, including sours and often one or more imperial stouts. On my visit, two of their own were on cask: core stout Kill The Ghosts and Phantom Pigeon Sticker Bomber, and one from Weekend Project called The Circus.

Deciding it would take longer to ride the bus than to walk, the next pub was again reached on foot. The Picture House is a JD Wetherspoon pub and former cinema in the centre of town, which opened at the turn of the century. During my visit, it was as busy as ever, and four out of the six guest pumps featured Magpie Brewery, with Nottingham Mild, Nottingham Session, and Cherry Raven Porter complementing Titanic Plum Porter. I find Cherry Raven is always a good choice, and it was no different in this instance.

One last ride into Huthwaite and my last stop before heading home was at the Market Inn, where the bus drops you off right outside. There’s usually one or two ales available, often from Lenton Lane, Shiny or Ossett. The pub picked up branch Pub of the Season awards in both Spring 2024 and Summer 2025 and has featured in the last two Good Beer Guides, which is a testament to the quality of the ale here. On my visit, I had Hazmat from local brewery, Beermats, which was a nice way to round off the day.

Of course, you could jump back on and head out of the branch into Alfreton, but these are my picks for the Stagecoach 1 route within the branch borders. Would you have done it any differently?

Kirsten Yates

Published in the Summer 2026 edition of Pints of View