Bear

Pub Details

Address
Alderwasley
Derbyshire
DE56 2RD
Telephone
(01629) 822585
Opening Times
Weekdays
12 - 11 (10.30 Sun)

Location

Good Pub Guide Recommended

Unspoilt country inn with beamed cottagey rooms, good range of real ales and a peaceful garden; bedrooms This characterful tavern has lovely dark low-beamed rooms with warming open fires and a cheerful miscellany of antique furniture including high-backed settles and locally made antique oak chairs with derbyshire motifs. One little room is filled right to its built-in wall seats by a single vast table. Other décor includes staffordshire china ornaments, old paintings and engravings. There's no obvious front door - you get in through the plain back entrance by the car park, and as it can get busy you may need to book. Bass, Derby Blue Bear, Hartington IPA, Thornbridge Jaipur and Timothy Taylors Landlord are on handpump alongside a guest or two, and they do several wines by the glass from a decent list, as well as malt whiskies. Well spaced picnic-sets out in a lovely garden have wonderful country views. Please call before you visit to check opening times.

Good Pub Guide Food

As well as sandwiches and home-made crusty rolls (afternoons only), bar food might include prawn cocktail, chicken liver pâté, beer-battered mushrooms stuffed with stilton and garlic with tomato sauce, steak and potato pie, pork fillet with mustard and cider sauce, lasagne, battered haddock, salmon spaghetti, brie and red onion tart, and steaks.

Bar food times: 12 - 3, 6 - 9; 12 - 9 Fri - Sun

Good Pub Information

Dogs allowed in: Dogs Bar

Rating

  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
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Rating: 3/5 (355 votes cast)

Reader Comments

Rachiebabes

Friday 28 December 2012 7:28:40 pm

We booked our Christmas Dinner here...what an absolute mistake! Sour staff, no ambience, service with a scowl. Our starters were decidedly average: pate with solid butter on top...don't they know it should be melted? Soup with a 'plastic' roll, no butter! Then our mains...sliced reheated turkey, with reheated average vegetables.. (no seasonal parsnips/bread sauce/ homemade stuffing) no 'roast' potatoes, instead, we had soggy pigs in blankets and packet stuffing...what a joke!
We asked for some more drinks and were told to go to the bar to fetch our own...waiting for the waitress to return, she delivered our drinks with a thud and fingers inside the glasses...yuk!
Desserts were just as bad: Christmas Pudding bought from the nearest wholesaler, 'Chocolate Brownie' with Vanilla Ice Cream consisted of a thick slice of cheap dark chocolate fudge cake, definitely NOT a brownie..no finesse, still no smile, no taste.

I dare to suggest the Chef refused to work Christmas Day and this was all they cold manage...an absolute fiasco!!!

All in all an unmitigated disaster, costing £300 including drinks and Mr Clarke insists that we are the only unhappy customers...not what we heard....not many hung around for coffee, we certainly didn't...we beat a hasty retreat back home, where we were safely welcome with food fit for eating.

revtim

Wednesday 26 December 2012 7:22:17 pm

We made the mistake of booking our Christmas Lunch here yesterday. The Bear failed to deliver at every level. Poor food, no sense of service, and the function room was as welcoming as a school dining room.

The turkey had been reheated and the vegetable selection was very limited.

Add to this disinterested staff and dirty toilets and it is hard to find a redeeming feature. There were two - the beer was good and the house Merlot was perfectly acceptable.

This was an expensive mistake - we will not be trying The Bear again.

Sir Willow

Tuesday 19 June 2012 10:18:59 am

I live close to the the bear inn, and have visited this beautiful pub in a perfect location for the past fifteen years. And after a couple of visits in the last week, I have to say i'm disappointed and surprised that the bear has won an award in the best pub guide. The service was terrible, the bar staff we're more interested in watching the football in the back room rather than serving the waiting customers in the bar, one customer said he'll never come again, also the ageing table staff could do with bringing up to date in customer service, I think when a customer receives their £25 steak and asks for a drink, he shouldn't be told quite bluntly to 'fetch his own drink as he's far too busy'. This pub used to be the place to go for a treat or special occasion, but not anymore. I hope you improve your service, and get back up at the top where you used to be.

donmitchell

Monday 21 September 2009 8:51:46 pm

Highly recommended. While en route Dorset to Scotland we stayed one night in one of the cottages adjacent to the pub. Very comfortable and couldn't fault it. Food in pub excellent, great atmosphere, staff very helpful, friendly and eager to please. Good hearty breakfast and quantity just right.

ericanddiana

Tuesday 14 April 2009 8:05:00 pm

Lives up to its recommendation. Bass and TT Landlord well kept. Menu imaginative; food very good and not too expensive. Licensees very friendly and welcoming.

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