| Malt Shovel | |
|---|---|
 The Malt Shovel in Spondon | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Pub |
| Address | Potter Street, Spondon, Derby, DE21 7LH |
| Town or city | Spondon |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 52°55′11″N1°24′31″W / 52.919702°N 1.408509°W |
| Construction started | 1680 |
The Malt Shovel is a Grade II listed public house at Potter Street, Spondon, Derby. [1] The pub is known for its unmodernised period interiors and internal design.
The pub has its own individual character, with a number of rooms from a large bar to small "snugs". The decoration is suggestive of times gone by; in fact the pub is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. [2] This means that CAMRA has identified this pub as being in the "first division" with regard to the historic quality of its interior design. This is one of fewer than 300 pubs chosen for their impressive, largely intact, historical interiors from the estimated 50,000 pubs that exist in the United Kingdom. [3]
The room that attracts most attention is labelled "B". Snug "B" contains a 1920s hearth and a style of seating that is now found in only a small number of such "snugs" in England. The only other snug with high backed seats in Derbyshire is at the Holly Bush Inn, Makeney. The name "B" is a peculiarity of local licensing which previously made landlords clearly indicate which rooms were licensed for the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Each licensed room, including the cellar, was given an identifying letter. Like other features of the pub the reason for it being created has now disappeared, but the sign "B" remains. The requirement to label the room "B" is long forgotten, but previous landlords refused to have it changed. [4] In the early 1990s, the landlords feared that the brewery that owned the building were planning to sell the pub. [5] This may have resulted in the interior being refurbished and as a result they bought the pub to prevent this happening. In the confusion, the landlords ended up running two pubs in Spondon, although they did find time to install a kitchen and introduce pub-food at the Malt Shovel. [5]
The most recent room's decoration dates from the 1990s and this has been internally divided by another bar. The smaller part has just tables and chairs whilst the larger section includes a full sized billiards table [4] and a dartboard. [6]
The pub serves traditional real ale and an extensive range of freshly cooked pub food, [6] from bacon cobs and burgers to wholesome meals. The pub is not in the centre of Spondon, but down a minor road. Around the back of the pub is an extensive lawned beer garden with a covered area and children's climbing toys.
In 1333 or 1340, [7] a disastrous fire [8] started at a pub called the Malt Shovel and aided by the wind, swept through Spondon destroying the church and most of the houses. [8] This is known as "the Great Fire of Spondon". [7] Local historians although intrigued by the story say there is no proof that this pub sits on the same site as the 14th century pub, although both are known to be on the site of malting houses. [5] The current pub was largely built in the late 18th or early 19th century, [1] although some parts date from 1680. [5]
A short book describing the pub's history was published in 2011. [9]
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just over 150,000 members, it is the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK, and is a founding member of the European Beer Consumers Union (EBCU).
A pub is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in the late 17th century, and was used to differentiate private houses from those which were open to the public as alehouses, taverns and inns. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:
The Dolphin Hotel is a pub on the Barbican in Plymouth, England. The building, which is known as the Dolphin Hotel is a Grade II listed building. It notable as the setting of several of the artist Beryl Cook's paintings.
Spondon is a ward of the city of Derby. Originally a small village, Spondon dates back to the Domesday Book and it became heavily industrialised in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with companies such as British Celanese.
Wardlow is a parish and linear village in the Derbyshire Dales two miles from Tideswell, Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 118. The village contains the church of the Good Shepherd and the small hamlet of Wardlow Mires, which contains a notable pub, The Three Stags' Heads.
The National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors is a register of public houses in the United Kingdom with interiors which have been noted as being of significant historic interest, having remained largely unchanged for at least 30 years, but usually since at least World War II.
The Blackfriar is a Grade II* listed public house on Queen Victoria Street in Blackfriars, London.
The Bell Inn is a pub at the village of Aldworth, in the English county of West Berkshire. It won CAMRA's National Pub of the Year in 1990, and received the accolade again for 2019. It is a Grade II listed building and is the only pub in Berkshire with a Grade II listed interior. It is also on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.
The Duke of York Inn is a Grade II listed public house at Main Street, Elton, Derbyshire DE4 2BW.
The Holly Bush Inn is a Grade II listed public house at 2 Holly Bush Lane, Makeney, Derbyshire, DE56 0RX. It is a family run pub.
The Three Stags' Heads is a Grade II listed public house in Wardlow Mires, Derbyshire, England.
The Square and Compass is a Grade II listed public house in Worth Matravers, Dorset. Built in the 18th century as a pair of cottages before becoming a public house, the Square and Compass got its name in 1830 from a landlord who had been a stonemason. The building includes a museum of fossils and other local artefacts and the pub is one of only five nationally that has been included in every edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide since 1974.
The Milbank Arms is a Grade II listed public house at Barningham, County Durham. Built in the early 19th century, it spent a period as a hotel before converting to a public house. It was one of the last public houses in the country to not include a bar counter when one was fitted in 2018. The public house, and former hotel, are named after local land owning family, the Milbanks, who have recently taken over the license.
The Five Mile House is a former pub on Old Gloucester Road, Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire, England. It was built in the 17th century and is grade II listed.
Ye Olde Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at 22 Victoria Rd, Kington, Herefordshire, England, built in the late 18th/early 19th century.
The Red Lion is a disused public house on Soho Road, in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, England.
The Swan is a Grade II listed historic pub, lying immediately south-west of the city centre of York, in England.
The New Beehive Inn is a former pub in Bradford, England. It was built by Bradford Corporation in 1901 to replace an existing public house of the same name that they had purchased in 1889 and demolished to widen a road. The corporation intended to run the pub itself but instead let it out and sold it in 1926. It has since been run by a number of brewery companies and individuals. The pub contained many features dating to its construction and a significant refurbishment in 1936 and was described by the Campaign for Real Ale as "one of the country's very best historic pub interiors".
Whitelock's Ale House is a pub in the city centre of Leeds, in England.
The Bath Hotel is a pub in Broomhall district of Sheffield, in England.
