Take a trip the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem

Situated in historical Nottingham this is a unique pub which claims to be the oldest in Great Britain. It is full of atmosphere and I recently went back with some German friends during the theatre exchange last week and also a month or so ago with my friend Marian.

It is quite small inside and can get packed but where else can you discover that your watering hole is in the middle of sandstone caves and is reputedly haunted? The ranges of beer are worth revisiting for and the last time we went they had an offer where if you ordered five pints (to share of course) you would get a free tee shirt. The little room at the back tends to get a bit warm especially when you cram in thirty plus boisterous theatre folk. At times we had to open the back door to let in some cool air and watch the rain teem down outside.

When I went with my friend Marian we enjoyed a hot roast beef and Yorkshire pudding wrap served with nicely cooked chips and peas and a little jug of gravy. It was very good and served quickly at a decent price of £7.45. I downloaded a menu from their site at http://www.triptojerusalem.com/ today and had another look at their fare. I counted sixteen main courses including a cheese and bacon burger with a 100% British beef burger and Chiltern cured ham and eggs . Reading about the traditional hand battered Fish and Chips served with mushy peas and tartare sauce today made me feel hungry even at 9am in the morning. In addition their Suffolk sausages sounded lip smackingly good and come with a choice of different mashed potatoes, traditional, cheese or chive . For those veggies amongst us the menu offered peppered mushroom suet pudding served with mashed potatoes, peas and Colman’s diane sauce. There was also a cauliflower and Irish Cheddar cheese tart served with mixed salad.

The little snug at the back

Some English and German friends enjoying a pint or two.

For those who aren’t bothered about a full meal they offer some very nice sandwiches, oven baked jacket potatoes and various side orders and yummy desserts such as the rhubarb and custard crumble cheesecake. As a food writer I found the actual text of the menu very appealing. It was in a clear and friendly typeface and the descriptions promoted the English nature of the food sources and were written to whet one’s appetite and not of the sort of flowery prose that some eating places use to make the dishes sound appealing.

There were a nice selection of beers ranging from Olde Trip, Green King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale and Extra Pale Ale and they seemed to go down very well with our German visitors from Karlsruhe and myself.

My good friend Markus (left) from Karlsruhe is a bit of a fan of this pub and so I returned yesterday morning and asked the barman if I could take some pictures. Of course at eleven o’clock the pub was empty so I had a chance to get some good interior shots and a half pint of Olde Trip, of course!

Now I wonder if they do breakfasts?