The Johnson Arms, Nottingham

Before you ask, no: the pub is not named after that Johnson. Nor Samuel. A Victorian pub on this site was demolished and rebuilt in 1912, at the behest of one Frank Johnson.

The green external tiling and decorative lintels are still there. So too are windows etched with a fabled name: Shipstones. Known locally as “Shippo’s”, it was one of three local breweries during my days on what was then the Nottingham Evening Post. A distinctive, dry-hopped bitter, it wasn’t always kept well by licensees. When it was good it was very, very good. And when it was bad it was horrid.

The Shipstone’s name and flavour has been revived by a “micro” sited very close to the former brewery. Makes regular appearances at the Johnson, I’m told: but not, sadly, on the lunchtime when I called in.

Judiciously scanning the alternatives on five hand pumps dispensing an everrotating range of ales, I homed in instead on… well, Dr Johnson. A light 3.6% ABV, this turned out to be Marston’s EPA, rebadged for the Johnson Arms.

It proved a refreshing palate-cleanser for the heftier Laine’s Breaker, a fine accompaniment to my lunch of three breadcrumb-coated chicken legs atop a well-dressed salad with roasted Mediterranean vegetables.

I tucked in while tuning in to a nearby discussion between what appeared to be tutor and student on the nature of ideology. The pub is on a main road in a not overly salubrious part of town, but University of Nottingham is nearby. So is the Queen’s Medical Centre. Monday quiz nights can be very competitive, I’m told, with questions that baffle the bar staff on matters medical, mathematical and philosophical.

Apart from an elevated carpeted section, the expansive floor is tiled and divided by a fireplace harbouring a log stove with a tiled surround. Beyond is a corridor leading to a heated wooden terrace and lined with shelves of books and board games.

The petanque court in the garden beyond is currently covered with leaves. Play will resume in the spring, with vin rouge at hand. Or even a pint of Shippo’s.

Chris Arnot

59 Abbey St, Nottingham NG7 2NZ: 011 5978 6355