Mansfield – Widow Frost

Some thought went into the naming of this Wetherspoon’s pub located on Leeming Street, with the company saying:

“This pub is named after the 18th-century landlady of The Mason’s Arms which stood on this site. Widow Frost was probably the first to run The Mason’s Arms after its name was changed from The Horse and Jockey in 1780.”

A 1913 advert in the local newspaper noted that the pub was being refurbished, with the stabling still in operation and the entrance for where this was is still visible on the pub’s frontage. The advert also informed customers to enter via Clumber Street, which happens today to be the location of another pub, the Stag and Pheasant, operated by Wetherspoon’s. More on this in another post, but this is a complex site and the original Stag and Pheasant pub was located on the corner of Leeming Street and Clumber Street.

The Sleepy Badger beer from Little Critters Brewery, an oatmeal stout, which I thought was much better than some of the on-line reviews suggest. Malty and not inconsiderably chocolatey, an impressive beer at the usual low Wetherspoon’s price point.

I had a little look at their TripAdvisor reviews, which are mixed, pretty usual for Wetherspoons. I liked this one:

“My partner and I have ordered the skinny steak and quinoa salad since 2006-but standards have slipped think armageddon!!!”

I’m not entirely sure that Armageddon is really being used appropriately here, but, as the staff member politely replied, the pub chain had only served quinoa salad for a few months when this review had been written in 2018 and the poster didn’t realise skinny steak meant it came with salad, not that it was skinny.

Anyway, service in the pub was warm and friendly, with no real delays at any point. It wasn’t the cleanest pub I’ve seen, but it was warm and comfortable. Certainly a decent selection of beers and the pub deserves its listing in the Good Beer Guide.