Ilkeston
‘You look a sight, you do, red in the face’, she cried.
‘I might look worse if I were green’ he answered.
‘Boozing in Ilkeston!’
‘And what’s wrong wi’ Ilson?’
Standing on a hill above the Erewash Valley,
industrial Ilkeston is the third largest town in
Derbyshire. Written in the Domesday Book as
Tilchestune, it is known colloquially as ‘Ilson’, by
which name it was known to D H Lawrence who put
it into more than one of his novels. The querulous
dialogue quoted above is from The Rainbow’.
More interesting than most buildings in Ilkeston,
which is not conspicuous for its beauty, is the
unique House of Cinders just to the west. Built in
1835 as an experiment in new materials, it so
interested some Americans that they even tried to
buy it and take it back home! The town’s only two
breweries, Fletchers Erewash Valley Brewery and
the Ilkeston Brewery, both closed at the turn of the
century. It was in Ilkeston Rep that star of stage
and small screen, Robert Lindsay, acquired his
craft. The town was recently used as the setting for
the TV drama “Playing The Field”. The Tourist
Information Centre is in the Library, Market Place
(0115 930 1104).

24  OBSERVATORY
Market Place (0115 9328040) DE7 5QA
Theakston’s Best; Boddingtons;
John Smith’s; Courage Directors;
guest ales H
Modern, glass-fronted Wetherspoon’s pub
in a unique conversion of an old supermarket.
Includes two no-smoking areas and, most unusually,
an upstairs beer garden. Food available all day every day.
W O S L E X C

Guide to the facility lettering:
A = Accomodation
c = Real Cider
M = Car Parking
W = Disabled Access
K = Childrens’ Room
O = Outdoor Drinking Area
S = No Smoking
T = Train Station nearby
G = Traditional Games
L = Lunches Available
E = Evening Meals Available
F = Real Fire
R = Outstanding interior on National Inventory
X= Cask Marque

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