We always visit The Brunswick when we go to Derby for the football and it never fails to please. Good home-brewed beers; great atmosphere (fans mixing very happily); substantial rolls and a selection of rooms to enjoy your beer in. Prompt service and just a great pub to be in. Went in before the game yesterday - home and away supporters mixed without a hint of trouble. The place was packed but everyone was very well mannered.

An excellent range of ales & a couple of porters. About half the range was their own, good value and good quality. Didn't have the food, but the menu looked decent.

This pub deserves the plaudits it has been getting.I've been going in this pub for years, the beer is always well kept and with a good selection of real ale you cant go wrong.

In the past its only downside was the lack of a food being served well i found out on Sunday they have started doing food once more with 2 and 3 course Sunday lunch, its pub grub for sure anything else would be out of place but home made oxtail soup and a lamb Sunday dinner went down very well with a few pints of White Feather i can tell you.

Great to see this pub open again with a new landlord who I'm told runs the local CAMRA winter ales festival, so the beers at The Alex should be good - and they were when I visited recently. It's had a coat of paint - outside and inside - and was offering Castle Rock Brewery beers plus a range of guest ales. They also provide good quality rolls and not surprisingly the pub is a favourite with Derby County FC fans (and well-behaved away supporters are made very welcome). Handy for the railway station and The Brunswick is almost next door so both pubs compliment each other. The Alex is always worth a visit. Good luck to the new team there.I'm informed the Alex is open Friday and Saturday nights, plus match days, with a limited beer range, and apparently they're still looking for a new landlord.Came here after the game yesterday, and was a little disappointed - in view of some of the reviews this place has had, and my experience earlier in the day at The Brunswick.

I guess the place is still "in transition", which would explain the odour, appearance and limited range of ale on. Hope they sort it out soon, as I'm sure there is good reason for the high ratings this place was getting a few months ago.

This was our last port of call on a crawl around the city and it was midnight-ish admittedly, but we both found this place to be lacking in all kinds of things, especially atmosphere. Like I said, it was midnight and we were both half-cut and knackered, so it may well have been us.

Good selection of beers though and the Old Rosie and Sargeant Pepper Stout went down a treat as nightcap.

Will give it another go the next time we're in the city......Lovely pub, great location, good range of high quality beer, friendly staff, nice fire in winter, live music and tasty Huntsman's pies. Can't think of any negatives about the place.Good real ale pub with a decent selection of ales (eight on handpull, Bass and others on gravity). Nice open fires in the winter, can be a bit quiet at lunchtimes.

Called back and had some food this time. £7.95 for a pie, mash & gravy is maybe a touch on the high side but it was very good so no complaints. A steak at the same price seems good value.

Unfortunately I did now spot the obligatory TV with guess what - too easy - yes Sky Sports. Luckily the place is big enough so at least you can get away from it.I'm not a local as such but must have driven past this pub thousands of times in my life without ever bothering to call in. Have read some of the comments and it must have been pretty vibrant in the past!

I think I read about the 'latest' opening in the Derby Drinker and it sounded good enough to warrant a visit.

Called in last night and worthwhile it was too!

Quietish but with a good atmosphere. Tried three of the nine handpumps and all were pretty damm goood.

We didn't eat but the food that was coming out looked good.

Loo's were spotless.

Couldn't spot any of those huge intrusive TV's anywhere. What a pleasant change.

A Real Ale haven.

Will definately be back
Called in at lunchtime yesterday and was rather disappointed by the lack of clientele. There were a few other customers, but given what the Five Lamps has to offer, I would have expected more.

It isis excellent. 9 handpumps … all of them on ... and all (except for Everard’s Tiger) were from local micros. The Peak Ales’ Chatsworth Gold was first class, as was the double-decker BLT sandwich at £3.00. The barman was very friendly and helpful.

The Five Lamps closed and was boarded up around this time last year, but reopened again in June.

Having now come back from the dead for a second time, it is a pub with a great potential and I hope that Derby’s discerning drinkers will both appreciate and more importantly, support it.

Found this place to be very convivial - even on a saturday night in Derby. Had a couple of pints of their own Penny's Porter and very nice they were too.Nicely renovated pub with friendly service, good beer and some original touches like 5 third-pints of their own beer and some cheese for a fiver. Only downside was the presence of one or two loud and foul-mouthed self-opinionated characters who had had more than enough already by the mid-afternoon. A sign of the times which does tend to put a damper on an otherwise decent and enjoyable city crawl. It won't put me off a return visit however.Spacious contemporary pub in a traditional wedge-shaped building just outside of the town centre. It has two large rooms with a similar feel, modern furnishings such as sofas and polished wooden floors, as well as an upstairs area where food is served. TVs show sporting events, and there is a pleasant rooftop terrace.
Good selection of beers, with their own product plus quite a few guests, as detailed below. My pint of the house beer was in good nick.
Not the most characterful pub of the Derby crawl, but a perfectly decent place, and I did enjoy the rooftop terrace. Worth popping into on the way to the Exeter and Smithfield.

Fantastic traditional pub, with it's own character though reminiscent of several village pub around Derbyshire (e.g. Dead Poets). Excellent beers from the Marston's range, good rolls and snacks, comfortable bench seating and as much pub memorabilia as you could dream of.Visited recently on a Friday night and they had a mini beer fest on. Excellent beers well kept and a good atmosphere inside the pub. Didnt try any of the other pubs in Shardlow of which there are several but would certainly visit the Old Crown again.After a recent crawl in Shardlow I found this to be easily the best pub. Though it was a Tuesday night there was a nice lively atmosphere as there was a classic car rally or something going on. There was also a folk group playing which provided a welcome change to the modern music that spoils the atmosphere in a lot of pubs. Staff and customers were all friendly. I counted 9 ales on the bar, all from the Marstons group. I must have tried about 6, all of which were in excellent condition. It would be great if the beer tie could be relaxed allowing them to serve a local brew or two, maybe from the Shardlow Brewing Company.