The Derbyshire village where 'locals have got their pub back' after chequered past

It might seem harsh to say that the Pattenmakers Arms at Duffield has had a chequered recent history but it’s an unavoidable fact. The good news is that the pub looks to be on the right track now towards being a valued hub of the community again. It’s independently owned and the licensee, Chris Allingham, is both hugely cheery and a skilled operator of great experience – more about him shortly.

An Edwardian local, the Pattenmakers is tucked away off the main road in Duffield; you really have to know it is there or to be seeking it out. But it’s a cracking big building with lots of space and the most recent refurbishment has it looking a treat. There is plenty of warm wood panelling, a beautiful Minton-style tiled floor and if the many paintings on the walls are not what you might find in a “traditional” local, they are nonetheless bright and attractive and give you the impression that the pub is cared for.

It was very much a community pub a decade ago, when the late Claire Muldoon was licensee and she was being assisted by Emily Bowler, who lived opposite at the time and who has since made such a big success of the Smithfield Ale House in the city. But it was also a tied house back then and Claire went through rent battles with the company owning it, the big operator currently known as Stonegate.

In 2020, the Lidher family bought the pub from Stonegate but it spent three years closed through Covid while the family lavished money on the refurbishment and an extension at the back. However, if you have read anywhere that the work included a roof terrace, that isn’t the case: “There’s a flat roof but you’d need a ladder to get to it or to climb out of an upstairs window!” laughs Chris. When the pub reopened, there was an attempt to turn it into an upmarket restaurant. Least said, soonest mended. Duffield may be a relatively affluent village but that plan did not work out.

Enter Chris Allingham, in August. He is one of the three brothers whose family ran the large Bentley Brook Hotel on the outskirts of Ashbourne. One brother, Ed, is the man behind the very successful Leatherbritches Brewery, now based at Smisby, the other, Billy is the man behind the Steaming Billy chain of pubs, most of which are Leicester way, although there have been a couple of forays into Derby.

Chris was head-hunted by the owners and says he wasn’t initially persuaded. He spent a decade or so working for Billy, sorting out the struggling pubs Steaming Billy tended to buy and turn around – one of those Chris worked at was the Coronation in Alvaston. He was settled, working for Charnwood Brewery and running their micropub in Shepshed, the Hall Croft Tap. So, if you’re looking for experience, here is a man who has run everything from a massive country hotel to a micro with many other types of pub in between.

“The connection with all of them is a passion for beer – and staff. I like to have a happy team,” says Chris. “The staff I’ve hired and those I’ve inherited are a cohesive team and they’re pleased to see people. I was very happy in Shepshed and when I was approached about the Pattenmakers in January, it was a nice package being offered but I said no. I told them they needed to find a person to run it who would take it back to being a local pub. Well, they asked me again and again…”

And here he is, in a pub he is starting to think will see him to his own retirement. He does not see that the Pattenmakers is in a position to be a “destination” pub – although customers from some of his previous pubs do tend to drop in and see Chris, he’s that sort of landlord.

“There are a thousand houses around the pub and there’s only a small car park,” he says. “We want to get to the people who will walk to it, drop in with the dog, and see it as their pub and the hub of their community. Things started to pick up almost immediately. The locals are pleased to ‘get their pub back,’ I think.”

A pie night on Thursdays is going well, with around 40 catered for last week. “British tapas” (that’s pork pies and scotch eggs and the like, you know) tends will be featured on Tuesdays now that the pub has again started opening on that day, although when I called in last week they were preparing to welcome a room full for a pop-up Thai night put on by the local Thai restaurant. More traditionally, Sunday lunches are being served.

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Beer-wise, the Pattenmakers has long been a Bass stronghold and that’s not changing. Castle Rock Harvest Pale is also a staple and a third handpump delivers something from local breweries – it’s no surprise, of course, that Chris calls on his brother at Leatherbritches for supplies – as do many other discerning pubs.”

It was a long time since I’d been in the Pattenmakers and it has changed a lot inside but I immediately felt comfortable and while Chris had a lot to do with that, so do the surroundings. In these difficult times, we need to see good, solid village pubs like the Pattenmakers survive. In the direction it’s now going, hopefully it will.

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