NOTTINGHAM'S newest and smallest pub is proving a big hit with punters.
Co-owners Prakash Ross, Rob Arthur and Rich Burns have been pleasantly surprised by the number and diversity of people who've gone through the doors of the Doctor's Orders since they opened the pub in late December.
"What we're really pleased about is the wide range of people who come in," said Rob. Early customers have included groups of 20-something men, young women – and a man with his parrot.
The pub, in a former pharmacy in Mansfield Road, Carrington, is Nottingham's first "micro-pub". The concept has been around for less than a decade but it's caught on across the country.
As the name would indicate, micro-pubs tend to be small – just one main room with a few tables and chairs – and focus almost solely on real ale.
The owners believe one advantage of the micro-pub concept is that it allows the publican to focus on one particular thing.
The Doctor's Orders has no screens showing football, no music, no gaming machines. Just beer, two white wines and one red, a few beer snacks and convivial conversation.
"There are so many pubs closing at the moment," Prakash said. "One of the problems we feel is that they try to be everything for everybody."
All three men hold down other jobs and none expects to make a great deal of money from the pub.
Breaking even and adding something positive to the community is more the goal.
Rob and Prakash are neighbours in Sherwood, while Rich met Prakash met through micro-pub circles when each man was researching the idea of opening one in Nottingham. The trio works well.
"We have the same philosophy on what we're after," Rich said.
"It's quite handy to have three, there's always a two-to-one ratio when a decision has to be made."
One unique quirk they all agree on is the lack of a bar. There's no beer cellar, so beers are kept in a cooled room next to the main seating area. A glass window looks in on the room from the main pub, and beers are poured directly from casks, like at a beer festival. The server, one of the three owners, takes orders at tables.
Without a bar, first-time patrons sometimes aren't sure where to go when they first walk in.
"People are a bit flummoxed at first," Prakash said. "When you say 'table service', their eyes light up."
Rob enjoys the lack of bar and the intimate surrounds.
"If you are behind a bar, you can wander off somewhere else," he said. "In a micro-pub, you're a bit more of a mein host. You're running a continual party every day."
