A Look at Sneinton Market in Nottingham

Back in its hay day Sneinton Market in Nottingham was considered one of the best markets in the county, a Penny Lane style market that was always busy. Chat to any member of my family and you will hear stories of how great it was.

With the rise of the supermarket though, places such as Sneinton Market became run down and a hub for vandalism and up until a few years ago it was a sad site for the most part.

But with lots of small businsses making a come back, we are now lucky enough to see the start of the regeneration of this once thriving part of Nottingham.
Blend coffee shop has become my favourite haunts for a coffee, cake and yummy toasties. It is a really family friendly place and has an outside area for those warmer days. They also serve a great selection of beers and ciders.

Blend has been host to outdoor cinemas and events and have really helped to bring the area along. Then with the opening of the Fox and Grapes it means that even more of the rundown areas of the market were being regenerated.

Now we have The Watered Garden, Neon Raptor Brewery, Luisa's Vegan Chocolates as well as lots of other small independent shops, food outlets, and popup shops. Add to that some really great street art and it is beginning to look like somewhere people will start to flock too once again.

There are lots of pop up markets both in the square and in the lanes, I purchased a beautiful ring from eLaTion Jewellery last weekend, a lovely lady who has some really beautiful items and this was a lovely way to showcase her jewellery.

In fact this weekend the lanes are host to the Nottingham Craft Beer Festival, a celebration of local beers from some of the great new breweries that have been popping up all over this county in the past few years. So if you like craft beer and are a bit lost for something to do this weekend then there are three sessions to choose from on Friday and Saturday. Plus, you’ll be supporting lots of local crafts people doing what they do best.

This area is a wonderful place to meet friends and have a wander, parking is usually relatively easy with a car park just over the road (first hour free) as well as on street parking, there is also a lovely park and even Stonebridge City Farm within easy reach too. 

Pieminister Nottingham Review

We were recently invited to try out the new Pieminister restaurant in Nottingham, a welcome addition to Nottingham’s blossoming food scene.

The industrial interior was interesting, with a mix of booths and tables filling the space, an open bar at the back and then a food counter near the front.

We were seated in front of the bar, now normally I am all for mood lighting, however we were seated under a red light. Not only was it difficult to photograph my food, but it also made it a rather strange eating experience. With the food looking red, it meant I couldn’t really enjoy the colour of the pie and side dishes that were served with it. So I apologise in advance for the photos, they are not my normal quality and don't represent the food at it's best.

We chose to have some of the pimp up your pie options which they kindly bought as soon as we ordered, some yummy halloumi on a stick, as well as chorizo and some pigs in blankets, the pigs weren't really that great, I would have preferred them to be nice and crisp and they were a little bit cheap tasting, my son ate still ate them though.

The main event however, was delicious. I opted for the Wild Shroom Pie, one of their vegetarian options. The pie was filled with mushrooms, asparagus and a creamy white wine sauce which was really tasty. The white wine flavours come through well and there were plenty of mushrooms. I opted for a side salad and their homemade slaw, I'm not sure what was in this but my it was the tastiest slaw I've ever had.

Some of their other veggie options sound equally as delicious and each Monday they offer 50p off their vegetarian pies as part of Meat Free Monday. So if you fancy a try of one then this is certainly a bonus on a Monday.

My husband went with the Chilli Con Carnage pie, his first comment was it was weird as you don't normallly expect a pie to be filled with chilli and spicy. But he really enjoyed it, served with chips and mushy peas. The chips were nice and crisp and the mushy peas were well mixed with mint sauce, nothing upsets me more in this world than mushy peas without enough mint sauce.

For our children, we chose a pie for them to share off the main menu, however there is a children's menu serving the likes of mac and cheese, cottage pie and fish pie, but since we were there for pie they chose the Moo & Blue pie which was a combination of beef and Long Clawson stilton.

They chose sides of chips and mash, purely because my daughter wanted mash and my son wanted chips. The skin on chips are really tasty, however my daughter didn't like the mash, it was an off day and I forgot to try it to find out why she didn't like it. My husband who hates mash made by anyone but himself also didn't like it, this is an honest opinion but maybe not a realistic once since we had two fusspots on our hands.

Each plate or bowl, gravy boat and side was served on a plank of wood, this looked great however it meant we all struggled to eat on a smallish table with four of us, we had to remove one of them from the table in order to fit everything on. It felt quite cramped and to be honest didn't really add anything to the dining experience for us.

My husband and I both had one of their fantastic selection of beers to drink, served in pint pot style glasses.

For a Saturday the restaurant felt understaffed, it is however early days and we will be keeping this on our list of places to visit with a pie and two sides coming in under £10 it is a great hearty meal and all of us certainly enjoyed the pies. They also offer a few Gluten Free options in the form of hot pots, which sound delicious and I will be trying one of those next time.

NB: We were given vouchers for a pie feast (pie and two sides), we paid for the beer and extra sides ourselves. All words and opinions are my own, pictures