DURING last weekend's break in the domestic football season I found myself standing on the terraces, alongside my father, at the 1,000-capacity Lancer Scott Stadium.

Home of Ashton and Backwell United, the ground is roughly five minutes' walk from where my father lives in the sleepy village where we moved as a family in 1982 when I was 14.

The match itself was a cracking affair with the home side coming back from being 1-0 down at half time (after being battered for 45 minutes, I hasten to add) to win 2-1.

As my experience of watching football at this level is limited, I expected blood and thunder with the occasional over-the-top tackle from an agricultural 40-year-old left back on some skinny teenage winger who'd spent 90-minutes giving him the runaround.

But I was more than pleasantly surprised with the quality of the match.

While I was there my father introduced me to his mates who he usually watches the game with.

There was Mike and Tony, who spend the 90 minutes drinking beer from the clubhouse and taking the mickey out of each other.

When Mike hears that I'm a journalist he goes on to leave my jaw on the floor as he tells me about how he worked at the New Musical Express during the halcyon days of the 1970s.

And there is also Ted, who has recently been roped in to helping the club out as secretary.

People like this are, I know from experience, the very lifeblood of smaller clubs like Ashton and Backwell, a team that rarely get more than 50 spectators to their matches.

My visit to the Lancer Scott Stadium got me thinking about how many grounds I have visited over my 30-plus years following football and a quick look at the current 92 league teams shows me I've been to exactly 50 of them.

I know they're currently not a league club, but I've seen both Bristol Rovers and Brighton play at three different grounds they've called home over this time and if you include in the mix the 24 teams in the Conference, you can add another seven to my half-century.

But this is nothing compared to Ted, the secretary of Ashton and Backwell.

"I've currently almost finished going to all the grounds in the Northern Premier League," he told me as we chewed the fat on the sideline last Saturday.

"And I'm up to Whitby for half term, where I'm hoping to get another couple of new grounds in," he added for good measure.

This ground-hopping stalwart tells me that he estimates he's been to the homes of 15 former league teams that have now been bulldozed and that if he went back to see his own childhood team – Gillingham – play, he would not recognise how much the Priestfield Stadium has changed since he last went.

"I like terracing" he tells me. "I'm not one for sitting in seats watching football. It doesn't feel right."

Apart from my own team Notts County's Meadow Lane, I've so far, this season visited Charlton's The Valley, the iPro and now the Lancer Scott in the village where I spent my formative years growing up.

And with all due respect to the league teams I've watched so far, the best value for money (£5 for me, £2 for my OAP dad) has been at the last one.

Play up Ashton and Backwell, I'll be watching your results with a little more interest from now on.

READING boss Nigel Adkins says Derby County are the best side in the Championship and has tipped them to win automatic promotion this season.

Rams take on Adkins' Reading at the Madejski Stadium this afternoon looking to inflict a first defeat on Steve McClaren's team in 11 matches.

"Derby are the best team in the League," said Adkins.

"They control the game well. They play out from the back and are very effective in the attacking third.

"Their rotation and movement is excellent. They are a joy to watch.

"I'm sure we will see that today but we've been scoring goals as well, so it bodes for a very exciting game."

Adkins believes Derby are not only equipped to go up but also to handle the Premier League.

"They have kept a settled side," he said. "They have improved the contracts of several of the players for the long-term and have the capability in the transfer window to bring players in, if they need to.

"They are well equipped to have a good go at it this season and do well in the Premier League next season."

Adkins is impressed by the way Derby have coped with the play-off final heartache they suffered against Queens Park Rangers in May.

Bobby Zamora struck a last-minute winner to book QPR's place in the top flight.

"Missing out in a play-off final which they totally dominated was very tough for them and they will be looking to get themselves over the hurdle this year," said Adkins.

"They will be in the top two."

Derby and Reading have already met this season.

Rams beat the Royals 2-0 in a Capital One Cup tie at the iPro Stadium last month.

WHEN movie star Jack O'Connell heard his next character was from Leeds, he was quick to ask for a re-write.

That is because there are two cities the Derby County fan is reluctant to portray people from.

"Nottingham and Leeds."

You can probably guess why that is. But there is also a second reason why Jack wanted his character in '71' to be from Derby.

He said: "I am of the opinion that this region probably has been overlooked throughout cinema. You rarely see leading roles hailing from Derby itself.

"Once I realised the script allowed for it, it became a case of convincing [director] Yann Demange and the script writer, who was on my side anyway, to allow the character to be from Derby."

Having got his way, Jack also managed to get the line "Derby and Nottingham don't get on" included in the movie, which is about the 1971 conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

It was a line the 24-year-old was pleased with.

"I think that was diplomatically put," he said. "The main message there was tribalism, to have that warfare or that tribal division.

"Once it was agreed the character was from Derby, there were minor dialogue changes because what was originally a Yorkshire / Lancashire feud became a Derby / Nottingham one."

The film, released in UK cinemas last week, sees Jack play the lead role of British solider Private Gary Hook.

Following a bloody conflict between his regiment, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and local republicans in a Catholic neighbourhood, Private Hook finds himself abandoned behind enemy lines.

It is the second time this year cinema fans have seen Jack playing the lead in a brutal film; the previous one being Starred Up, which saw Jack play the role of violent prisoner Eric Love.

Speaking tonight at Derby's Quad, where he is a patron, Jack revealed he began shooting scenes for '71' just two weeks after finishing Starred Up.

He admitted the transition from one violent film to another was a difficult one.

Jack said: "I went into 71 with a more abrasive head or a more abrasive version of the character than what was necessary [as a result of having just finished Starred Up].

"And so it's a credit to Yann Demange for amending where my instinct was wrong. He was able to remind me of the lines and remind me of Gary [Hook].

"I'm always keen to distinguish between two characters that I play, but it wasn't a solo effort that time. My hat goes off to Yann."

The new film has received rave reviews, particularly for a pulsating chase that had Jack running for his life from two gunmen through the back streets of Belfast.

Jack said the sequence took three weeks to film and that it was quite tough.

He said: "The scenes were shot in Liverpool, Sheffield and Blackburn. As luck would have it that was during a freak heat wave at the beginning of the year.

"I felt really hard done by because I was layered up, I'd just spent a fortnight in Sheffield in the freezing cold, and then we turn up in Blackburn and it's hotter than the Caribbean!"

Another scene sees the cowardly point-blank shooting of a young soldier in the street. Jack, who considered joining the army before his acting career took off, admitted it made him realise how lucky he was to have the life he has.

"There was a time when being in the army was my only ambition," Jack said. "After I failed to make it in football the only feasible route was to go in the army.

"I feel very privileged that my life took a different trajectory. My respect goes through the roof for the lads on ground level. I do feel very fortunate for an array of reasons that I'm not fighting political wars."

71 is the third of four cinema releases featuring Jack in 2014.

Starred Up was followed by 300: Rise of an Empire. And at Christmas, fans will see him play the lead role in Unbroken, directed by Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie.

Jack's rise to fame has seen him build up a huge fan base online. He has over 175,000 followers on Twitter – and several fans sites have been established and have members from all over the world.

Asked about how he felt about having teenage girls idolise him from as far as Canada, America and Australia, Jack laughed.

"It's second nature," he said. "You ought to ask the people at Saint Benedict [in Darley Abbey] about me at school. They made me feel famous. I got voted 'class clown of the year' and 'charmer of the year' – I got two awards.

"I'm not saying I was always destined for fame, but in terms of being recognised... I feel like a people person anyway.

"But you're right, [the fame] is on a global scale and I'd be lying if I didn't say it was potentially intimidating. But I've just got to elude myself from all of that and just focus on what's next work-wise."

That need to focus is why he's back in Derby. He now lives in London but admits he is "constantly searching myself for excuses to come home".

"I'm in between projects at the moment so I've got to keep focused, and coming home is in keeping with all that," he said.

"I'm incredibly proud of being from here, you know. I'm looking out on this [Market] square now and the memories are ample. I spent a lot of time here being very outgoing, so it is important to get to come home."

A DERBY restaurant which opened less than three years ago has shut.

Jimmy's World Grill and Bar, at the city's Riverlights development, has closed down.

The company, which has restaurants across the UK, confirmed the closure to the Derby Telegraph via social media site Twitter.

The 400-seater eaterie had only been open since February, 2012.

The business had spent around £1.5 million fitting out two ground-floor units at Riverlights to create the restaurant, which offered an all you can eat, multi-cuisine concept, selling a range of international dishes, including Italian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese and Indian food.

It served more than 100 dishes including pizza, pasta, stir fry sushi and grilled chicken – with customers given the option of choosing dishes on display or having ingredients cooked fresh by its team of 15 chefs in front of them at "live stations".

At the time, the business said that the outlet had created 70 jobs.

Jimmy's has not revealed why the outlet has shut but it said it "apologised for any inconvenience caused".

The firm has now removed the details of the Derby restaurant from its website. At the same time, it has announced that it is opening a new outlet in Brighton.

A PLEDGE from Labour to give football fans greater say in the running of clubs has received a sceptical reception from the chairman of Burton Albion.

And the chairwoman of Derby County Supporters' Club, Lynn Hemsworth, said there was not an urgent need for change at the Rams because the club already did a good job of communicating with fans.

If Labour win the general election in May, they say supporters would have seats on every board and the right to buy a significant slice of a club's shares when its ownership changes. They say it would be "the biggest legislative shake-up in the governance of English and Welsh football clubs since the advent of the game".

The plan, which was drawn up in consultation with 95 football fans' organisations, would require supporters to come together to form a "single accredited trust" in return for the right to:

Appoint and remove up to a quarter and at least two of a football club's board of directors.

Buy up to 10% of the shares when a club changes ownership, if they so wish.

The Labour Party says it will now consult further on the details of the proposals.

But Burton Albion chairman Ben Robinson said that one of the key questions was where a new trust organisation's responsibility would begin and end.

He said he was concerned that a position could develop where business opportunities were missed because there were so many people to consult.

He said: "I'm the chairman. I own the club. I've got the agreement of my board to make instant decisions with the manager.

"I don't have to go back to my board and ask them for their approval because they trust me to only ever act in the best interests of the club."

Mr Robinson, while praising fans for the voluntary work they do for Burton, also asked what value having the suggested supporters on boards would bring to clubs.

Mrs Hemsworth said that it would be wrong to draw a line between who is a board member and who is a fan, pointing out that ex-Rams chairman Peter Gadsby and former associate director Peter Marples were both examples of supporters running a club.

She said Derby County already did a good job of involving fans in decision making.

She said members of the supporters' club were often asked to meetings with Rams management so ideas could be run by them.

The club also has a fans' forum called Your 90 Minutes, where supporters are able to ask questions and air their views with president and chief executive Sam Rush.

Mrs Hemsworth said that the plan to have supporters on a club's board might not lead to the transparency Labour was after as some decisions would still have to be taken behind closed doors for commercial reasons.

She said: "It isn't something that's urgently needed at Derby because, particularly in recent years, they've really made an effort to consult.

"But I can certainly see a place for the change elsewhere in football."

Derby County has said it will consider what impact the Labour proposal could have on the club.

A JUDGE has branded a violent attack on a teenage boy in which he was stabbed twice as he walked home from a Derby school as "utterly cowardly".

Judge John Burgess spoke as he sentenced one of a group of youths involved in the incident back in February 2013.

The victim, who was 15 at the time of the incident, was attacked as he walked home.

Yesterday, a 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a rehabilitation order with a supervision requirement of two years, a tagged curfew and a restraining order forbidding him to contact the victim.

The defendant must also pay £200 compensation to the victim.

The defendant was one of six youths originally brought before the court in March to face charges of violent disorder, to which they all pleaded guilty, and the more serious charge of wounding with intent. Five youths were cleared of the latter offence, leaving the sixth defendant to face trial.

The jury failed to reach a verdict and a second trial was held at which he was found guilty.

Sentencing him at Derby Crown Court yesterday, Judge John Burgess said: "I am not sentencing you on the basis that you were the person that wounded the victim but wounded he was and circumstances in which he received those injuries are quite disgraceful. Someone pushed him and someone stabbed him.

"He tripped and fell and was kicked. He managed to get up and say stop.

"Eventually, one of the attackers said 'come on lets go' and you all ran away. It was utterly cowardly."

Mark Harries , in mitigation, said: "We are dealing with a 17-year-old who was 15 at the time of these offences. I am not one to use cliches too readily but to say that he went off the rails at the beginning of 2013 would be the best way of describing it.

"Both this young man and his family recognise the seriousness.

"He has not come here with any misapprehension. He and his father have been anxious and concerned about the determination.

"The maturity he has demonstrated to accept ultimately what he did wrong is a step in the right direction."

Judge Burgess said he also had to take into consideration an offence of actual bodily harm in which a man was beaten up on March 23, 2013.

Derby Crown Court was told previously that the attack happened three days after "a playground scuffle". Some of the boys were excluded from the school, which cannot be identified.

At a separate sentencing in June, the other five youths who pleaded guilty to violent disorder were given 12-month youth referral orders, with a four-month curfew and 20 days of a reparation activity.

They were ordered to pay a total of £1,050 in compensation to the victim.

A NEW row has erupted between a Derbyshire publican and pub company Enterprise Inns.

Claire Muldoon, who this year won a high-profile battle to keep the Pattenmakers Arms, is walking away from the Duffield pub, saying she can no longer put up with the firm.

Enterprise Inns has told the Derby Telegraph that Mrs Muldoon breached the terms of her agreement and that a new tenant will start running the Crown Street pub on Tuesday.

Mrs Muldoon said that the scrutiny her business faced was unfair, disrupted trading and ultimately prompted her decision to call time on an eight-year spell at the pub.

The decision to throw in the towel came just months after she fought off a 42% rent rise with the support of her customers, the GMB Union and Mid Derbyshire MP Pauline Latham, who raised the matter with Business Secretary Vince Cable in the House of Commons.

When Mrs Muldoon first started running the pub, it was grubby and unloved. This weekend she will leave behind an award-winning hostelry that was a favourite with members of the Campaign for Real Ale and made the organisation's Good Beer Guide, though she struggled to make a profit.

The latest dispute with Enterprise Inns centres on its sending Brulines technicians to check up on the Pattenmakers. Brulines is a system that allows pub companies to monitor how much beer is dispensed through pumps to make sure tied tenants only buy beer from them, according to their contract.

Tenants at tied pubs, like Mrs Muldoon, pay higher prices for beer than those running a free-of-tie or free house operation.

Mrs Muldoon told the Derby Telegraph that Enterprise Inns imposed a £2,500 fine on her for buying beer out-of-tie, an accusation she denies.

She said: "They accessed the cellar without permission while I was trying to serve customers and run a business. They refused to leave and I called the police.

"The second time they came I called my husband to deal with them because I was shaking.

"They accused me of tampering with the Brulines and selling out-of-tie but they had no proof or evidence. All they came up with was a picture on Twitter we used to promote a beer festival we were having."

The picture, said Mrs Muldoon, was a generic image and did not reflect the beers she was selling during her event. She claimed the £2,500 fine was taken from her surreptitiously through inflated prices on beer and other goods purchased through Enterprise Inns.

Mrs Muldoon said: "Despite all of the problems I've faced here, I've loved my time at the Pattenmakers and would like to thank all of my regulars for their support and custom over the years.

"I'm convinced that if this pub was a free house without the interference of a pub company then it could be a big success."

Describing her financial state as "dire", she has taken a part-time cleaning job.

An Enterprise spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed that, having successfully negotiated a new five-year agreement on terms which were largely unchanged for both Enterprise and our publican, Mrs Muldoon has subsequently and willfully breached the terms of her contract.

"Despite admitting such breaches, and compensating Enterprise for its losses, Mrs Muldoon has now expressed her wish to terminate the new agreement and we have complied with that request.

"We have always been committed to the future of The Pattenmakers Arms, and this remains the case.

"We are working with a successful local entrepreneur who will be reopening it on Tuesday, October 21, so that the local residents of Duffield can continue to enjoy this important community pub."

In February, a public meeting to discuss the fate of the pub was attended by about 100 people and a petition to keep Mrs Muldoon at the Pattenmakers attracted more than 1,000 signatures.

Dave Mountford, who represents tied pub tenants on behalf of the GMB Union, said: "I am totally unsurprised by the events at The Pattenmakers. To be accused of breaching your lease agreement by referring to information on Twitter just demonstrates how these pub companies operate.

"Certainly having four individuals from a third-party contractor inspect your premises during lunchtime in front of your customers, taking photographs and poking about behind your bar can only be seen to be hugely damaging.

"Faced with another five years of that sort of behaviour, I am in complete understanding as to why Claire should decide to call it a day, even on such a successful pub."

A GROUP of 20 students and four teachers from Littleover Community School have been on a life-changing 12-day trip to Child Africa School, Kabale, in Uganda. While they were there, the students kept a daily diary – here are some extracts.

THURSDAY: We set off on a 36- hour journey, after 12 months of fund-raising, preparation and rising excitement.

FRIDAY: Almost 24 hours after leaving Derby, our feet touch ground in Entebbe at 4am as we are greeted by Rosemary and two very kind Child Africa coach drivers and finally we reach Kabale.

SATURDAY: We are surrounded by beautiful lush vegetation and the views are stunning. The road to Kabale descends through a large stone quarry. Whole families work there. Groups of men, women with babies tied on their backs, teenagers, breaking stones, for 30p a day, whilst toddlers and babies sit and play in the dirt.

The whole school was dancing, clapping and singing as our group was led in by a brass band and the sight of so many children in red, green and yellow combined with the music was an incredibly emotional experience which left us speechless. We were assigned our partner children, usually three each.

After eating lunch, which was rice and a mixed bean stew, with the children, our next challenge was hiking up the hill between the current school and our vegetable patch, next to where the charity is building a new school.

Viewing the plans for the new school and touring the partly built boarding house helped to clarify how the vegetable patch will be used to provide food for the 2,000 pupils who will attend the school.

The next shock is that we have over an acre of fields, on the steep hillside, to clear and prepare in seven working days.

SUNDAY: We attend an Anglican Church service in Kabale and taken on a tour of the new church which is being built and look at the tower from the roof.

MONDAY: In school to start teaching. Then it was up the hill to work on the vegetable patch, carrying bricks.

TUESDAY: Each day a group of Littleover pupils and a teacher, accompanied by Paddy the home liaison officer, would take the same walk as some of the pupils take every day, to visit where they live. One group visited a family of five children who lived in a home in complete darkness. Only one of the five was able to attend school as Child Africa had no more space.

WEDNESDAY: Our acre of land needs a lot of attention to develop it into a healthy vegetable patch. For the next few days our usual routine consisted of a 5am wake up, breakfast and straight to the school for a day of work that usually ended at 4.30pm. While some of us would help build picnic benches for the school, others would hoe the land and some of us would help build the large shelter.

THURSDAY: We visited more homes, including a single mother whose husband died some years ago and she shares her two-roomed cement house with her three children. She rents the house for 60,000 shillings a month, about £13. She earns 1,500 shillings a day, 35p, by washing clothes and at a hotel.

FRIDAY: Several students visited the mosque in Kabale for Friday prayers.

SATURDAY: Everyone was very tired and slow to get going. It poured down after breakfast and all looked very grey. A late lunch at school and some down time back at the resort. For those students and staff who have the energy there was time for a swim.

SUNDAY: A rest day and later breakfast after six days of working. Lake Bunyonyi is a spectacular sight, and very beautiful and peaceful. As we canoed or travelled in the motorboat towards Itambira Island we were struck by the calming effect of our surroundings.

Once we were on the island, Alex, Child Africa's first child, who walked with us to the home he built for himself and his family. He had clearly worked very hard to build the home for his family and is now paying for his cousin's education as well as raising his own family and looking after his grandma.

MONDAY: With one day left on the fields and feeling refreshed, we were ready to be up early and not stop until all benches, cultivating, and building was complete. A full assembly enabled us to present the school with all the gifts that had been generously donated by parents, teachers, friends and families. These ranged from five laptops and a microscope to exercise books, pencils, crayons, bags and bags of clothes, sports equipment, badges and even some Derby Rams.

The five handmade benches were carried up the hill to the store, where the tools will be stored, which joiners continued to roof.

The first rain in Uganda that we had experienced whilst working, was enjoyed as the girls from Littleover continued to work in the rain and everyone else took cover.

TUESDAY: Child Africa Sports Day – we weren't used to the sack races, and found them both challenging and hilarious as we struggled to compete, but we had no excuse when it came to sprinting, and even one of our most athletic teachers, Mr Simmons, was shocked he came last.

The children and teachers were overwhelmed by our gifts, and it was at the final assembly we realised how grateful they were. Each class had prepared a dance and song for us, a sound system had been set up for us to enjoy the music. Seeing the children upset was heart-breaking. As we cried with each other, it was clear our friendship would be a lasting one.

The assembly continued with amazing performances from the school choir, beautiful costumes and voices. We completed the project and left the vegetable patch, the benches and store but what the Child Africa experience gave us is perhaps harder to identify and put into words.

WEDNESDAY: The start of the long drive to Entebbe but it gives us an opportunity to reflect on our experience. So much has happened in two weeks.

We have so many memories, so many photos, so many ideas for fund-raising for next year. It has been hard work physically and an emotional roller coaster. The pure joy and enthusiasm from the children led to so much laughter and the smiles are on every photo.

Yes, there were tears and we are sad to be leaving but we're feeling proud of what we have done and privileged to have shared our experience with the Child Africa children, teachers and staff.

THURSDAY: We fly from Entebbe at 3.50am, via Istanbul Airport to arrive at Manchester Airport and by 5.30pm we are back in Littleover.

Whatever our thoughts as we meet family and friends I believe all of us have returned with a different outlook on the world. For many of us it has been the best two weeks of our lives.

Littleover Community School will continue to help Child Africa for many years to come and we truly believe that we can make a difference. We will be back next year with more students.

SONIA Chamowskyj, 35, of St Norbert Drive, Ilkeston, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence between May 24 and June 25.

CHANCHAL Chanchal, 24, of Kitchener Avenue, Derby, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence on April 4.

LEANNE Clark, 24, of Coronation Road, Stanley, Ilkeston, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence between March 17 and April 18,

JORDAN Clarke, 32, of Peartree Crescent, Derby, was fined £400, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £40 victim surcharge for an offence on April 8.

DANIELLE Clohessy, 21, of Cowsley Road, Derby, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence on April 15.

LADISLAO Conka, 44, of Portland Street, Derby, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence on April 15.

VICKIE Cox, 35, of Chinley Road, Chaddesden, was fined £600, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £60 victim surcharge for an offence on June 11.

ZULEIKA Craig, 21, of Berkshire Street, Derby, was fined £400, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £40 victim surcharge for an offence on March 3.

ANNA Louise Dawson, 32, of Mackenzie Street, Derby, was fined £600, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £60 victim surcharge for an offence on June 17.

LEROY Donaldson, 55, of Joseph Street, Derby, was fined £400, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £40 victim surcharge for an offence between March 15 and April 16.

LISA Dring, 29, of Florence Avenue, Long Eaton, was fined £73, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence between March 1 and April 9.

KAYLEIGH Dry, 27, of Union Road, Ilkeston, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence on June 12.

PAULENE Dry, 47, of Anson Walk, Ilkeston, was fined £37, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence on April 1.

JADE Ellis, 28, of Petersham Road, Long Eaton, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence between March 24 and April 25.

GREG Erskine, 27, of Bembridge Drive, Alvaston, was fined £134, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence on June 16.

KELLY Fletcher, 27, of Alleyne Close, Swadlincote, was fined £55, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence between December 29 and January 30.

KATIE Flinders, 24, of Kenilworth Drive, Ilkeston, was fined £200, ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 victim surcharge for an offence between March 8 and April 9.

HERE'S a pub where you peruse the blackboard menu, take a seat and the staff bring the beer to you.

There's no bar, as such, at the Chip & Pin, the nicely-named new micropub that is up and running in the former HSBC Bank in High Street, Melbourne.

While mentioning the naming, let's add that the small consortium of local folk behind the Chip & Pin have called their business the High Street Beer Company. Get it?

Clever thought like that has gone into all aspects of this splendid venture, in a building which the bank left in 2010. It has since been owned by local property developer John Blunt, who wanted the building to continue to serve the community in some way. He liked what he heard when the consortium revealed their plans.

The Chip & Pin is fronted by beer enthusiasts David and Elaine Carpenter, while James Cripps, who made such a fine job of running the Alma in Melbourne for a few years, is closely involved.

They unashamedly admit that they have borrowed ideas from other local micropubs, notably the Cask & Pottle at Tutbury.

As with that pub, the beer is kept in a temperature-controlled room and served direct from the casks.

The decor is simple but tasteful, with fine features like the original heavy bank doors retained. As far as possible, work has been done by local tradesmen.

Customers sit on benches on either side of the main room.

A side room, formerly the bank manager's office, features a splendid table and chairs and is available for meetings, with a serving hatch through to the Cask Room, where the beer is kept.

As with some other micropubs, the proprietors have had to reassure neighbours that micropubs are not like some other pubs and there will not be a lot of noise associated with them. It's a battle they will surely win over time.

Many local breweries will be featured at the Chip & Pin but the early evidence is that beers will also come from far and wide.

More than anything else, the pub brings a choice not really seen in Melbourne for a long time.

There are one or two nice pubs in the town and, frankly, one or two that are not very nice at all. None have offered a particularly adventurous choice of beers.

"That is what we wanted to do, more than anything," says David Carpenter.

"Locally, there are breweries like Dancing Duck and Shiny Brewing and you can drink their beers in Derby – so why shouldn't we be able to drink them in Melbourne?

"We didn't think there was a good range of beers in the town."

The Chip & Pin has been open a couple of weeks now and they have been feeling their way, finding their customer-base.

An invitation-only opening night was packed out, a Sunday lunchtime launch day also busy. Bringing the beer to the tables when the place is full is a bit tricky.

"On the opening night, we tried to find the ceiling," says Dave.

"We had about 60 people in and, to be honest, that was difficult.

"Our market, we don't know yet for sure. We think it will be people popping in on the way home from work, people taking the dog for a walk – and we'll see who else."

I like the fact that beer is served to the line in over-sized glasses at the Chip & Pin (it has to mean less spillage and, therefore, cleaner floors and tables). I like that you can buy it in thirds if you wish.

The Chip & Pin is open 4.30-9.30pm Tuesday and Wednesday, until 10.30 on Thursday; from noon-10.30 on Friday and Saturday and from noon-3pm on Sunday.

Drinking up time, of necessity for the licence, is quick and strict but no-one should mind that. You know where you stand.

Is it another winner? It surely is.