Malt Shovel, Spondon

The Malt Shovel is a Grade II listed public house at Potter Street, Spondon, Derby. The pub is known for its unmodernised period interiors and internal design.DescriptionThe pub has its own individual character, with a number of rooms from a large bar to small "snugs". The decoration is suggestive of times gone by; in fact the pub is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. This means that CAMRA has identified this pub as being in the "first division" with regard to the historic quality of its interior design. This is one of fewer than 300 pubs chosen for their impressive, largely intact, historical interiors from the estimated 50,000 pubs that exist in the United Kingdom.The room that attracts most attention is labelled "B". Snug "B" contains a 1920s hearth and a style of seating that is now found in only a small number of such "snugs" in England. The only other snug with high backed seats in Derbyshire is at the Holly Bush pub in Makeney. The name "B" is a peculiarity of local licensing which previously made landlords clearly indicate which rooms were licensed for the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Each licensed room, including the cellar, was given an identifying letter. Like other features of the pub the reason for it being created has now disappeared, but the sign "B" remains. The requirement to label the room "B" is long forgotten, but previous landlords refused to have it changed. In the early 1990s, the landlords feared that the brewery that owned the building were planning to sell the pub. This may have resulted in the interior being refurbished and as a result they bought the pub to prevent this happening. In the confusion, the landlords ended up running two pubs in Spondon, although they did find time to install a kitchen and introduce pub-food at the Malt Shovel.