Cross Keys - Nottingham

You'll find this place down one of those narrow Nottingham lanes that tourists miss entirely, which is exactly how the regulars like it. The Cross Keys manages that tricky balance of being a proper local while serving food that actually deserves the journey into the city centre. The interior feels authentically lived-in rather than designed – dark wood, low ceilings, and the kind of worn-in charm that takes decades to develop properly. You're not coming here for Instagram shots, you're coming because the kitchen knows what it's doing and the pints are spot on. It's the sort of place where office workers grab lunch alongside retired blokes reading the paper, and somehow it all works perfectly together.