Vale of Belvoir village life
Granby
A village of a brewery-tap pub, medieval church, community hall and footpaths across Vale farmland.
- Best for
- Real ale, medieval church details and Vale walks
- Give it
- A village visit or one of the roughly seven-mile walks
- Don't miss
- The carved medieval bench ends at All Saints' Church
The Fox verdict
A small village with strong local anchors
Granby brings together its last pub, a community shop, a Grade I church and paths into the Vale of Belvoir.
The Marquis of Granby is both a traditional pub and Brewster's brewery tap, while its former kitchen now houses Dragon Street Stores and Coffee Shop. Add All Saints' medieval details, the Sutton Green pump and two substantial walks for a visit rooted in the village and its surrounding farmland.
Where to go
Places in Granby
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesAll Saints' Church
A Grade I church with 12th-century fragments, a heavily moulded 13th-century doorway and bench-end carvings of mermaids, angels and grotesque animals.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Granby
Granby Village Hall
The former village school, dating to 1871, is now the Village Hall and hosts Welcome Wednesdays and the annual produce show.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Granby
- Access
- Welcome Wednesdays offers light bites, cake, tea and coffee on Wednesdays.
Granby Playground and Outdoor Gym
A playground with a climbing frame and swings, alongside an outdoor gym.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Granby
Food & drink
2 placesMarquis of Granby
Granby's last pub is Brewster's brewery tap, with York stone floors, yew bar tops, an open coal fire, outdoor seating and regularly changing guest beers.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Dragon Street
- Access
- No cooked food is prepared on site; a pizza van visits on Thursdays.
Dragon Street Stores and Coffee Shop
A small grocery store and coffee shop serving everyday essentials and coffee from Nottingham's 200 Degrees roasters.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Dragon Street
Walks & outdoors
2 placesGranby and the Vale of Belvoir Walk
A Vale of Belvoir Ramblers route out of Granby through rolling farmland with long views towards Belvoir Castle.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 3 hours
- Locality
- out of Granby
Long Clawson Walk
A roughly seven-mile Vale of Belvoir Ramblers walk towards Long Clawson, connecting into the wider Vale walking network.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 3 hours
- Locality
- towards Long Clawson
History & heritage
1 placeSutton Green Village Pump
A 19th-century cast-iron village pump, enclosed by a wooden fence, still standing on Sutton Green.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- Sutton Green
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Three ways to explore Granby
Signature outings
The Last Pub
The Marquis of Granby combines Brewster's regular ales with changing guest beers in a traditional two-roomed pub.
Medieval All Saints
All Saints' preserves a 13th-century doorway and carved bench ends showing mermaids, angels and grotesque animals.
The Village Pump
The 19th-century cast-iron village pump still stands within its wooden fence on Sutton Green.
The village story
Granby Village Guide
A source-locked story of Granby's last pub, community life, Vale walks, church history and village connections.
The Last Pub and Its Brewery
The Marquis of Granby has no kitchen, and hasn't needed one for years; on Thursdays a pizza van pulls into the car park and everyone eats outside instead. The building dates to 1760 or earlier, has York stone floors, yew bar tops, an open coal fire and an outdoor toilet, and it's now the only pub left in a village that once had two — the other, the Boot & Shoe, closed in 2015.
It is the brewery tap for Brewster's, based in Grantham and founded by Sara Barton, who runs the pub with her husband, Sean McArdle; Adam Purcell manages day to day. The regulars on the bar are Brewster's Marquis, a 3.8% session bitter, and Hophead, a 3.6% blond ale, plus four rotating guest beers from smaller breweries. The Great Food Club called it "an honest, down to earth and welcoming Vale of Belvoir boozer." It's dog friendly, and the car park doubles as a sun trap in good weather.
A Pub at the Heart of Granby
In 2022 the pub's disused kitchen became the Dragon Street Stores and Coffee Shop, paid for with a Pub is The Hub grant, serving coffee from Nottingham's 200 Degrees roasters and groceries — the nearest supermarket is a 9-mile round trip. Granby covers most of what a visitor might want without leaving Dragon Street, named for a dragon carved into the old Methodist chapel nearby.
A regional survey found only seven of 25 nearby villages still had an open pub; Granby kept its last one and won the Great Food Club's Classic Pub of the Year in 2020/21 and local CAMRA's Pub of the Year in 2022.
Vale Walks and Sutton Green
Walks start from the door. The Vale of Belvoir Ramblers' route out of the village runs about 7.5 miles; a second, to Long Clawson, is closer to seven. Footpaths cross to Sutton-cum-Granby and on to Barkestone in Leicestershire, through farmland with long views to Belvoir Castle. The black-and-white cows in those fields supply the Colston Bassett and Long Clawson dairies, which make Stilton.
A cast-iron village pump from the 19th century still stands on Sutton Green; the Notts Villages blog once noted the roads here "twist round in circles or suddenly stop altogether."
Church Carvings and the Marquis Name
All Saints' Church, Grade I listed, has fragments from the 12th century and a heavily moulded 13th-century doorway now tucked inside a 1958 porch. The bench ends, carved around 1440, show mermaids, angels and grotesque animals. A Roman altar stone turned up in the churchyard in 1812; nothing else has since.
The pub's name is one of the most common in the country, after John Manners, Marquess of Granby, who commanded cavalry at the Battle of Warburg in 1760 and, outnumbered three to one, charged so fast he lost his wig and hat — a moment the Royal Horse Guards still credit as the origin of saluting bare-headed — before setting up his wounded NCOs as landlords. Granby's own Marquis claims to be the original bearer of his name.
Arriving and Joining Village Life
Aslockton, two miles from Bingham on the Nottingham–Skegness line, is the nearest station; the A52 runs to the south and buses connect to Nottingham and Melton Mowbray.
On Wednesdays the village hall — a former school built in 1871 — puts out light bites, cake, tea and coffee for Welcome Wednesdays, and nobody seems in any hurry to leave.
Stay around Nottinghamshire
Make a longer stay of it
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Marquis of Granby — granbycumsutton.org operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Dragon Street Stores and Coffee Shop — granbycumsutton.org other published source
- All Saints' Church — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Granby and the Vale of Belvoir Walk — vbramblers.org other published source
- Long Clawson Walk — vbramblers.org other published source
- Sutton Green Village Pump — granbycumsutton.org operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Granby Village Hall — granbycumsutton.org operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Granby Playground and Outdoor Gym — granbycumsutton.org operator, sector body or destination organisation