How the Crispin got me (re)started

Sisters Lydia (left) and Hayley Rowlinson took on The Crispin three years ago.

When I retired from the Derby Telegraph in October 2025, I knew I’d miss writing the regular beer and pubs column that I’d done for 21 years. It was a part of me. Vaguely, I thought I might relaunch it as a blog, free of time constraints, free of the need to write a certain amount of words.

It was a lunch at The Crispin in Great Longstone, in the Peak District, a week after I finished which firmed up the idea in my head. The food, the drink, the service, the ambience, was so good. I sat there thinking, if I still wrote a beer column, this one would be easy. I could dash it off right now.

I’ve made two more visits to The Crispin since, the first to confirm that the previous one wasn’t a fluke, then the second was unplanned. I was with friends in a party of five, walking on New Year’s Eve morning, but the venue they’d fancied for lunch wasn’t open. The Crispin was five minutes away and a superb lunch followed.

So here we are and here is The Crispin’s story in a nutshell. It wasn’t as if I wasn’t previously aware of the pub. Nearby Longstone Edge is my favourite view in Derbyshire, for longstanding family and personal reasons as much as for the view itself, while Monsal Dale is also just up the road and, in my cricketing days, a visit to Great Longstone CC was always a favourite. I’d popped in the pub after walks and, one day with the family, in two cars, the suspension on mine had collapsed in the car park, rather like a Laurel and Hardy car falling to bits upon stopping. That required a wait for the RAC.

The Crispin at Great Longstone has a good-sized car park and mixes tradition with modern twists ideally.

I had viewed The Crispin as a very traditional village pub, all horse brasses and plush carpets, reliable rather than spectacular. But – and honestly, with no disrespect to the previous licensees – when I made that visit in October, after a gap of several years, it was evident that there was a greater vibrancy about the place, new ideas in place, perhaps. It remains wonderfully traditional, not least with the vast collection of jugs hanging from the ceiling. But the best traditional pubs have found a way to modernise without losing the best bits of “traditional”. Sometimes you can’t even put your finger on it; you would more likely spot the changes as a local, popping in regularly, as I have with another pub in the same mould which is one of my locals, the Harrington Arms at Thulston.

I had a brief, enlightening chat (unannounced at the time in terms of this writing) with one of the two current licensees, Hayley Rowlinson, who runs the pub with her sister, Lydia. They had taken over from their mother and father, Paul and Joanne Rowlinson, in 2022. My first thought, which I put to Hayley, was that the owners, Robinsons, the Stockport-based brewing company, had made a sensible decision, in terms of continuity, in installing the daughters upon their parents’ retirement.  But she told me it had been far from a shoo-in. They had had to put in their business plan and compete with others who fancied the pub. They won, happily.

The classic Old Tom Ale is sometimes available on draught – it’s a wonderful beer.

The other great delight for me on that visit was that they had Robinson’s Old Tom on handpump. I couldn’t remember seeing it on draught before. It is, far and away, the star of Robinson’s output, some of which, to be honest, is quite bland. Old Tom is a magnificent, warming, classic old ale, although not one for a session, at 8.5%. It’s more normally found in bottles but this was an anniversary and Hayley even gave me a badge commemorating “Old Tom Day.”

My two subsequent visits have been just as enjoyable with the result that, while there are a number of very fine hostelries in the area – the Packhorse at Little Longstone is within a mile and has been a long-time favourite too – The Crispin is sitting top of my list at the moment. Social media indicates that the pub plays a big role in its community, with parties, quizzes and the like, while the large car park is ideal for classic car meets, Morris dancers dropping in etc when the weather is better.

The Crispin is certainly on my list of Peak District gems. It’s closed only on Mondays and open from midday all the other days.