Wheatsheaf Inn, Raby (Thatch)

Built 1611 of timber-frame with brick infill panels on stone base and with a thatched roof. It is well worth a visit to see the old snug created by settles around a large table situated in front of a large brick fireplace. From the front door there is a passage created by the settles of the snug and on the other side there is an old piece of furniture displaying old bottles. The snug has an entrance gap between an otherwise continuous settle at four different angles. One of the settles has a row of five glazed panels between the top and the ceiling. Another very old settle has a highish back with fielded panelling. One near the window has a lower back. There is a short section between the gap and the fireplace. There are no other fittings of any great age.

There are only a handful of similar rooms or snugs formed of two or more high backed settles left in the whole of the UK. They can be found at the following Heritage Pubs – the Holly Bush, Makeney, Derbyshire; Malt Shovel, Spondon, Derbyshire; Green Dragon, Flaunden, Hertfordshire; Red Lion, Kenninghall, Norfolk; North Star, Steventon, Oxfordshire; Kings Head, Laxfield, Suffolk; Bell & Cross, Holy Cross, Clent, Worcestershire; Old White Beare, Norwood Green, West Yorkshire; Red Lion, Llansannan, North West Wales;; Crown, Snape, Suffolk;; Galway Arms, East Retford, Nottinghamshire;; and Anchor, High Offley, Staffordshire .

The main bar has a red tiled floor, a bar counter of large stones with a wooden section on the top which could date from the 1960s as does the bar back with its Formica shelves. A doorway leads to the room on the right also with a red tiled floor, the fixed seating looks post-war, it has a small brick bar and modern stone fireplace with a coal burner. On the far left a door leads to a small room with a range fireplace indicating it has been brought into use as it another small room at the rear with a flagstone floor. An old cattle barn has been converted into the Cowshed Restaurant.