Your local pubs

[Bald Rick]

One of mine too - nicely tucked away from the madness of Micklegate. A bit further up that lane towards South Bank is another “hidden gem” - The Golden Ball.

I always struggled with the Ackhorne. A bit beardy for me (this was some time ago when people under 45 didn’t have beards)

 

[Jimini]

My local

'The pub' in Braintree is crap. I only went in there because it was the only pub showing the West Ham match. And the last time I went in there to watch a match West Ham lost.

Don't go there tonight then

 

[Shimbleshanks]

'The pub' in Braintree is crap. I only went in there because it was the only pub showing the West Ham match. And the last time I went in there to watch a match West Ham lost.

There's a pub called The Pub in Valletta, Malta. Behind the government house.
It's main claim to fame is that it's where the actor Oliver Reed was last seen alive.
I may even pop in there when I'm over there next week.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Currently live just on the edge of central Bristol so have all the great pubs in the city centre (or which my favourites are probably one of The Apple which is a boat, The Grypon which is a great metal pub or The Bag Of Nails which is essentially a cat pub). In addition there's quite a few good places around the corner from me on the way into the city centre too (you could easily do a pub crawl and not even make it into town despite it only being ten mins away). Moving soon, but will still be close to town and will be near Gloucester Road so some great places nearby there too!

 

[dangie]

Not a pub I frequent very often as it is 150 miles from where I live.
The Golden Rule in Ambleside.

 

[Benters]

The Spittal Brook, Stafford. Tucked behind the A34 Queensville Bridge and nestling against the Up Fast of the WCML after it exits the Queensville Curve. A choice of four regular real ales (Timothy Taylor's Landlord, Timothy Taylor's Boltmaker, St.Austell Tribute, and Butty Bach) plus two guest real ales. Nice friendly staff, and the food's not bad, either. I meet with my friends in there most weeks.
Behind the alcove in the lounge where our group sits is a mural on the wall derived from an old Ordnance Survey map of Stafford depicting the town in the early 1900s and emblazoned with a few interesting facts. The map is obviously Pre-Grouping as the WCML is depicted as 'London & North Western Railway', and what became English Electric is shown as 'Siemens Works'.
The beer garden is quite amenable in the summer months despite the noise of passing trains. On one occasion LSLs green 37s roared past at full tilt, double heading a blood & custard rake of Mk1s.

 

[alex397]

I realise I hadn’t answered the question correctly in my first post.

I’m quite lucky where I am.

We have two Wetherspoons, a Greene King and a Nicholson’s. And plenty of Shepherd Neame pubs. As chains go, I really like Shepherd Neame. It seems some are directly owned/managed by the brewery, but others are independent pubs tied to Shep. It’s not always quite clear.

Quite a few proper ‘old school’ independent pubs left, most of which have a great atmosphere and still have that traditional feel. There are 2 or 3 independent ones which are best avoided though - often with smashed windows, and have featured in newspaper reports for the wrong reasons - basically popular with the stereotypical British lager lout.

Some of the independents have turned into gastropubs, which to me arn’t proper pubs no matter how excellent the food is.

There’s also a great micro pub, but the owner seems to think he’s funnier than he is and bit condescending. Not particularly unusual in the real ale scene! It’s still an excellent pub though.

 

[E27007]

The Draughtsman, Platform 3, the Little Plough, The Leopard, all in Doncaster.

 

[dangie]

The Spittal Brook, Stafford….

My favourite in Stafford is the Sun Inn. A Titanic Brewery pub. Four of us go once a month. Group discount from Rugeley Trent Valley to Stafford only £12.00 return. Bargain. I rotate my beers. Plum Porter, Steerage, Stout, Captain Smiths. Not necessarily in that order and not necessarily all on the same day.

 

[Bald Rick]

My favourite in Stafford is the Sun Inn. A Titanic Brewery pub. Four of us go once a month. Group discount from Rugeley Trent Valley to Stafford only £12.00 return. Bargain. I rotate my beers. Plum Porter, Steerage, Stout, Captain Smiths. Not necessarily in that order and not necessarily all on the same day.

Do Titanic still do that “Titanic Wreckage” beer? Lethal stuff.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Ellesmere Port town centre has the dizzy total of one pub. It used to be a Wetherspoons but they sold it to Amber Inns, presumably as they couldn't make it pay.

 

[Benters]

My favourite in Stafford is the Sun Inn. A Titanic Brewery pub. Four of us go once a month. Group discount from Rugeley Trent Valley to Stafford only £12.00 return. Bargain. I rotate my beers. Plum Porter, Steerage, Stout, Captain Smiths. Not necessarily in that order and not necessarily all on the same day.

The Sun Inn is one of my favourite haunts in Stafford. I like the selection of Titanic Brewery real ales, plus their selection of other brews such as Everard's Tiger.
Myself and some ex-colleagues used to do the Pub Quiz there once a month and we got quite good at it, always ending fairly high up in the placings. We won it a couple of years ago, first prize being several bottles of Plum Porter split between us. Sadly our Pub Quiz activity has tailed off, due to various team members crying off with excuses (ie choir practice), but I still enjoy the occasional visit.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Apr 2023 ==

Do Titanic still do that “Titanic Wreckage” beer? Lethal stuff.

They most certainly do. Prefer Plum Porter myself.

 

[telstarbox]

Quite a few proper ‘old school’ independent pubs left, most of which have a great atmosphere and still have that traditional feel. There are 2 or 3 independent ones which are best avoided though - often with smashed windows, and have featured in newspaper reports for the wrong reasons - basically popular with the stereotypical British lager lout.

Some of the independents have turned into gastropubs, which to me arn’t proper pubs no matter how excellent the food is.

There’s also a great micro pub, but the owner seems to think he’s funnier than he is and bit condescending. Not particularly unusual in the real ale scene! It’s still an excellent pub though.

Agreed - while good beer is important the 'soft product' of a pub makes a difference to how welcoming it feels!

 

[D6130]

My local - when back in the UK - is West Yorkshire's first community co-operative pub (since March 2014). My wife and I are both shareholders and we are very proud to have helped to save it for the nation. It has been a pub - or ale house of some description - since 1702, but has been much modified since then, however the three separate rooms all have a slightly different feel. The main room on entering from the street has the bar at the far end and a real fire on the right hand side. The room to the left has rotating exhibitions from local artists and photographers and is often used for live music, but recorded music is a definite no-no. The right hand room has a dartboard and is decorated with UK and European breweryana....some of which has been brought back by regulars. We are very lucky to have an extremely friendly and efficient manageress and friendly and knowledgeable staff, several of whom are also shareholders. There are six wickets on the bar - one of which dispenses the regular house beer, Pictish Brewer's Gold from Rochdale - and the other five dispense five rotating guest beers of different categories: Blonde Ale, Pale Ale, Traditional English Bitter, Strong Ale (often an IPA) and Dark Ale (Mild, Stout or Porter). We don't sell any drinks produced by the major national or international conglomerates and try to support local suppliers (within a 30 miles radius) as far as possible. Traditional ciders, a craft lager and a wide range of bottled and canned British and Continental beers are available....along with quality pork pies, pasties and samosas. There is a faboulous terraced - and partially covered and heated - beer garden, from which, in Winter, you can watch passing trains on the Calder Valley line....but in Summer, when the leaves are on the trees, you can only hear them! There is a wonderfully friendly and inclusive atmosphere and the regulars will happily chat with visitors who wish to do so. Prices are very reasonable for the area, ranging from £3.40 to £4.50 a pint - depending on strength - at the time of my last visit about five weeks ago.

One of mine too - nicely tucked away from the madness of Micklegate. A bit further up that lane towards South Bank is another “hidden gem” - The Golden Ball.

I like the Golden Ball too (another community co-operative pub) - along with the nearby Swan and Slip Inn, which are both under the same management as each other. However, my favourite pub in York - and possibly second favourite in the UK - is the Blue Bell in Fossgate, a tiny, friendly, timeless gem of a pub which can only seat about ten people in the front bar and twelve in the back room. It was last refurbished over a hundred years ago and virtually the only changes since then are the prices and the substitution of the original gas lighting for electric. Due to its intimate proportions, groups are not permitted and on York race days there's often a 'private party' sign on the door....but if you visit in ones or twos and are sensible and not drunk, you'll usually be allowed in to sample the good selection of six or seven real ales.

Bingo! And I’m sat in it as I type, with a very nice pint of Schofferhoffer.

(There’s also a branch down the road in Hebden Bridge)

I quite often find myself in there too....although 'The Pub' in Hebden Bridge has recently been sold to one of the barmaids and has now been renamed 'The Hebden'.

 

[johnnychips]

Sheffield Tap, which many of you know; but also The Queen’s Head which is the oldest building in Sheffield and does good food.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Good to see all these references to the Titanic Brewery pubs, which seem to have a odd geographical distribution, some near their HQ in Burslem, and others decidedly not. They do run probably my favourite pub in the nearest larger city to where I live, the Royal Blenheim in Oxford, even if they no longer offer the wonderful prize (offcuts of unsold cheeses, often of spectularly good varieties, from many countries, from the cheesemongers in the covered market nearby) at their pub quiz that they used to.

 

[cb a1]

They do run probably my favourite pub in the nearest larger city to where I live, the Royal Blenheim in Oxford, even if they no longer offer the wonderful prize (offcuts of unsold cheeses, often of spectularly good varieties, from many countries, from the cheesemongers in the covered market nearby) at their pub quiz that they used to.

Wow, that is probably the best pub quiz prize that I've ever heard of!

 

[ChrisC]

Living in a village we are very lucky to still have the one village pub in the centre of the village. Although it’s a fairly small village, the fact that it is not completely isolated and less than 10 miles from the centre of Nottingham in an area popular with walkers has kept it open. However, in recent years the pub has been used far more by people visiting from outside the area than it has by locals. I only live a few minutes walk away and rarely go there. It’s busy at weekends and at lunch times during the week if the weather is good and lots of people are out walking, but can be almost empty on midweek evenings as most local people like me no longer use it.

It used to be very much a village pub at the centre of the community but the current family who have run it for the last 10 years don’t seem to understand village life. They came from a pub on a large city council estate and from the beginning didn’t adapt to village activities. People in the village do not want a noisy pub with karaoke, various fancy dress occasions, theme nights, competitions etc. They want somewhere to go for a quiet drink and a chat and maybe more traditional rural events which have happened in the village for years. The pub now seems to be run more as an entertainment venue and a social club for the family who run it, their staff and friends. Local people from the village do not always feel welcome.

 

[DustyBin]

It's a pretty dire selection round where I live. There's probably about twenty pubs within reasonable walking distance of where I live but very few of them are any good - most of them are seriously dodgy or are a bit pretentious (and overpriced).

Newcastle city centre (which isn't quite in walking distance but there are decent evening buses to get me home as well as night buses on Fridays and Saturdays) is a bit better, in terms of quantity at least, but I wouldn't really choose to drink there either. Compared with most other large cities I've visited, there seem to be noticeably fewer traditional pubs and more bars - which tend to have a pretty poor range of beers, higher prices, and not the sort of atmosphere I'm after.

Unsurprisingly I tend to do most of my drinking when out and about elsewhere in the country!

There’s a surprising lack of traditional pubs in Newcastle City Centre. There’s no shortage of places to get a drink(!) but very few “proper” pubs.

The Crown Posada is an obvious notable exception, and whilst not a true traditional pub, Lady Greys has an excellent selection of cask and craft ales, as well as quality lagers and ciders.

We have a decent local. It’s probably an “acquired taste” but it’s actually ok once you’ve been in a few times!

My favourite pub in York is the Ackhorne. It’s on the ‘other’ side of the river so doesn’t appear to get as busy as those within the City Walls.

The Ackhorne (pronounced acorn obviously!) is a good pub. Another hidden gem is the Golden Ball.

Edit: I see @Big Tim and others beat me to it… I should have carried on reading!

 

[D6130]

Living in a village we are very lucky to still have the one village pub in the centre of the village. Although it’s a fairly small village, the fact that it is not completely isolated and less than 10 miles from the centre of Nottingham in an area popular with walkers has kept it open. However, in recent years the pub has been used far more by people visiting from outside the area than it has by locals. I only live a few minutes walk away and rarely go there. It’s busy at weekends and at lunch times during the week if the weather is good and lots of people are out walking, but can be almost empty on midweek evenings as most local people like me no longer use it.

It used to be very much a village pub at the centre of the community but the current family who have run it for the last 10 years don’t seem to understand village life. They came from a pub on a large city council estate and from the beginning didn’t adapt to village activities. People in the village do not want a noisy pub with karaoke, various fancy dress occasions, theme nights, competitions etc. They want somewhere to go for a quiet drink and a chat and maybe more traditional rural events which have happened in the village for years. The pub now seems to be run more as an entertainment venue and a social club for the family who run it, their staff and friends. Local people from the village do not always feel welcome.

That's a great pity. Something very similar has happened to a once fine rural pub in a gloriously panoramic location 15-20 minutes walk up the hill from our English house. For eighteen years it was run by a family (co-incidentally also from Nottingham) who understood the basics of a good village pub and provided something for everyone. Good beer - seven different handpumps in Summer and four in Winter -, good food - with all diets and tastes catered for - and excellent value B & B accommodation. The landlord - an ex-policeman - ran a tight, but relaxed, ship....although his incredibly corny sense of humour was not to everyone's taste. There were art exhibitions, organic produce sales, themed food nights - including excellent home-made curries (the chef had lived in India for several years)....plus a very good quiz with no prizes - hence no bickering over half-a-point when the scores were totted-up! A year into lockdown, they decided that they needed a break and moved back to Nottingham, where their youngest daughter had just started university. The new tenants were younger townies and brought with them karaoke, big screen sports and microwaved food. Not surprisingly, the locals have decamped en masse to the much better pub in the next village a couple of miles away. Incidentally, the previoius tenants are now running the Navigation - an excellent Good Beer Guide-listed pub in the centre of Nottingham and five minutes walk along the canal from the station, which I can highly recommend.