Latest reviews from Stafford
| 76 /100 VICTORIA SQUARE “Visited August 2023.“ |
| 70 /100 10 MARKET STREET “Visited August 2023.“ |
| 72 /100 Sun Inn (Titanic) (Bar) 7 LICHFIELD ROAD “Visited August 2023 with beery friends.
Nice old fashion style city pub.
Lots of seatings.
Nice selection of beers, half of them from Titanic..
Do traditionel pub food...“ |
| 76 /100 VICTORIA SQUARE “Visited August 2023 with beery friends.
Another great cosy pub, seems to be a locals pub, but still very friendly to strangers..
Nice selection of beers..
Super friendly service, nice amount of seatings..
Think they do food, though we didn't get any..“ |
| 70 /100 10 MARKET STREET “Visited August 2023 with beery friends..
Cosy old style pub, place in city center, beginning of the pedestrians street .
Friendly service, spacy area with a hood amount of seatings..
“ |
| 68 /100 75 EASTGATE STREET “Visited August 2023.“ |
| 40 /100 Picture House (JDW) (Bar) BRIDGE STREET “Visited August 2023.“ |
| 72 /100 75 EASTGATE STREET “Visited August 2023 with beery friends.
Larger, very cosy pub.
Good selection of beers, served in good condition..
Friendly staff, lots of seatings..
Smoking area in the back, lots of flowers in hanging baskets outside..“ |
| 62 /100 Picture House (JDW) (Bar) BRIDGE STREET “Visited August 2023 with beery friends.
Short walk from train station..
Used to be an old cinema place, great deco, they kept the old screen, giving you the feeling you still in the cinema..
Nice spacy bar, lots of seatings..“ |
| 68 /100 Picture House (JDW) (Bar) BRIDGE STREET “Visited on a Monday evening in April 2023. It has to be said, this is rather a stunning Wetherspoons. It's an old independent cinema, and Wetherspoons have managed to retain many of the original features. After admiring the stucco frontage (with the pub name nicely shown in period font) you enter via the old ticket office, which retains many of the original features. Fortunately you don't have to buy a ticket to proceed into the main part of the pub which is a tiered affair with the tiers covering the old cinema seating rows. Some of the old cinema seats had been retained at a table on the top tier, which was a nice touch. It's got the original and rather stunning gold-embossed barrel-vaulted ceiling, old movie posters on the walls, and a "walk of fame" of film stars who visited the cinema. There's even still a cinema screen above the bar - and apparently they do still have special film nights. All in all then, 'Spoons have done a great job of retaining the look and feel of what must have been a lovely old cinema. And added to this, there's a nice beer garden overlooking the river, and the staff are friendly and efficient. Food is obviously the usual 'Spoons fare - ie cheap and cheerful pub grub. Sadly it was a bit lacking on the cask beer front on my visit - no local ales, just the ones from their standard national list so no new ticks for me there. Fortunately their new craft can selection came to the rescue (although they only had a few of those). Overall then, it's a stunning pub, make sure you go in for a look around whilst you're in Stafford. And then go somewhere else for a better beer selection.“ |
| 80 /100 VICTORIA SQUARE “The other Black Country ales pub in Stafford. Cosy, friendly establishment with a vast ale range (thirteen pumps I think), quite an eclectic selection on my visit. Would definitely recommend and it's very handy for the train station.“ |
| 70 /100 75 EASTGATE STREET “Nice pub with the standard Black Country ales and a few guests. If you are in Stafford do pop in.“ |
| 56 /100 10 MARKET STREET “Fairly gloomy boozer with a few rooms, totally empty on my visit and little in the way of atmosphere. Near enough the full range of Joules beers on, my pint was more than reasonable. A pub that didn't really grab me and I would be reluctant to return for another visit.“ |
| 78 /100 Ship Aground (Bar) 3-4 LICHIFLED STREET “Cutey, cool shop conversion into a micro bar. Not a lot of space, but enough seating for the dedicated. Two pumps on for cask ales, my pints of a peanut stout were very unusual but enjoyable nonetheless.The young girl behind the bar (Ruby I believe), played The Smiths and P.J Harvey for my benefit, what's not to like!“ |
| 72 /100 Sun Inn (Titanic) (Bar) 7 LICHFIELD ROAD “Spacious pub, sporting around ten hand pulls. Most were Titanic obviously, three or four guest ales on as well. I had a pint of Black Ice, good condition and certainly tasty. The barman couldn't get the card machine working at first but we got there eventually. Solid boozer just off the main drag and worth a visit.“ |
| 72 /100 Ship Aground (Bar) 3-4 LICHIFLED STREET “A new craft beer bar, record store and live music venue that has been some time in arriving. Been rumoured in more than one location since before Covid – but finally opened back in August. Has the wait been worth it – definitely maybe !
Location is easy to deal with – it’s a couple of doors down from the Sun Inn (Titanic) – though it is easy to walk straight past.
Made a bad start here. On my first visit I tried paying with a £5 note, only to be told they were card payment only. Since I only had cash with me, I had to walk out ! Since then I’ve slowly become a regular, due to the beer quality.
The place consists mainly of two adjacent rooms (former shop units) but only one has a door onto the street. Be careful with the door when you enter- make sure you shut it properly. The bar is straight ahead at the end of this room. In front of it are a few café style tables and chairs, The whole thing is decorated in an austere dark green and white with a few poster prints on the walls. The other room is similar. It seems larger but that’s because there’s no bar.
The beer offering is two cask beers, 8 keg taps and two ciders. The cask beers should always include a dark one, and the keg taps two dark ones. Also, a lager, a sour and an IPA. Beer quality is usually pretty good. There are beer menus available at each table, but often these are not up to date. Instead look on the wall to the right by the entrance.
There is a selection of cans and bottles on some shelves by the doorway between the tow rooms. I’ve not investigated them yet as I would have to bend down to reach most of them ! Anyway, their website seems to indicate there is some quite interesting Scandinavian stuff. Tap takeovers are held occasionally.
There is regular live music including open mic. I’m told there is a corner with vinyl records you can browse through, but I’ve never noticed it.
Toilets are upstairs, but I managed to get lost both on the way there and back again !
This is a decent place – much more accessible to the non hipster than nearby Candid. Could do with a few more customers though !
“ |
| 70 /100 VICTORIA SQUARE “This is the second Black Country Ales (BCA) pub in Stafford (after the Shrewsbury Arms), and the nearest decent pub to the station. [ 3 mins walk – I timed it once ! ] Cross the road outside the station, head left follwing it round till it turns sharp left, and which point head straight on up the slope..The Bird is on the right after the next road across.
Entrance is at the front, and from there you can visit a number of small rooms. Immediately left is a snug, immediately right is the public bar, and further on on the right is the lounge. [ There’s also a function room straight ahead ] At least the snug and the lounge have fires lit when in season. Décor is typically BCA style, dark red seating rounds the walls, cream paint over that with old local photographs. There is a large terraced beer “garden” out the back – which is split in touch several areas. Much of it is covered as a legacy of Covid, and one area includes fake grass underfoot !
There are around 13 handpumps available, but the range is different in the lounge from the bar, so you’ll have to look at the large TV screen to see the full range. Usually 9 or 10 beers and 3 or 4 ciders. The BCA core range of 3 is always available, but the other beers can be anything from anywhere. I’ve had Worcestershire brewery ticks here before now. The beer used to suffer from the usual Stafford problem of being served too cold, but lately it has been fine.. One word of warning – there is a (small) premium charged for drinking a half.
In addition to the usual BCA range of cobs//rolls, there is also hot food available. Fairly typical pub grub – fish, burgers, steak etc. I have eaten here in the past (and it was fine), but not for a very long time.
Worth popping in if you’re going past.
“ |
| 68 /100 Picture House (JDW) (Bar) BRIDGE STREET “Visited on 27th July 2021. Very impressive cinema conversion, lovely ornate ceiling. Been flooded and closed for a while, but it's been dried out and re-opened. You have to walk down to the front through all the levels to get at the bar, but it's worth the journey, even if the beer selection is poor (Spoons are not getting the guests in much, post Lock-Down) and there were no new rates for me. Seemed to be plenty of staff about and I was served swiftly and politely.“ |
| 80 /100 Candid Beer (Bar) UNITS 4&5 WOODINGS YARD, BAILEY STREET “Visited with 'Martinsh' on 27th July 2021. Hidden away down a back street and in a little open yard. Simple design with glass fronted fridges and a small bar area where coffee, keg beers and cocktails are available. Upstairs offers more space and a toilet. Clean, tidy and minimalistic sums the place up neatly. Interesting selection of cans in the fridges with plenty of dark beers in the mix of mostly UK and Irish beers to chose from. Young lady fronting the place on our visit was laid back and friendly, allowing us to peruse the fridges at our leisure and take our cans back to our table, she would then bring fresh glasses for us and take a note of what we'd grabbed. Not cheap, but some rare stuff to be had with plenty of new breweries for me to 'tick'.“ |
| 50 /100 10 MARKET STREET “Joules pub that was an top notch when it first opened about 10 years ago, but nowadays is pretty run of the mill. Bears all the hallmarks of being run by Joules – lots of use of light coloured wood and semi humorous self-advertising on the walls.
It’s a bit of a rambling place and the entrance appears to belong to some other building – being a massive wooden door leading to a stone built corridor. First room on your left is very bright due to the large number of mirrors on the wall (which give the impression of the room being bigger than it is). Bar is on the right, and there may be a fire straight ahead in winter. Second room gives access to the other side of the bar. This is darker with cream walls and seating on stools. There are further rooms and a courtyard beyond, but I haven’t really explored those. Toilets are upstairs in a different building !
As mentioned by others, they normally only have the standard Joules range of beers, though they usually do have the seasonal beers.
Your guess is as good as mine as to whether food is available – they seem to keep changing their minds ! Live music 2 or 3 evenings per week.
It’s a nice enough pub, but there are better ones in Stafford in almost every department.
“ |
| 80 /100 Sun Inn (Titanic) (Bar) 7 LICHFIELD ROAD “Visited on 12th March 2020 for a quick half with Martinsh. Liked the place, plenty of hand-pulls, mostly guest ales although there were also a good choice of Titanic beers as well. Larger than it looks, like so many of Stafford's town centre pubs it opens up to reveal a labyrinth of rooms and spaces. If I had more time I could have had quite a few new rates, but my transport (a bus) was calling.“ |
| 74 /100 75 EASTGATE STREET “Pub number 4 on my mini-crawl around Stafford on 12th March 2020. Martinsh and I had arranged to meet here (for the first time), he claiming it to be one of Stafford's better drinking establishments, and it is. It opens up into a multi-roomed pub with twists and turns along the way. Friendly barman, TV screen listing ten cask ales (three of which were off, annoyingly) and three ciders. Four of the hand-pulls are Black County Ales own brews and the remaining six are guests (three on my visit). Liked the joint.“ |
| 56 /100 10 MARKET STREET “Visited on Thursday afternoon 12th March 2020. It's a bit of a 'Tardis', looks small but it opens up into some big rooms with a central bar serving two of them. Typical Joule's house, loads of wood and interesting 'hangings' on the walls. Sadly this is one of their places that doesn't sell guest ales. Four hand-pulls, all Joule's, so no chance of a new rate for a local beer hunter. Staff fine, busy chatting to friends with dogs, but was pleasant enough with me too.“ |
| 66 /100 27 GAOLGATE STREET “Visited on 12th March 2020. Fairly small Wetherspoon's compared to most, still have to trek miles upwards to find the toilets though! Patio area at the rear adds to the drinking options and gives more space. Three gaol like alcoves with metal bars are a feature as is a glass wall with white ladies shoes filling it. Usual suspects beer wise, three guests on my visit, one being a new rate. Next door is Slater's, I got four rates in there! Must add that there were plenty of staff and they were friendly and helpful.“ |
| 74 /100 75 EASTGATE STREET “One of two Black Country Ales pubs in Stafford and (in my opinion) the better one. People familiar with BCA pubs will know what to expect – outside painted dark blue and cream, subdued carpeting inside, real fires, a large range of real ales, no food except cobs, etc.
The layout of the pub is a bit strange due its location on a u-shaped corner. The (only) door is right at the apex of the U. On entry there is some seating to the left, the bar and some handpumps ahead, together with an (electronic)_ beer listing. A passage to the right takes you past the main part of the bar (more handpumps) to where it spreads out into several rooms (more handpumps there), including one room with a real fire and a dartboard. Beyond are the toilets, a smoking shelter and a beer garden – which I have yet to explore.
Beerwise, there is a total of 13 handpumps. Three of them have the Black Country regular beers, three are ciders (confusingly in the middle) and the rest sre guest beers. These can be from asnywhere, though there is often and Black Country seasonal beer, and usually a dark beer (stout / porter). Beer quality is usually pretty good. Thankfully this place doesn’tb suffer from the usual Stafford affliction of the beer being far too cold – maybe because the landlord isn’t local ?!
BlackHaddock found some ticks here, so it must be of interest to the average RB patron …
“ |
| 42 /100 27 GAOLGATE STREET “This place is a Wetherspoons – though possibly not for much longer as it is up for sale. How does it rate compared with other Spoons ? Well certainly below average on the beer front.
Standard of service : reasonable. Most staff seem reasonably attentive, and know how to pour pints.
Range of Beers : poor – maybe very poor. The 10 handpumps almost always duplicate two lots of five, and those always include the usual suspects, so one or two guests at most usually.
Choice of Beers : the “national list” for guests is usually ignored. What guest beers they have are usually from Slaters or Lymestone.
Quality of Beers : suffers from the usual Stafford problem of beers being served too cold
Food : reasonable, but not one of the cheapest branches
Cleanliness : usually pretty good
Decor : reasonable
RateBeer advice : be prepared to walk out again immediately !
“ |
| 56 /100 Candid Beer (Bar) UNITS 4&5 WOODINGS YARD, BAILEY STREET “Newly established craft beer bar, in a secluded courtyard. Can be difficult to find – unless you know where it is ! However, there is a sign in the main street.
First impression is of school dinners or a works canteen ! There is a long row of tables all pushed together down the whole length of the room, and commensurate seating. Bar is on the right on entry.
There are 6 craft keg taps, with a board behind them showing the prices for all different volumes (but see below). There are fridges behind the row of tables with about 150 different cans – and half a dozen bottles ! Most of these I have never heard of before – so must be highly fashionable. If you can’t a beer that isn’t ice cold – tough luck ! As you might expect the bar staff all have beards – though they don’t wear silly hats.
And saving the worst bit till the last, drinks are served out of jamjars ! Branded containers with 1/3, ½ and 2/3 measures. The 2/3 line is nowhere near the top of the container, but apparently a pint is too big to fit – “we don’t serve pints” – and indeed they don’t.
Nice place, good range of beers, but these guys are way too hip for their own good.
“ |
| 70 /100 Sun Inn (Titanic) (Bar) 7 LICHFIELD ROAD “Former nightclub converted to a pub by Titanic about 10 years ago (how times flies !). On entry from the street (mind your head) the place appears to be fairly small, but further investigation shows it stretches out in almost every direction. It took me a couple of years to find some of the rooms ! The area to the left (down a couple of steps) is usually where diners sit, though there is no formal designation. Nautical memorabilia much in evidence on the walls as you might expect.
Anyway, the beer. Immediately on entry there is a row of 5 handpumps. I always ignore these as they are the home firm’s light (colour) beers which I don’t like. I think they are always the same anyway. Much more interesting are the 7 beers on the pumps to the left rear. This always includes Plum Porter. Sometimes another Titanic beer as well, and the rest can be from anywhere. There is usually another dark beer as well. Note that most Titanic dark beers (Cherry Dark, Iron curtain, Cappucino Stout etc) are NOT available here. Beer quality can be a bit iffy, and is often coldere than I would like.
There are also 5 craft keg taps, but I rarely venture on to these. The range is usually pretty uninteresting, though there is normally at least one of their own beers. There used to be a selection of their own bottled beers available, but these have recently been replaced by “Titanic Gin” !
Food is available. Reasonable, but not cheap.
“ |
| 88 /100 Candid Beer (Bar) UNITS 4&5 WOODINGS YARD, BAILEY STREET “Great little craft beer bar, bottle shop and coffee house in Stafford, the first of its kind in the area and despite being open just two months already seem to have made an impact in the town. It's hidden within a small yard area, but the bright blue logo on the side of the building leads you there. It's a small room with smart, minimalist decor, one long table in the centre of the room while a wall of fridges and shelving display an array of well curated modern beers. Simple with around 8 taps to the right. Nice selection with a range of styles, all very well priced. Friendly enthusiastic owner. Conveniently located a stones throw from the more traditional Floodgate Alehouse. Great new bar I'm sure will do well.“ |
| 72 /100 Sun Inn (Titanic) (Bar) 7 LICHFIELD ROAD “Visited 29th of July 2017. Nice pub with 10+ casks available. Half were guest casks and rest was Titanics. One was in bad condition though.“ |
| 68 /100 27 GAOLGATE STREET “Yet another Spoons pub, but as long as they have new cask ales for me, that’s just fine. They had three new cask ales, including two locals, and one cider, which was left over from the cider festival the week before.“ |
| 64 /100 10 MARKET STREET “They had three Joules beer on at our visit, which was pretty good, but one was a pale lager, the second was a golden ale not in good condition, but at least the bitter was above average. Not impressive. The place itself was nice enough, but it was nearly empty, whereas the other three pubs we visited on this Friday afternoon in Stafford were way busier.“ |
| 74 /100 Sun Inn (Titanic) (Bar) 7 LICHFIELD ROAD “We stopped by this nice pub after our visit to Stafford Beer & Cider Festival. It has a natural focus on Titanic beers. I had four different cask ales from them and a kegged one as well. There were another five new guest cask ales for me as well. One of their own beers was in bad condition. The others were fine. It’s close to many of the other pubs, so an easy stop.“ |
| 66 /100 Picture House (JDW) (Bar) BRIDGE STREET “This is my second visit to a Spoons that has been converted from an old cinema. They make it look great. It also never ceases to amaze me how fast they can bring a meal. We went here for a quick breakfast before the Stafford Beer and Cider Festival, and they were quick. There were only two new cask ales for us. Both of them were pretty average local golden ales.“ |
| 64 /100 27 GAOLGATE STREET “Visited 22/06/17. More modern décor but pleasant inside and nice comfy seating areas. Beer range average for a JDW. 2 rows of sticks, standard beers and 2 guests.“ |
| 70 /100 Picture House (JDW) (Bar) BRIDGE STREET “Visited 22/06/17. Been before but years ago. Nice big Spoons conversion of an old grand cinema, bar at far end where stage would have been. Lovely conversion and recently refurbed by the looks. Average selection, the Orkney Dark Island was good.“ |
| 70 /100 27 GAOLGATE STREET “The second Wetherspoon outlet to open in Stafford, this one at the top of the town centre. It’s supremely modern in decor but remaining comfortable and pleasant. There’s a nice fire under a large brick awning that gives off plenty of heat and some of the more booths are partitioned using floor to ceiling iron rods in close proximity. One of the more curious aspects is the white shoe wall just before you reach the patio area out back. Two rows of real ale.“ |
| 72 /100 Picture House (JDW) (Bar) BRIDGE STREET “Original Wetherspoon pub for Stafford and a grand cinema conversion using the interior to full effect with the traditional soft furnishing. You have to walk through the splendour to reach the bar at the back of the building and its a pleasure, but despite the open arena there are quieter parts to be find if you want a more isolated drink. Ales both local and national are available.“ |
