The Coachmakers Arms, Stoke-On-Trent

A very brief stop here as we had to hot-foot it over to Burslem. Saved from closure and demolition a few years back, this is a traditional old town centre pub. Enter to a teeny-tiny front bar, around 4ft by 10ft, with just enough room for two sets of padded settles. There are further rooms (unexplored by me) off a drinking corridor (check out the Minton tiling here) which also has a service hatch. Sadly, there was only one ale on, a disappointing drop of Thwaites Wainwrights. Sadly, this one didn’t live up to the hype – maybe I was unlucky?

To start with some good news, the developers who originally planned to demolish this pub to make way for some horrendous bit of modern urban planning, announced in July 2016 that they have scaled back their plans and that their development will no longer extend as far as Lichfield Street, thereby putting to an end years of speculation and fear for the pub’s future. This all seems rather fitting for a pub that is a genuine survivor, retaining a rare Victorian corridor pub layout, with four small rooms accessed from a central drinking corridor. The corridor is pretty narrow and has some lovely Minton tiling with old pictures of trains and trams hung above. There is a high ledge running down one side, legitimising the practise of drinking in the corridor, which a fair few were doing on a late Saturday evening visit. To the front of the corridor there is a serving hatch, which saves customers from having to enter the compact front bar in the front left room, where some fixed seating runs under the front windows and a nice fireplace stands on the end wall. The room is carpeted and has a few bland art prints on show as well as an unusual partly padded bar counter front. Unfortunately, two of the other rooms, to the front right and rear left, were not open on this visit, but from what I could gather, they are both fairly small and have bench and low stool seating and their own fireplace, with various old paintings and photos on the walls. The final room, to the rear right, was open to explore and seemed to act as something of a games room with a dartboard at one end and some folk playing board games in another corner. There is another fireplace in here, acting as an impressive focal point, and I also spotted an upright piano and some shelves stacked with books. The corridor leads out to a fairly uninspiring rear courtyard and the gents toilets which are in an outdoor block. The pub usually serves four ales, but three of these had gone by the time I arrived, so I had a choice of Draught Bass or Weston’s Old Rosie cider. I ordered a pint of Bass, popped it on the shelf in the corridor and made the long walk to the gents, but when I returned I found my pint had gone. To my surprise, it turned out that another chap had ordered a pint of Bass just before me and had taken it back whilst I was in the gents, so the barman took it upon himself to track down my pint and then provide me with a replacement which he poured straight from the barrel in the cellar. I was a bit stunned by all this, but thought it was very good customer service and the new pint was fine by me. I really enjoyed this fairly unique pub experience and thought the drinking corridor was a great place to prop yourself up and chat to the friendly locals. The staff were great and their commitment to ensuring I got a good quality pint has to be applauded. With a few more ales to choose from, I suspect this becomes a difficult pub to leave and I think we can all be grateful that its future now looks a lot more assured.

Only 3 real ales were on on this visit but it is by far one of the better pubs in Hanley. Descriptions in other reviews.

There's not much I can add about this place that hasn't already been said. It's still open despite being under threat. I used the new bus station opposite and it seems to be working perfectly well so can see no reason why any changes may be needed there that threaten this place. I went in the front room which was empty. The five hand pumps had Bass, Greene King Old Golden Hen, Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Lymestone Foundation Stone & Stone The Crows. I went for the Stone The Crows (£3.20) which was in excellent nick and went down a treat.