Albion Inn, Chester

Side-street pub, located just inside the city walls. Comprises front and back bars, with the latter sub-divided into two 'rooms'. Lot of advertising signage and other memorabilia. Staff a bit grumpy, which comes as no surprise if you note the admonitory sign at the front door. Only three of the five handpumps was working, with a pretty pedestrian selection including Black Sheep and Jennings Bitter (£3.00). Perhaps I caught it on a bad day, but something of a disappointment.

Update – September 2012. Another very enjoyable visit recently to this excellent street corner Victorian local just inside the city walls which, pleasingly, remains unchanged and pretty much as described in my earlier review below. The pub retains original etched windows indicating former Greenall Whitley ownership. The idiosyncratic landlord, Mike Mercer, has now been in situ here for 40 years – “40 years behind bars as he puts it” – and his continuing insistence on “quality customers” remains, as do the various prominent notices telling us who is not welcome – eg, stag, hen or pub crawl groups. 2 beers were on – Coach House Top Hat Bitter and Robinsons Unicorn. If you’re in Chester and haven’t been before, you really should, but do note the restrictions and be sure to be on your best behaviour. Original review – October 2008 Splendid Victorian back street local close to the river and just inside the City Walls ( which are well worth walking incidentally, while waiting for opening time ) . There's 2 interconnecting rooms either side of a central bar. The evidently idiosyncratic landlord - not sighted during my visit - is a keen collector of World War One memorabilia which is displayed throughout the pub, with Kitchener posters - " put the Hun on Iron Rations" - and enamelled posters etc advertising such delights as Colmans Starch and Frys Chocolate. Note also the splendid wallpaper and period furniture.There's also a piano. The landlord makes no effort to attract customers who don't fit in to the pub's character. Note the blackboard outside with messages such as " Don't bring your stag, hen or pub crawl here. We don't need you. We don't want you. We won't serve you."and also " no designer drinks, shots". The pub prides itself as being family-hostile. Whilst not everyone will agree, I have to say that I applaud a pub that is prepared to buck the trend and not pander to the alcopops/ loud music/chain-pub drinker types, even if his motives are doing so are probably largely commercial. Suffice it to say that at 6.30pm on a windy and damp Thursday evening, the pub was packed with a wide range of discerning customers enjoying the fine atmosphere. Food - known as "rations" here - is from the old school - eg minced beef, mashed potato and greens etc and is a major draw. Real ales on were Black Sheep, Landlord and Bombardier. Not everyone will agree that's for sure, but I regard this as a "must visit" pub. Long may it flourish and prosper !

Well worth a visit and only a couple of mins walk from Lower Bridge St. This is a well run pub and has a relaxing atmosphere about it. Landlord will not tolerate any chavs, hen or stag parties, noisy children, football crowd etc. In fact there's a list outside on the wall before you enter. Only two on handpump; Black Sheep and a Marston's.

A bit of a time warped gem, just outside Chester City centre. World War Two is still remembered fondly in here judging by the number of wartime posters etc around the walls. Three rooms, all lounges, but with different characters. The main area to the left as you enter is very cosy and is almost a W shape. The areas to the right are smaller and even cosier. On a Saturday night this is a haven of peace and tranquility whilst a couple of hundred yards away the madness that is Chester on a weekend night is in full swing. Friendly staff and regulars and a real mix of ages in what I would have thought would be a bastion of the middle aged. It's a great little pub. The only downside for me was the selection of cask ale. Black Sheep Bitter and (I think) Greene King IPA were the only choices when we called. The 2 pints of Black Sheep I had were well kept though. We'll definitely call in again next time we're in Chester, but we would have stayed longer this time with a better selection of ale. It would also have been a 9 for me.

A back street boozer just a couple of minutes walk from one of the main strips, but due to it’s location on the corner of a row of terraced houses and some old alms houses it feels a million miles away from the noisy bars nearby. It’s not obviously a pub from the outside, with no pub sign other than the name etched in to the window glass. There are three rooms inside – the largest on the left might be described as a lounge, and there is a small snug to the right. Behind this, a slightly larger room. Both the lounge and the snug have piano’s, which made a change from the omnipresent plasma. The decor in the lounge gives it quite a “busy” feel, with red patterned carpet and green leafy wallpaper. There was some bench seating around the perimeter and plenty of small bar tables and stools plus a couple of old standard lamps. On the wall were numerous old product signs, such as those for Colman’s Starch, Wills Star Cigarettes, Fry’s Chocolate and Rowntree’s Chocolates and Pastilles. There were even a couple of illuminated Shell signs above the bar. In the snug I spotted a couple of vinyl records in a glass case. There looked to be a decent selection of food chalked up on a board, although we didn’t sample it ourselves. The beers on tap were Mardue Brewery’s Radgie Gadgie and Black Sheep. The solitary cider was Scrumpy Jack.