The Anchor Inn, Stafford

Closure of the pub appears to have been because of the illness of the landlady, Olive Cliff. She didn't want anyone outside her family to know that she had cancer; she died this week and the family have said they expect the pub to reopen when Covid regulations allow. (See: https://www.facebook.com/norburywharfltd/)

A small udressed brick cottage style canalside pub with bay windows and black paintwork. It has a superb beer garden at the front, which has a model-village replica of the pub in it. There is a caravan site at the side. In the GBG on a regular basis. A great review from Mr B below. The interior has a couple of rooms, served by the same bar. They are in a mushy-pea kind of green colour with white ceiling and mainly a tiled floor. There is an eclectic collection of ephemera dotted about, from a grandfather clock, through the expected canal pots to a Georgian style picture on the wall. Settles mix with bar stools and there is a fireplace in each room. There is of course no TV. Music - well i ahve visited both when it is silent as the grave and when the penny-whistles are being played. The service is fine and the clientele is a real mix, but all seemingly knowing each other. Beer; there is a Carling tap and Stowford Press cider. There is Wadsworth 6X on handpull, which did indeed used to be served into a jug in the celler and then served at the bar. It is now served into a glass at the bar and topped up via a jug. Quaint. This is a great building and a timeless place. In my opinion though, i am not sure why it is in the GBG. There is no real choice, so to me it is a place you pop into for one (or two!) to experience the place and then move on. Definitely worth a visit, and it is a welcoming real community focal point on the evening.

Visited in May 2010 The Anchor Inn is a splendidly unspoilt canalside gem close to Bridge 42 of the Shropshire Union Canal and not too far away from Eccleshall. It's a brick built pub resembling a private house that has been in the same family for over 100 years. Entering through the front door, one finds a pub with two unspoilt basic rooms with a small central bar counter that resembles the back end of a barge. The bar on the right has a quarry tiled floor and 2 high backed settles. There's a grandfather clock and a real fire. Above the fireplace are a number of photos and certificates relating to the pub. The room on the left is equally basic and unspoilt with formica tables and wooden benches. Sitting in the small intimate room on the right with its real fire and friendly locals really does feel like sitting in someone's living room and, when not serving, Olive, the longstanding landlady, would come and sit by the fireplace alongside the customers. Other customers appeared to be a mixture of passing walkers, local barge owners / dwellers and caravanners from the site within which the pub sits. Needless to say, there's no fruit machines or music, although I gather that impromptu folk music sessions are held when someone brings a guitar. There's a well kept lawn at the front of the pub with tables for outside drinking where one can watch the passing canal traffic. Note in particular here the dolls house sized model of the pub in the far left hand side of the garden. There's the obligatory outside toilets. The pub opened bang on the dot at midday on my recent Sunday lunchtime visit. The real ale is Wadworth's 6X - served through a beer pump into a (clean) plastic jug, from which your pint is poured. Until recently, I gather that Olive used to bring the beer up directly from the cellar, but, reflecting her advancing years, a pump was installed to make life easier. The Wadworths 6X tasted fine and the pub is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular. It's listed in Part 2 of CAMRA's National Inventory of Unspoilt Interiors. The Caravan Club recently voted it their pub of the year. There's a certain timelessness to pubs like this and it really does feel like a throwback to a gentler era and a much slower pace of life. Unless you're arriving by barge, it's not the easiest pub in the world to get to or find, but do make the effort. I doubt that you'll be disappointed - this really is a gem.

Tiny canalside pub, simple, old-fashioned. It serves real ale (6X), cider, and, if you're really lucky, real music. Difficult to find, except by canal, simple in the extreme, offering little bar ale and company, pubs like this are national treasures, a glimpse into the past beyond museums. I rate the pub at seven stars. It's appeal is limited, but it is damn nigh perfect at what it does. Even the outdoor loo has a built in swallow's nest, whose occupants whizz past your ears while you are otherwise engaged' The Anchor also has a simple campsite attached