Vine Hotel, Stafford

We hadn't been planning on including this on our walk around Stafford, but with a couple of pubs we'd hoped to visit having no real ale, we chose on the spur of the moment to fill the gap with this one, which does. As it turned out, we'd have done better going in one of the others, as the Banks's Amber was in poor condition, and the only one available despite three other hand pumps on the bar. A pity, as this has the appearance of a pleasant enough multi-roomed pub, with exposed beams painted white. There were a few people in and a convivial atmosphere, but none of them were on the real ale.

A fairly nice pub. It is, however a hotel bar and despite a good attempt to make it pubby it still has the feel of hotel bar. Its a sort of L-shaped interior and there are plenty of little nooks to sit. Its a pleasant enough place but there are better places around. A couple of standard real ales were available on my visit.

Average pub with no strong ale. Would not revisit.

The Vine Hotel page on the Marstons website - www.marstonsinns.co.uk

The Vine Hotel page on the Marstons website - www.marstonsinns.co.uk

Refurbished hotel bar, run by Marston's but without any obvious branding. Part opened out into a 'L' shape, with various seating areas but little remaining character. Let down by staff blatantly looking to close up early on a Sunday night. Also, just one of the four handpumps was in operation, dispensing Pedigree at £2.80. Overall something of a disappointment since it looks at interesting place from the street.