Crown Hotel, Stone

The Crown Hotel building dates from the 16th century and was a coaching inn in the 18th century, having to be rebuilt in 1779 after being ravaged by fire. There are bedrooms upstairs and in the adjacent Crown Suites, which is where my room was during a recent Tuesday visit to Stone. Out the back is a private pay and display car park, although hotel guests get free parking by entering car registrations into a tablet at the hotel reception. The atmosphere was very relaxed, there was certainly no rush to check people in with the process taking almost 20 minutes. After dropping off my bags I had a wander up the high street before entering the pub from the central high street entrance. To the left is a seating area with wood paneled walls and an impressive wood paneled fireplace that houses a burner on the left-hand wall. To the right is the bar area with a serving counter across the rear that faces royal blue and diamante furniture, much like you would find in a curry house. On the left-hand wall is a large television that was airing Sky Sports and in the front right corner is an old gas heater that would have been popular in the 1970s, far removed from the splendour of the aforementioned fireplace. A doorway past the bar leads to an ornate hallway where the reception and stairs to rooms can be found. At the rear is ‘ballroom’ that was being used as a restaurant, one of the staff advised that they do amazing curries. There are some interesting features still remaining here, but it is now very much a hotel with a bar. The staff are polite, but the limited selection of standard and premium keg, some of which were off, is not going to draw in any discerning pub fans or drinkers. Good luck to them, but I don’t plan on drinking or sleeping here again.

Official site of Crown Hotel - www.crownhotelstone.com

Official site of Crown Hotel - www.crownhotelstone.com

Under new management. Clean inside and what you would expect of a hotel bar. One real ale on. The place is ok.