The Swan Inn, Stone

Just a short distance from the Southern end of the High Street, the Swan is a traditional ale house in an interesting Grade II listed building. You enter through a smart porch with stained glass panes bearing a rose motif, emerging into the bar area with a tongue and groove counter and canopy on the opposite wall, slightly to the right. Opposite the bar, under the front windows, there is a bare boarded space with curved button backed banquettes serving ellipse shaped tables. Nice old wooden beams cross the ceiling and the gaps between have been filled with pump clips to good effect. To the left of the entrance there is a sizeable carpeted seating area with more banquettes and plenty of regular tables and chairs. A few paintings liven up the walls and there were a few lit candles in a corner shelving unit, which added to the cosy feel of this part of the pub. Meanwhile, to the right there is an extension of the main bar area with a nice brick fireplace on the far wall and a mix of banquette and low stool seating. The room runs a little way back here where a short section of the bar serves a rather spartan space with limited high table and stool seating options. The radio played throughout my visit at a fairly sensible level but conversation was still able to dominate. A few bar blockers made it a little tricky to see exactly what was on the hand pumps, but I was eventually able to spot Leatherbritches Hairy Helmet, Dark Star APA, Blue Monkey Funky Gibbon, Three Tuns Stirling, Ossett Silver King, Abbeydale Moonshine, Blythe Bagots Bitter, Coach House Old Priory and something from the Shiny Brewery. A well drilled team of bar staff efficiently dealt with orders at the crowded bar and I enjoyed a very good pint of the Funky Gibbon whilst watching people come and go from my bench near the entrance. This is a fine free house which seems to source its beer from good local suppliers and some top quality brewers from further afield. It’s an interesting building with a good variety of seating areas to relax in and is worth spending a bit of time looking around. I really enjoyed my stay here and curtailed the remainder of my crawl to soak up the atmosphere here a little longer.

This is rather an unpromising looking place externally being part of a red brick terrace. Inside it's a rectangular single room where the floor area wraps around the central bar. There are some old looking beams on the ceiling and the floor area is a mix of carpeted and wooden floors. The bar has ten hand pumps but I didn't get to note all the beers as it was a bit busy on my Saturday afternoon visit. I did spot Lymestone Stone Faced, Nethergate IPA, a Blythe beer, Acorn Archer IPA and Old Moor Porter, St Austell Tribute, Naylor's Frosty and one that went off while I was being served. I went for the Acorn Archer IPA (£3.10) which was in great condition. If I had remembered the CAMRA discount it would have been very good value even compared to the town Spoons. This is another Stone pub well worth going to.

As noted it has an excellent selection of cask ales. A very likeable pub.

The Swan Inn is a bare brick built pub that faces a very busy road junction. Once inside there was an oblong shaped room which ran the width of the pub,the bar was slightly to the right,the left side was carpeted and looked more like a lounge area,there was bench seating facing the bar with small stools,a real fire was on the go at each end of the pub. There was a very good choice of real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Goffs Jouster which was a well kept beer,the other beers i noted were Goffs Camelot,Blyth Johnsons,Abbeydale Moonshine,Milestone Cupid,RCH East Street Cream and one from Buntingford. This is a nice pub with some very nice beers on the bar,it was far to full on my Saturday dinner visit,so i had to prop the bar up. Pub visited 7/12/2013

Very large range of ales and pleasant surroundings make this a mst visit pub.