Earl of Chester, Crewe

Corner pub in a residential area of Crewe that majors on rock music. As you enter, there is a basic public bar on the right-hand side, which smelt quite heavily of bleach as I walked through. The larger room to the left was where all the locals and the barman were. It has a stage near the window and a raised seating area with posters for rock concerts, featuring Aerosmith, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin & Marillion. Light fittings were surrounded with beer bottles or ice buckets, which was an interesting touch. A TV in this area had a music channel, but with no sound. Other TVs elsewhere were showing live golf. Whilst the music channel was muted, some other funky music was playing in the background. The main bar area has the bar itself on the right-hand side. The whole area is carpeted, apart from right by the bar itself. A shelf above the bar features many bottle of miniatures, whilst there are more rock posters on the ceiling. There was also a games machine and a jukebox. To the rear is a games room with a pool table and its own TV, also showing golf. An outdoor yard didn't look too promising, but was probably used by smokers. Most customers in the pub were getting on a bit. There was also a dog making itself at home, possibly the pub dog. I guess there is occasional live music here, but karaoke is also promoted on a Saturday night between 8-11pm. On the bar, there are 3 real ales. 2 of them are from the Merlin Brewery - Gold & Excalibur. The third was Ossett White Rat. My Excalibur was dispensed in a Merlin branded glass and was enjoyable. Ciders were Kopparberg, Magners & Magners Dark Fruits. John Smith's & Boddington's were also available on keg. I thought this was a basic, but solid locals pub with decent real ale and a clear love for rock music.

A good solid locals pub, with a decent welcome from the friendly barmaid and some locals parked up at the bar. Three handpumps serving White Rat, Merlins Gold and Excalibur all priced at £3.20 a pint and in excellent condition. There was a small stage area set up in the left hand side lounge, along with lots of posters of various rock bands across the ceilings and walls.

Looks like a basic corner local, and if you turn right into the smaller bar, that is exactly the impression you get. However, if you turn left instead (or go around the end of the servery), the other bar is more interesting. This one has an additional raised lounge area, plus a pool room further back, plus three handpumps on the counter. These feature White Rat from rat Brewery plus a pair from the Merlin micro-brewery: Excalibur (£3.00) and Gold.

I walked into the small right hand public bar of the Earl of Chester on Saturday afternoon to find an empty room with a dartboard, so I decided to try the other bar to the left. This was where all of the locals were hiding. Some were playing pool on the table at the rear and others were watching football on the television. To the left of the entrance is a small stage area with music equipment and further left is a raised seating area. The bar stocks a standard keg range alongside Birra Moretti and there are also three hand pumps. These were drawing Castle Black, Merlin Gold and Excalibur from Merlin Micro Brewery located locally in Sandbach. To be honest, with the addition of a cloak and some pointy fabric slippers the governor wouldn’t have looked out of place in Camelot. I thought this place was welcoming and I’m glad I visited.