The Auctioneer, Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent

The Auctioneer is a long and thin open plan high street pub with split level seating throughout that is faced by a long bar counter that runs up the right hand wall. Lots of televisions are in situ for showing live football and I spotted a pool table on the CCTV behind the bar, not sure where it is though. There were three or four people in here during a late midweek evening visit, so it was very depressing. Two of the six hand pumps were badged, the Pedigree was off so Well’s Bombardier was the lone ale choice. Standard and premium keg was also available. I expect that it gets rammed in here at the weekend, not with the likes of me though.

This is an Amber Taverns pub that is a brazen imitation of a Spoons, albeit a pretty dismal one. It's a long carpeted room with a few raised areas and there are TV screens everywhere which the few gormless looking punters were glued to. I felt compelled to check whether this was a former JDW and it wasn't. Although the bar has six hand pumps there were two unused leaving the dismal choice of Jennings (Marston) Snecklifter & Cockerhoop, Pedigree and London Pride. I went for the Pedigree (£2.20) which was very poor in that it wasn't clear and tasted awful. This is another Amber Taverns pub that is a complete waste of time.

As mentioned below, this is a king of Wetherspoons-lite (though strictly speaking it’s closer to a Lloyds No.1). We took a chance on it. The interior was lit up like a mid-80’s episode of Top of the Pops and the booming music choice matched. Oddly, golf was being shown on the myriad of screens. Four ales on 2x Cross Bay Wells Cauldron and Hobgoblin. We tried the Wells and one of the Cross Bay beers and both were truly awful, stagnant dishwater. Shame.

Something of a Wetherspoons lite. 6 cask ales on of which 3 were from Peakstones. A good selection of ales ups the points tally.

The Auctioneer is a large pub that is in the middle of Hanley. This pub opens early like the nearby Spoons so is handy for a early morning drink before starting a pub crawl. Once inside there was a very large oblong shaped room that ran to the rear of the pub,there was a very long bar running down the right side with loads of bar stools all along its length. There was a raised seating area to the front right and one to the left facing the bar,these areas had comfy bench seating and stools,the main area had mainly tall tables and chairs,there was a seperate area to the rear left which was down a few steps,this area had a pool table and bar football table in it with normal tables and chairs. There were loads of TVs dotted about the pub but all were muted,there was some decent 80s music playing over the sound system. There were five real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Lees Manchester Pale Ale which was a very nice drink and very cheap at £1.00 for a half,the other beers were Jennings Snecklifter,Hobgoblin,Tetley bitter and Tetley Gold. There were a few other customers in on my eary morning visit. I quite liked this place and prefered it to the nearby Spoons. Pub visited 1/6/2013