Hopinn, Newcastle Under Lyme Central, Newcastle under Lyme

Hugely successful free house, typically stocking 8 cask beers ( Bass and Black Sheep seem to be permanent) and four "craft keg" from a variety of brewers, with an apparent slight bias to the North. No food. Opens at 4 on weekdays. Three rooms of which the rear bar is in my opinion the best. Local CAMRA pub of the year 2015 and runner up in 2016.

This appears to be a once failing terraced back street pub on the edge of town that is now a thriving Free House. It has retained seperate rooms as there is one on the left as you enter which sounded like it had a TV on and what seemed a quieter one straight ahead which is where I headed for. I didn't look any further than this room which had six hand pumps and I could see some more on the front bar. It's been nicely modernised and was a pleasant place to escape from the rain. Beers noted from the blackboard were Bass, Black Sheep Bitter, Thornbridge Lord Marples, Slater's Haka, Brigg's Rock 'N' Roll, Hawkshead Red, Oakham Citra and Steel City Craven D'Ale. There were also four "craft" keg offerings that were listed in stupid half pint measures and were mostly from Magic Rock. The prices per pint were excessive between £3.40 and £5.40. Putting that aside I went for the Slater's Haka (£3.30) a 5.2% beer in excellent condition and at a reasonable price. Despite the expensive "craft" keg I still thought this one was well worth a visit. It's GBG 2016 listed.