Arden Arms, Stockport

There is something unmistakably exciting about discovering a pub with some sort of feature that you've never encountered before and amazingly, this rather unassuming Robinson's pub turned up a great example of this. The pub is dominated by its large D-shaped servery which squeezes the room around it so that customers only have a relatively narrow, tile floored space to move through. The counter is divided into a number of segments, each with their own sash window under some pleasant pot shelves. The reason for such a large servery soon becomes apparent, as staff and customers alike push their way through the swing doors, into the serving area and then out into a snug beyond. With so much footfall, a large serving area is definitely required and several times I witnessed near misses as customers haplessly wandered out of the snug, nearly knocking into barmaids laden with drinks. It's a great feature though and I was a bit disappointed to find the snug already packed full with diners on my lunchtime visit. In fact, the pub is very much set up for food, with all the tables in the rooms either side of the bar occupied as well. One of these rooms has tile flooring and lovely fixed bench seating with original bell pushes and etched glass windows, whilst the other is more of a formal dining room with standard tables and chairs and a sign asking you to wait to be seated. The walls throughout the pub have been decorated with interesting old posters and a few old mirrors and there was a soundtrack of 80's pop music playing quietly in the background. All of the handpulls are sited on the bar back, which took me a while to figure out. They had a good selection of Robinson's ales on the go, with options including Unicorn, Dizzy Blonde, Dark Vader, Wizard, Trooper and Double Hop. I gave the Wizard a try and thought it was one of their weaker brews, but it was in decent enough shape and I found I had to drink it sat at the bar as there was literally nowhere else to sit, such was the pub's popularity. I clearly timed my visit here badly and should've heeded the warnings of my fellow Pubs Galore crawlers to avoid this place at peak dining time. It would've been great to sit in the snug, but tables are clearly at a premium here and I will have to save that experience for another day. The place is clearly worth a look for it's unusual interior layout and had one of the widest ranges of Robinson's beers I found around town, but you'll need to time your visit better than I did to get the most out of it.

Solid Robinson's pub that, whilst quite plain externally, somehow looks if it ought to be interesting inside (and it certainly doesn't disappoint). The first thing you see on entering is the dining room - or rather, two conjoined rooms - to the right (still doing good business late lunchtime on a Friday). To the left comes the curved bar, with part-glazed screens creating hatches serving the compact drinking lobby. Beyond that is a comfortable corner room with its own counter, but you have to go back to the bar to find the famous fourth room, a snug known as 'the Select', which has to be accessed through the servery with permission from the staff. Unusually too, the two banks of the three handpumps are located on the bar-back, all dispensing beers from the Robinson's range, including the Dark Vader (£1.70, half). All-in-all, I would rate this as a 'must visit' for anybody seeking out heritage pub interiors.

Another one of the many Robinson outlets in Stockport but another that justifies a visit due to its interesting interior and especially the small snug room where you have to walk through the bar serving area to get to it. Also different is the fact that the hand pumps are not on the front of the bar but at the back and on two banks of three pumps either side of the snug entrance. Tried the Double Hop in this one and it was well kept. There seemed to be quite a focus on food also in this pub and the main room to the right as you enter seems to primary function for diners and being a Friday lunchtime it was full to capacity. Fortunately there wasn’t many drinkers only in so we managed to get a seat in the left hand room behind the bar with its fine Old Tom Brewery Mirror. Now this is one you could bring a girlfriend to on a first date. Good food, good beer and a very comfortable pub of some character in which to enjoy them.

A Robinsons tied house with a listed interior which makes it worth a visit.There is a corridor servery with handpumps set against a rear wall to allow customers to cross the floor of the servery and into a snug behind the bar,a very rare feature.There is a seperate front snug by the front door and around the side a further small room with bell pushes.It's all very cosy and welcoming with traditional decor and some interesting mirrors.The 6 Robbies beer on my trip were Darth Vader,Unicorn,Trooper,Wizard,Dizzy Blonde and Double Hop(fine). Well worth calling in if crawling the town.