Crown Inn, Stockport

The Crown Inn has a curved L-shaped bar that support twelve handpumps. During a recent Tuesday evening visit two of these were unused and a couple were drawing mainstream ales, but the others were more interesting. To the right of the bar is an area with a stage for live music; this is where the three banks of three keg taps can be found. Along the left hand wall are two small seating areas, both with banquette seating and fireplaces. At the rear, behind the bar, is another seating area with a huge mirror on the wall. There are a couple of old serving hatches with bell ringers underneath that connect to the back of the bar. All seating areas have a television and all were airing muted Sky Sports. Out the back is a large beer yard with long beer festival tables and a covered stage area at the rear. There were ten or so vocal locals in and I found the governor to be extremely friendly. I think this place may have changed a bit since the passing of the previous governor, but I liked it and would return.

the refurb seems to have preserved the multi-room layout, but splashed a load of grey paint everywhere as well as cheap drinks offers and promos for tribute acts / karaoke. It’s already looking a bit tatty and the windows need a good clean. The pub was pretty busy on a Friday with a mixed bag of ‘interesting’ but harmless characters and serious ale drinkers. It was a very good range of beer (better than Rob’s experience below) and the Bank Top Dark Mild was in very fine form. Not sure what to make of it overall, I wouldn’t spend a session here and the revamp seems confused, but the landlord was very friendly and accommodating.

Facebook page of Crown Inn - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Crown Inn - www.facebook.com

It is, of course, great that this pub has reopened. It has spent most of 2021 closed due to the death of the previous landlord, and has now had a bit of a refurb and a smart paint job externally, without ripping the character out of the building. Last Friday afternoon there were a few punters in which is great to see in its first week of trading. At the bar are 12 hand pulls, 10 of which were on at the time, though disappointingly these are mainly from the big national and regional breweries (Marstons, Brains, St Austell) with a few hand pulls clipped with Robinsons and JW Lees ales (two breweries that do not excite me). I went for the Rev James Original by Brains, which was OK in itself, but the whole line-up is poor compared to the interesting selection this pub used to boast which often left me spoilt for choice. As mentioned, it has only just reopened and some rooms seemed to be work in progress, the pool room had stuff piled up on the pool table for example. I believe there is an outdoor space to the rear (not investigated) that will be used for live music events - so perhaps they are shifting their focus to entertainment rather than interesting beer! The pub looks nice and smart but I was left a bit disappointed and I feel it could do better. This isn't somewhere I can see myself rushing back to when there are so many other great real ale pubs and bars in Stockport.

Paid a visit on Saturday evening. My last visit was in 2016 so I was well overdue refreshing my memory. I think I counted 11 hand pulls at the bar, which is pretty impressive, but reading some of the earlier reviews suggest there may be 16 in which case I must have missed some. Of these there were two dark beers, both milds. One was the Dark Ruby by Sarah Hughes, which was very tempting but decided to try the Velvet Mild by Naylor's instead, which was very acceptable. I love the traditional feel of this pub, down to the etched glass on the entrance door and the toilets, and its two rooms off to the left. A good pub and one I would be happy to go back to.