The Railway, Stockport

An odd one, this. A few minutes walk away from the immediate town centre, there’s no external signage and the only way to know that it's a pub is the frosted windows. The inside is fairly basic; well a bit of a dump really and the V-shaped interior desperately needs some TLC, not helped by the pervasive cold. There’s a model train set above the bar and lots of CAMRA awards (no stereotyping here, honest). Notably there’s a unique dado rail that has been made using encased old pump clips and it looked excellent. Also a bar billiards table and daily papers available. Anyway we’re here for the beer and there was indeed an impressive selection off 10, majoring on Rossendale beers (there’s a link with Porter, who took the place on some years ago). So of course I overlooked this and went for a Holdens Mild which was fine. Also a selection of Belgian and German bottles as well as a couple of ciders. There’s potentially a cracking pub here but the ramshackle nature of the place put me off, unfortunately. 6.5

Not the easiest place to spot on approach thanks to a near total absence of external signage, this is a pleasant L-shaped traditional ale house situated on one of the main roads into the town centre. The place is carpeted and has a simple servery with a chunky canopy directly opposite the front door, which follows the shape of the room, running to the rear down the right hand side of the building. Banquette seating is available to the left although the majority of the space on this side of the pub is occupied by a bar billiards table. A small raised area to the front right offers pews and low stools , with more of the latter serving a row of small tables down the right hand side of the room, towards the rear. Decor is fairly limited, with a few CAMRA awards given pride of place, whilst an unusual dado has been created using old pump clips, which is a surprisingly effective trick. Blackboards in the shape of various beer glasses list the extensive ranges of Belgian, German and world beers to be found in the fridges. Elsewhere, the day's papers were filed in a rack, a few paperbacks were stacked on a ledge to the left and a nice tiled fireplace on the end wall called out to be lit. A few old boys were in when we arrived in great numbers and looked a little perplexed at the sudden invasion of their peace. A very friendly barmaid presided over an extensive ale range which included Coach House Wizards Wonder. Phoenix Ariana, Holden's Black Country Mild, Salopian Oracle, Outstanding Blonde, Pictish Brewers Gold, Thornbridge Jaipur and three from the Rosendale brewery - Pitch Porter, Floral Dance and Sunshine. A real cider was also available from a box on the bar back. I'm not sure if there is some link with the Rosendale brewery that might have led to three of their beers being on, but I tried one regardless and it was in very good condition. This is the epitome of an unpretentious local's boozer unconcerned with its outward appearance or modern contrivances, but focused solely on supplying high quality ale to appreciative customers. I could've happily spent a lot more time here but the crawl is a cruel mistress and I will have to bide my time now until I get the chance to work my way through all those tempting handpulls.