The Bhurtpore Inn, Nantwich

The Bhurtpore is a pub that I've wanted to visit for a long time. However, the inside of the pub is still undergoing renovations, leaving just a temporary bar and drinking space at the rear of the building and a fairly impressive tipi in the garden where food is served. In addition to the small drinking space, the garden also has picnic tables where you can drink. Although, it can get quite chilly in the shade. Just 3 cask ales were on - Three Tuns Midsummer, Rat Posh Rat & Holt's Bitter. Thornbridge Union was also clipped, but not quite ready. I get the impression that beers turn over quite quickly here. So, there's probably no issue with the quality. However, I'd read about the availability of the local Wrenbury cider. The barman suggested that he may just be able to squeeze one more pint out of their Special Cider, but for me, a half of a 7.5% cider was sufficient. Dogs are welcome inside and the large car park with an overflow area in a field suggests just how popular this pub has become. The previous review suggests that the number of cask ales normally reaches double figures and I can well believe that when the pub is open properly, it can get through quite a lot of beer. Renovations in the pub began over 6 months ago. They are due to be completed fairly shortly, but they put a bit of a downer on my visit. A pub I'd been looking forward to visiting for years was actually quite disappointing and the drinking experience felt like a bit of a throwback to Covid times. I'll have to come back one day when the pub is open again proper, but on the basis of this visit, I can only score it a 6/10, boosted a point by the presence of a decent local cider.

I timed my visit to this long-term target of mine, at pretty much the best possible time, arriving at this destination pub during its final week under its long-serving and very successful landlord, who has won plenty of CAMRA awards over the years, many of which are on display as you enter. The pub is in a quiet village, but easily reached on foot from Wrenbury station (albeit not so easy on my visit due to a flooded road which forced me to pick my way along a very muddy verge). The pub has a lovely, multiple room interior, with lots of comfy, cosy spots to relax in. You enter into a carpeted front room, split notionally into two areas either side of the front door. The left-hand side offers tables and chairs plus a hard bench under the front window bay, with an arched brick fireplace, mercifully lit on this bitterly cold Winter's afternoon, on the end wall, which presents quite a striking sight due to a full height, wooden Indian soilder stood to one side. The room has been decorated with lots of jugs hung from the ceiling beams, salvers, clocks, a few old photos and some potted plants, whilst a blackboard to rear lists the day's specials. The servery is in the right-hand side of the room, where pews and chairs run around the perimeter, broken by a nice tiled fireplace with an elephant ornament on the mantlepiece, an old painting above and various black and white photos of the pub on the surrounding walls alongside a map of the local area. The bar has a nice wood panelled counter, with a pleasant traditional bar back and a helpful beer board to the rear lists the full ale range. There is another bar through to the rear, which was slowly starting to fill as a steady stream of customers continued to arrive, but I didn't get to properly explore this area. The ale range is perhaps the pub's greatest pull, with a pretty epic range greeting me, comprising Salopian Midnight Express, Golden Thread and Firkin Freezing, Thornbridge Jaipur, Katsura and Lord Marples, Brew York Calmer Chameleon, Abbeydale Latte Stout and Wilderness and Kelham Island Pale Rider. I got a friendly welcome from the landlord, who was bidding a final farewell to one of his local brewery reps when I arrived. I stopped here for a couple of pints, both of which were in great condition, and had a bite for lunch too, which was reasonably priced and pretty tasty. The pub seemed very popular and the front area filled in no time, despite being a midweek afternoon on a freezing cold day with a flooded road potentially blocking access. It was very much worth the effort getting out to this place, which delivered on just about every aspect you could ask for. There is of course a question mark over how the pub will be under its new owners (who I'm told run a successful cafe in a nearby village), and at the time of writing the pub is operating out of a tent in the garden whilst a refurbishment takes place inside. I'm glad I caught it when I did and hope it'll remain a destination pub going forward. Date of visit - 18th January 2024

An extremely well known and well regarded pub, a shortish walk from the nearest station as described. Perhaps I was expecting too much but I was a bit disappointed here, not with the beer, that was all excellent but the service was sloppy from the constantly disappearing bar staff and serving beer in ten year old glasses that are scratched to hell doesn't do anything for the presentation. I found pretty much a restaurant, perhaps the atmosphere is more pub like in the evenings, there is after all a pool table in one of the rear extensions. I think I'd go back but only if someone gave me a lift.