The Stonewell Tap, Lancaster

This is an excellent city centre bar in the main retail district, which seems to cater to more of an alternative crowd. You enter into a nice brick floored main bar area with the servery down the left-hand wall. The bar has a dull wood panelled counter and modern looking bar back and is probably the least interesting feature of the pub. Good seating options can be found to the right, including some tartan tub chairs along the right-hand wall, below an exposed stone wall that is typical of many Lancaster pubs. Beyond the bar is a lower level, bare boarded seating area with lots of armchairs and other such comfy options, plus shelves full of board games - in fact, I was the only person sat down here on a Saturday night who wasnt playing a board game - and some arty murals of local relevance. The front part of the pub had been cleared out in order to accommodate a live music set up, although it was unclear if seating is normally available here. When the band weren't playing, a great selection of nostalgic 90s tunes thrummed away in the background. After a long day of travel and pub crawling, I was happy to settle down in this place and work my way through a cask ale range that comprised Fell Crag, Farm Yard TVO 54, Lancaster Cascade and Lonsdale Singletrack. All of the beers sampled were in good nick and my only real issue was that half of the bar staff seemed totally useless, although they were bailed out somewhat by the other half, who were very proactive. It's rare that I'll cut a crawl short to stay in one place for longer, but this place had a great vibe, good music, well-kept beer and comfy furniture, all of which was too good to leave after a long day travelling up from South London and crawling around Morecambe. Definitely one of the best pubs I found in Lancaster. Date of visit - 13th January 2024

Official site of The Stonewell Tap - stonewelltap.co.uk

Official site of The Stonewell Tap - stonewelltap.co.uk

Marketing itself as a craft beer bar, this had ten of a possible 16 keg taps on the bar-back in use, offering a very good selection of styles. Real ale is also available from a total of five handpumps, although one of the clips visible in the late afternoon had vanished by the time of my mid-evening visit. However, this left the Golden Plover from Allendale Brewery (£3.80) which proved a good pint. Apart from that, the place features a split-level layout created from two adjoining buildings, with both parts featuring semi-modern furniture and decor.