Norfolk Arms, Stockport

A great pub, community owned with excellent beer and food. Great selection of local real ales and decent continental lagers. Ideal for a drink or a bite to eat after walking in Marple Bridge. Dog friendly too so take your four legged friend to nearby Brabyns Park (free car parking btw) and then head to the pub for refreshments.

Official site of Norfolk Arms - www.thenorfolkarms.co.uk

Official site of Norfolk Arms - www.thenorfolkarms.co.uk

Very pleasantly surprised by this pub - having no preconceived expectations, other than it wasn't in the Good Beer Guide. I planned to bus it up to Spring Gardens after getting a much needed lunch following a superb 8 mile walk. Initial impressions - were good. Solid looking externally, lowish ceiling internally - all family orientated dining. Then my eyes turned to the bar and the signage, where a lot of unusual german keg fonts and metallic signs boasting belgian krieks. Didnt see a menu - but I am assuming that they have Belgian Bottles. Four cask on and I went for a lesser spotted Landlord Knowle Spring. The friendly staff pointed out that the lines had been cleaned and the barrel just changed. It was pin sharp. Then my lunch was delivered and they have done a fine job of turning a roast pork sandwich into a work of art. It was the two strips of crackling that did it. Excellent visit.

I was looking forward to coming here, as the building is a handsome one, but having taken a photo of the front in the sunshine that had replaced the earlier overcast, I found that the front door had a notice saying that it was "exit only" - but this could only be seen by pushing open the door! I muttered something appropriate and went to look for the side door. In a less good mood than before, my reaction to some of the wood described by the previous reviewer was that it would have been better added to the fire - especially the broken chair that was hanging on the wall as though it were a piece of sculpture. There were five hand pumps (and a dozen keg fonts) on the solid and attractive wooden bar, and I made the mistake of choosing the beer with the least flashy pump clip; in fact it was so dull that I'm still not sure what it was called, the words Poynton Brewery at the top and Bitter 4.2% at the bottom being the only ones to stand out. In retrospect, it is clear that no one has been drinking this beer, because it was cloudy and borderline off; if it was ever bitter, it must have stopped being so several days before my visit. At this point the background music changed from generic 70s hits to Paul McCartney singing something about Mulligan's Tyres, with bagpipe accompaniment. I drank up the last of the slops and left. A shame, because on another day this could have been quite a pleasant pub visit.