Cheshire Cheese, Buxton

Owned by the Titanic Brewery, this is a very wide, but quite narrow pub located towards the top end of Buxton’s High Street, it looks quite traditional with it’s stone build and may perhaps have been two or more cottages at one time that have been knocked together. A large, curved bay window just next to the entrance door is an unusual feature. Internally it’s quite traditional as well, with one long room along the central part of the pub, with smaller snugs at each end and another area at the rear adjacent to the bar counter. Flooring was predominantly either shiny black slate style flagstones or sanded wooden boards whilst a few chunky black supporting beams were on the ceiling. Walls were a mix of pale green plasterwork with dark wood panelling down below or feature wallpaper, and various bits and pieces were hung on the wall including a picture of old corkscrews, flags, tankards, cutlery and quite a selection of clocks at one end. The snugs were quite cosy giving a real country pub feel, with carpet on the floors, plenty of black beams on the low ceiling, bookcase style wallpaper and a fireplace. Beers on tap included a good selection from Titanic as would be expected with their Plum Porter, Iceberg, White Star and Steerage and these were joined by Little Critters Necktar, Everards Tiger and Medusa, Tiny Rebel Dunk and Castle Rock Sweet Disposition. Ciders meanwhile were Inch’s Medium Apple and Old Mout Berries & Cherries. Overall, despite the disappointing cider choice, I quite liked it in here and would happily pop in again if in the area.

The Cheshire Cheese is a long and thin pub with a serving counter mid-way along the rear wall and seating either side. There’s a nice round banquette snug opposite the counter. One of the ten hand pumps on the bar was unused so available were Titanic’s own Steerage, Iceberg, White Star, Plum Porter and First Class as well as Thornbridge’s Bess and Great Outdoors, Everards Tiger and Signature Brew’s EP. My visit was late on a recent Wednesday evening so it was quiet, but the barman was polite enough and I enjoyed another great pint of the porter. I’ll revisit when back in town.

On visiting back in October, I was lucky enough to discover both Cherry Porter and Plum Porter in their Grand Reserve forms available on cask. A half of each had to be done, and set me back £5. Needless to say, both ales were gorgeous and on excellent form here. Food is served, and it was fairly busy on my Thursday afternoon visit towards the tail end of lunch time.

This is a smartly presented pub at the bottom end of town, operated by the ever reliable Titanic Brewery. You enter into a nice quarry stone floored main bar area with dark wood timbers across the ceiling and plain painted, lincrusta walls with a matching dado. The bar is on the rear wall, slightly to the left of the front door, and has a grey tongue and groove panelled counter and simple bar back. There's an awful lot of standing room here with the odd high table and stool breaking the space up a little, whilst nicer seating options can be found in a carpeted space to the left, with comfy banquettes along the front and left walls and some regular chairs in support. All of the tables had a small vase of flowers on them whilst the walls were decorated with various Titanic themed bits and a handy beer board on the back wall. Another such seating area extends to the right and has bookcase-effect wallpaper and a large plain mirror above a nice fireplace on the end wall. There are plenty more seats in here, although first impresions suggested this might be more of a dining area. Titanic beers lead the way on the handpulls, with Plum Porter, Cherry Porter, Iceberg, Steerage and White Star available alongside guests in the form of Everards Tiger, Bradfield Farmers Belgian Blue and Signature Brew Roadie. A friendly barmaid poured me a great pint of the White Star, which I slowly supped whilst trying to properly take this pub in. I've always enjoyed my visits to Titanic pubs and this place was no exception to that rule. I found it to be a well looked after pub, which was reflected in its good quality ale and friendly service. This qas probably the pick of the pubs I visited in Buxton and would be first on my list for a revisit. Date of visit - 17th January 2024