Sun Inn, Stafford

The Sun is a Titanic Brewery pub with 12 pumps on the bar, all but a couple from the host brewery, so you're getting pretty much the full range. There's a variety of rooms inside, of various sizes and on several levels. Late afternoon, there's just quiet chatter from the various groups, with no background music at all, so it's all very relaxing. With the substantial range, served in great quality and a great atmosphere, this one's worth an extended stop.

This is a large Titanic pub with a handy location that makes it one of the first pubs you see if approaching along the main road from the station. You enter into a cosy upper bar area with the servery straight ahead and plenty of seating to the right. The bar has a nice dark wood counter and matching bar back, and there is some cosy seating to the front, beneath the windows, and to the far right, around a lit fireplace, with some high tables and stools in the mix as well. To the left, a sequence of additional seating spaces unfolds, including a walk through, snug-like area with a couple of tables, which gives way to a lower, flagstone floored room with tables and chairs through the centre and a few banquette booths to the right. The room has some low wood panelling and a semi-retained partitioning wall, through which you can access what would once have been a neighbouring property. The partitioning of this area into separate rooms, gives it a cosy, almost intimate feel, despite the large front windows which allow passers by to snoop on the punters within. Two huge anchors hammer home the Titanic theme, as do a mix of contemporary art prints, old maps, photos and pictures that liberally line the walls. There's a final carpeted seating space beyond, with tables and chairs plus some comfy sofas and a fireplace at the far end, surrounded by modern wallpaper and lots more breweriana and traditional pictures. A healthy selection of Titanic beers are supported on the handpulls, with options on this visit amounting to Titanic Steeerage, Chocolate and Vanila Stout, White Star, Iceberg, Plum Porter and First Class, plus guests in the shape of Everards Tiger, Salopian Hop Twister and Firkin Freezing and MHB Summit. My pint of the Stout was in excellent condition and, whilst the pub was quieter than some of the town's other top alehouses, there was still a decent atmosphere and a warm welcome from the friendly barman. I thought this was a smart, well laid out pub with several comfortable seating areas and some excellent beer to choose from. I called in late on a mid-week evening, so probably didn't catch it at its best, but I saw enough to convince me that this is a quality pub and I think it would be my first port of call the next time I'm in town. Date of visit - 18th January 2024

The Sun Inn is the first Titanic Brewery pub that I’ve visited. This is a large space with numerous split-level seating areas in the left-hand side. To the right is an L-shaped bar counter that supports premium and craft keg, and I counted 12 hand pumps split across the front and rear of the counter. These were drawing what must have been Titanic’s full range of White Star, Plum Porter, Iceberg, Anchor, Steerage, Captain Smiths and Cherry Porter. Also available were Uttoxeter Brewing’s Earth Mover, Beartown’s Crème Bearlee, Welbeck Abbey Brewery’s Georgiana, Salopian’s Lemon Dream and Everards Tiger. I went for both the Titanic Porters, preferring the Plum to the Cherry. The service was friendly and up behind the bar in the right rear corner is a dartboard. I liked it in here and will return, but next time I will try to remember that the entrance is very low so that I don’t bash my head on it again.

My first time in a pub in Stafford, but being with two friends, one of whom I had not seen since before the coronavirus pandemic, I did not take the copious notes that I would normally have made with this review in mind. Suffice to say that this is a Titanic pub, with six of their own beers and a guest, plus the Everards Tiger which signals this as a Project William pub; though my Stafford friend suggests that is no longer the case and the Everards beer is more of a courtesy or gentlemen's agreement. Whatever, I enjoyed my pint of Tiger, although it was not as good as some I have had, and my companions on their Titanic beers were not effusive in their praise either. Having recently had a couple of poor beers in the Brunswick Inn in Derby, another Project William pub, the thought occurs: are these pubs putting on more beers than they can sell? To be fair, none of our beers were actually "off", but being used to drinking in pubs where the licensees are careful to watch the quality of their beers and the turnover, I am aware more than I used to be of the difference between beer that is just ok and that which is excellent. This was just ok.