Shire Horse, Trinity Fields, Stafford

Official site of Shire Horse - www.chefandbrewer.com

Official site of Shire Horse - www.chefandbrewer.com

The Shire Horse is a Chef & Brewer pub located adjacent to one of the two Premier Inns in this northern part of Stafford. The exposed brick and timber interior is L-shaped with a central L-shaped bar counter that supports premium keg and four hand pumps that were drawing Greene King’s Old Speckled Hen and IPA. The long split-level right hand side of the pub is for dining, the passive aggressive barman didn’t like me looking around it. When I said that I wasn’t eating he said that I had to sit in the small tile floored bar area to the left of the entrance. This area had people eating in it and I had to share a table with someone else when the rest of this large pub was empty. Very odd. Muted BBC news was on a television above the fireplace on the left hand wall and some background music was being piped through low quality speakers. By the entrance is a doggie station with water, treats and blankets. I imagine that the dogs are also only allowed in the left hand holding pen. When making my notes my phone autocorrected the pub’s name to Shite Horse, I thought this was very apt. I’ll not be returning here.

A detached Chef & Brewer chain pub and eatery, with patio areas. The place may look a little like an Elizabethan winged-corridor house, in white and green render and undressed brick, but it does in fact date from 2002, as it is in a retail park next to a Premier Inn, like it's neighbour the Redhill - a modern Brewers Fayre place. The interior is a big open-plan L-shaped room and is mainly laid out for food. The pub is in white, coffee wood panel, wood panel, undressed brick and beams - some made to look weathered. It is like a Vintage Inn too be fair and i think the same people do the menus. There are brick fireplaces and lots of old local photos on the walls, alond with WWII warplanes (Spitfire and Hurricane, i guess as these are the road names). The service is friendly and the chap behind the bar knew something of real ale, which was nice to see. The clientele were mixed, but there were some teens in that seemed to insist on making strange noises - like a barnacle goose on an Attenborough programme. There was no music and i didn't see a TV. I didn't eat, but the menu looked decent and they have many themed food nights. Beer; tap stuff, with Adnams Bitter, Greene King IPA and Brewdog Trashy Blonde, which was fine. Whilst this place is modern, it at least tries to be a bit different from the stereotypical chain pub/eatry like it's neighbour.