The Treacle Tap, Macclesfield

This is a comfy little micropub with a good location just down the road from Macclesfield station. Inside, you find a smart, bare boarded room with plain painted walls and a small servery in the rear left corner. Comfy looking banquettes run down the right-hand wall, with regular tables and chairs down the left side. The walls have been decorated with large mirrors, various bits of breweriana, some photo montages and a few small, framed local photos with scrabble letters used as captions. There is a beer bottle, used as a vase for some flowers, on each table, and I noticed an upright piano to the rear right, with a bookcase above full of bar games and books, with a sheaf of wheat to one side. Framed beer mats on the opposite wall and some promotional pictures in the corridor leading to the toilets round out the decor. The bar has a rather plain counter front and the keg taps are mounted to one side of the modern bar back, with several nice brewery signs on the wall opposite. There was quite a chilled midweek vibe, although the atmosphere was somewhat diminished by the selection of crap pop tunes playing in the background. I'm not aware of a tie to the Buxton Brewery, but their beer dominated the bar, with cask options amounting to Buxton Monsal Mild, Right To Roam and Spa, whilst a load of other Buxton brews were available on keg dispense. The staff were pretty friendly and my pint of the Right To Roam was in good nick. I thought this might be the stand out pub from my time exploring Macclesfield, and whilst it still probably ranks in the top three, it didn't quite hits the heights I'd expected. Perhaps that was partly due to the Buxton beer range - a favourite brewery of mine, but I'd just visited two of their own bars in Buxton that afternoon, and was ready to try something else. It's still a fine micropub and well worth checking out though and I'm glad I managed to squeeze in a visit before I left. Date of visit - 17th January 2024

Stereotypical micro-pub, surprisingly (or worryingly) quiet later on a Saturday evening. Eight wooden tables of various types, with tea lights. Three real ales available on handpump: Rooster's Buckeye, Marble Bitter (£3.80) and Muesli from Manchester Brewing.