Bursley Ale House, Stoke-On-Trent

Although this place is billed as a micropub and is on the Association list it does break two of the guidelines with the TV screens and the fact they sell Guinness and their 13 lager. The screens were showing that 80s music channel on my visit but BT Sport is advertised outside. At least it doesn't seem to have Karaoke nights like one of the Redcar micropubs! Ignoring that it's been more than well described below but I would add that the toilets here are upstairs. I was the first one in at midday but a few people started drifting in. The seven hand pumps had two ciders, Town House Bramling Cross, Leatherbritches Ashbourne IPA, Oakham Inferno, Clouded Minds Hazel Nutter and Bradfield Farmer's Stout. I went for the Ashbourne IPA (£3.20) which was excellent. It's a nice enough place but the TV screens mean it loses a point from me.

A fairly simple place housed in a nice old Georgian townhouse – it doesn’t exactly look like a pub from the outside and you’d be forgiven for walking straight past it. Seven pumps containing six ales and one cider with a good selection of micros. We went for Oakham Citra and a Fyne Cairn Dhu which were both in good nick but were also a bit on the chilly side. To the right of the bar is a glass cabinet where the barrels are racked, which was an impressive feature. It’s a nice enough place for a pint but lacks the cosiness to make you stay for a session, I think.

Set in a fine looking Georgian building near the main crossroads in the centre of Burslem, this was previously known as Chambers Wine Bar before its conversion to a micro pub in late 2014. The place doesn’t look much like a pub on approach, thanks to the well kept gravel front garden with a few nice seating options and the impressive facade of the attractive building. Once inside, you’re greeted by the servery which is directly opposite the front door and has a modern counter and plain wall bar back decorated with various pump clips. The bar area has stone tile flooring which looks very nice but is pretty unforgiving if you happen to drop your glass, as one chap found out to his cost during my visit. To the right there is a glass fronted cabinet in which all the beers are racked. The proprietor was having considerable difficulty changing a beer when I arrived and the fact that the cabinet doors open out across part of the bar counter meant that it became rather squeezed at the bar whilst they tried to fix the problem. There’s not much room for seating here, with just two tables along the front wall, but over to the left you’ll find a bare boarded space with around half a dozen tables served by padded chair and pew seating. There is a fireplace to one side and TV screens were showing an 80’s music channel which kept being interrupted by annoying ad breaks which played through the pub. Decor included various black and white photos and front pages from the local paper, giving a glimpse into Burslem through the ages. Stairs to the rear lead up to a plain first floor area with laminate flooring and lots of modern padded chairs. This room can be hired for private events and felt a bit like an overspill space with much less atmosphere than the fairly busy main bar downstairs. A board on a pillar to the left of the bar listed the full ale range and those that were due to come on next. Options on this visit were Thornbridge Lord Marples, Millstone Stout, Townhouse Meg’s Mild (£3.10) and Flowerdew, plus Oakham Inferno which went off but was eventually replaced with their Green Devil IPA. Two real ciders rounded out the handpulled options and there were various interesting bottles on the go as well and my pint of mild was in fine shape. A good mixed clientele seemed to be split roughly 50/50 between the ales and bottled lagers. On opening, this was only the second micro pub in Staffordshire and I think it would be fair to say that its introduction in Burslem provided a much needed alternative to the town’s well established circuit of traditional ale houses. I found this to be a very smartly presented venue with some well kept beer and comfortable seating which fits seamlessly into a crawl around Burslem.