The Last Heretic, Burton On Trent Town, Burton on Trent

Be careful of opening times here. They are listed on a sign in the doorway and whilst they don't normally open on a Tuesday, they clearly state that they do open when Burton Albion are playing at home. My first ever visit to Burton Albion's stadium and I found them (and the nearby Weighbridge) closed. I plan to return some time in 2025, but will make sure it is on a weekend or on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday evening.

Just around the corner from the train station, this is a very pleasant micropub in the classic shop-converted format. The pub has a narrow, rectangular, bare boarded interior with seating down either side and a small servery towards the rear. The large shop window at the front has been draped with fairy lights, much like most of Burton’s other micropubs, and beneath there is a large upturned barrel with a glass top and a few high stools around it. Pews and chairs fill the rest of the room, under walls painted in nice warm shades. The bar has a part brick and part wood panel counter with a temperature controlled taproom behind, where all of the beers are poured straight from the barrel. Large beer boards to the right detail the full drinks range, including wine, gin and a few bottle and can options. Elsewhere, the decor includes the obligatory black and white photos of local scenes, random bits of breweriana and a high shelf full of bottles, jugs, tankards and the like. Beyond the bar, a narrow corridor leads to the toilets and has a few more seats along a drinking ledge, albeit all rather cut-off from the hubbub of the main seating area. There were four cask ales on when I arrived - Blue Monkey Infinity and BG Sips, Thornbridge Sequoia and Dancing Duck Indian Porter - with plenty of craft options on keg, many of which were from these same three brewers, plus six real ciders. The barman was really friendly and poured a great pint of the BG Sips, which I really enjoyed as my long day crawling around town started to draw to a conclusion. I really liked this one and thought it was the best of the four Burton micropubs I’d visited that day. It hit the spot on pretty much everything, from comfy seats, to friendly staff and great beer, and only really loses marks for some of the usual micropub complaints, such as the rather uninspiring shop converted premises.

This was my last venue of the day on the recent Pubs Galore trip to Burton and I found it a very good comfortable micro pub. A single thin room ( I’m guessing shop conversion) with differing seating styles and then apparently with the benefit of a sizeable additional outside section at the back, although I didn’t get to see this due to the lateness of the hour. Beers come from racked barrels in a small cooler room behind the main serving area and for my Friday evening visit there were three cask ales ( Heritage Brewery Platinum Ale, Dancing Duck 22 Best Bitter and Dancing Duck Dark Drake Oatmeal Stout), two keg beers ( Wilde Childe Brownie Huntress Stout and Jaipur American style IPA) and the permanent Freedom 4 Craft Lager. I initially went for the Dark Drake as I had experienced an excellent pint of this in The Crossing earlier in the day. Unfortunately the one here was as flat as a pancake and well past it’s best. Fortunately however it was exchanged without quibble by the bar person for the Wilde Childe Brownie Huntress , which I should have gone for in the first place but didn’t want to break my run of being on cask all day. It was excellent and one of the best beers of the day. Station Street was already a fantastic road for a pint close to the station with the fine historical trio of The Roebuck, the Devonshire Arms and the exquisite Coopers and the Last Heretic just improves that situation further.

Micro-pub in a typical converted shop unit, with a single step between the seating and bar areas. Mix of furniture, and decoration is mostly in the form of B&W local history photographs. Real ales served by gravity from cask on a multi-level stillage in the cool room behind the compact counter, and I found three being served: 22 and Dark Drake from Dancing Duck plus HPA from the local Heritage Brewery (£1.80, half).

Yet another micro in a shop conversion, with some of the seating in pews and beers on a stillage in a cool room behind the little bar counter. Just myself, the barmaid and one other customer when I was in and we were soon in a good conversation, as the previous reviewer. Cask beers on were Jaipur, Heritage Platinum, Dancing Duck 22 and Dark Drake, and Wilde Childe Brownie Huntress. A pleasure to visit and would happily have spent (much) longer.

I'm leaning toward Bucking Fastards camp on this one, couldnt really fault it on a Saturday lunchtime, great beer , chatty landlord and customers. Had Blue Monkey Ape Ale and Heritage P2, both on cask and very good, handy for the station so a winner for me.

Oblong room painted in an ill-advised green grey colour all round so gloom central, as well as being almost empty on my Thursday night visit bar some Ladz with Epic Bantz. Four ales available from a cold store, quite an eclectic choice (Brewhouse & Kitchen, Brewers Droop, Abstract Elephant and Isle of Purbeck) and five ciders plus some foreign bottles. My Elephant, whilst ostensibly in decent nick, wasn’t a particularly pleasant beer (the brewer subsequently told me that the beer was brewed in Autumn the previous year and was past its BBE…). Didn’t really care for this one the weakest of the three Burton micros in my view.