bod, Stafford

This is a sizable cafe bar hidden away in a suburb south east of the town centre, occupying two knocked through shop units on a small parade. The pub has a single, tiled floor room with plenty of seating including a button backed banquette to the left, standard tables and chairs through the centre, plush armchairs to the front, high tables and stools near the bar and a couple of banquette booths in the rear right corner. Large shop windows to the front and right allow plenty of light into the front part of room, but once you're past the row of large structural support pillars in the centre, things become a lot darker and therefore feel a bit cosier. The room has a chic but somewhat rustic feel, with bare brick walls, scruffy wood cladding, exposed utilities, decorative ceiling tiles and the bar's name spelled out in big letter-shaped light features to one side. The servery is to the rear and has a timber fronted counter and matching bar back with lots of plants hanging from it. A separate cafe servery to the rear left has the same counter, but with a white tile bar back with hot drink options detailed on a board. There are lots of potted plants dotted all over the room, including on some high shelving units above the front windows and a pump clip collection snakes around the bar. I noted four Titanic beers on the bar plus two guests, one of which was Everards Tiger, but as I'd arrived early in the day for some breakfast, the beer wasn't being served yet and I had to make do with a pot of tea instead. The breakfast was very tasty, as was the brownie that I bought for my journey home, but things weren't exactly cheap and so I'm not sure I really got good value for money. I liked the feel of this bar, which was doing a great trade from the local pensioners popping in for some morning tea and brunch. I would obviously have preferred to have visited later in the day, so I could sample some of their ale range, but it has a bit of a micropub feel and may well justify the trek out from the town centre to explore. Date of visit - 19th January 2024

The original bod on Bodmin Avenue in a small shopping parade,a cafe bar owned by Titanic and formerly a Co-op which has moved over the road into a site formerly a pub !. It's a square room with a long bench seat in brown leather,some sofas,high tables,coffee tables and an L shaped bar sporting cake displays but with a row of handpumps offering on my trip Titanic Plum Porter (NBSS 4),Iceberg (NBSS 4),Steerage,Anchor ,Everards Tiger and Hopnosis DDH Pale.Usual pub hours are kept and there is outside seating for good weather. The only place to really drink in Weeping Cross and well worth the hike up from the canal.I will most certainly return.

Surprisingly located in a suburban shopping precinct, the modern café / bar seems to attract a mixed clientele attracted by both aspects of the operation. Light and airy inside the single square room, with some small tables out in the sunshine on the front pavement. Four Titanic real ales plus a pair from 4Ts: Busman's Holiday Bitter and Hop Monster Series #24 (Citra & Ekuanot, £3.80). Also has a row of craft keg taps on the bar-back.

This is an unusual Titanic outlet in that it's a cafe / bar set at the end of a few shops in a modern area of housing on the Eastern edge of Stafford. I got here a few minutes before midday on a Tuesday when it was much more of a cafe than a bar as they don't serve alcohol until midday. There were quite a few people in for coffee and snacks. It's a roughly square room with an unfinished looking ceiling and mostly low seating. I would imagine it becomes more like a pub later in the day. The rear of the bar has six hand pumps which had four Titanic beers, Dark Star Hophead and Battledown Amber. I went for their Iceberg (£3.20) which was outstanding. It's an odd place this but worth a look. The 825 Lichfield bus goes here from opposite Stafford Station or outside the Sun.