Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

Renovated and reopened after several years of neglect, this former coaching inn in the town centre has been tastefully restored, the ground floor opened out to form a single large bar with wood flooring and a smaller dining area at one side with a brick fireplace. There is a car park at the back, part of which has been cordoned off with railway sleepers to form a paved outside seating area, though it’s a bit noisy due to the traffic and the view is sadly lacking. It once again offers B&B. Food is good value, basic bistro food well cooked. There were 6 handpumps on the bar, with three ales: Doombar, Otter Bitter and Exmoor Gold, all in very good condition. There was also a boxed cider and two keg beers from Sharps. Bowls of water were provided for dogs. The staff were very pleasant, and the locals were a decent bunch. A pretty good pub, worth the effort to visit, and I’d like to try the B&B sometime.

All as described below, with rows of long tables between assorted food stalls with a bar on each level. The beers are mainly produced for them but seemed fairly flavourless and certainly not worth the premium prices. The place did have considerable atmosphere however and was pretty well packed most of the evening.

Not bad, and a beautiful interior with its lovely island bar. Pub busy with an after work clientele. staff, and the place itself, seemed a bit stiff and corporate. Five real ales on from somewhere I was unfamiliar but my beer was sadly not the best on this occasion.

The Rodney is a bit of a walk from the town centre but is slap bang next to the rugby stadium. Back when it was listed as serving real ale, this was a contender on a pub crawl of Warrington I did with a friend about three years ago, but it was in the opposite direction from the train station to the rest of the pubs we wanted to do, so time constraints meant we skipped this one. I noticed a few months ago on WhatPub that it is no longer listed as serving real ale, so as I had a bit of time to kill in Warrington today I thought I would check it out for myself, just to satisfy my curiosity more than anything.

Indeed The Rodney is keg only, the most interesting of the keg options being Sharps Atlantic (which was off), Jennings Fine Line and Staropramen, in addition to the more standard stuff including smooth flow bitter.

I went for the Fine Line which wasn't bad, and at £2.50 for a pint can't complain about the price. Although I did order a half and was served a pint...

Sports TV and live entertainment are advertised. No sign of a food menu but there was that slight kitchen odour lingering so I suspect food is offered, at least for part of the day. A pool table is present.

Regulars were crowded round the bar and one of them seemed to have the task of pressing a bell to get the barmaid's attention when a new customer walked in when she was off elsewhere. At just before 5pm most of the customers were older blokes, possibly retired or semi retired, along with one chap who had perhaps knocked off work early and was trying to move away from the "pub" sounds around him when taking a call on his mobile phone. Also at the bar was a chap who bore some resemblance to Phil Mitchell (although less red faced).

Despite looking large from the outside it actually feels fairly small on the inside, probably because it is quite open and has a central and fairly large bar. The gents toilets were clean but dazzling bright compared to the more subdued lighting in the pub.

I can't see this becoming a regular haunt of mine but I'm not sorry I tried it.

Due to open Wednesday 11th December.