Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

The former named Stone Pier Inn is now called Harbour Inn built 1860, has nautical ornaments & pictures of old Edinburgh and the surrounding area on the walls. On the exterior there is a model of an old-fashioned lighthouse, which replaced a half ship which emerged at right angles was an accurate replica of HMS Britannia and a sign with details of the surrounding area. The pub was voted into 2nd place, pub of the year in 2017 by the readers of the Edinburgh news. On draught the beers & lagers available are Carling, Furstenberg Tennent’s, Belhaven Best, Guest Ossian & Guinness. Ciders available are Strongbow, Kopparberg & Magners. The bottled beers are Budweiser, Corona Extra, Peroni & Smirnoff Ice. The spirits available are in a measure of 35ml. Real ale is available. There are meals available which can be eaten inside and at the outside seating. There is very limited parking in front of the pub.

We walked here along the canal tow path from Bugsworth basin and the Navigation Inn - a very pleasant walk. There are five hand pumps in the bar and a friendly welcome, but the four changing beers mentioned on WhatPub have now become just two: Courage Directors and another mainstream beer. There were also three keg beers. Sorry, craft ales. I tried the Space Suit orange pale ale, but was not terribly impressed. We were a little disappointed with the beer range but happy enough with our trip out here. (It was about to go downhill, as we waited 40 minutes for our bus to Chapel en le Frith, but that's another story.)

Named after a famous market in Sicily this is a smart bar and restaurant. There's an upstairs area for diners and some booths downstairs for dining as well. There's loads of barstools and a table for drinkers though. On sunny days there are several tables outside on the pavement as well. No real ale of course and Moretti was £5 per pint, which is a bit steep. It is very pleasant though.

Renamed yet again since my previous visit and although the basic layout remains largely unchanged, it has had a decent refurbishment and now seems generally much more inviting, with a friendly barmaid and quite a relaxed feel to it.

Décor wise it now has something of a rustic feel, with some old wooden beams around and small sections of exposed brickwork. Lighting was provided by exposed filament bulbs, which is of course de rigour in any pub renovation these days. Flooring was mostly dark laminate along with some stripy carpet, and the remaining timberwork was painted a dark green, with white plasterwork elsewhere. Some small sections of stained glass were in the top of the windows. A couple of recessed seating areas with lower ceiling sections looked quite cosy, and the striped bench seating here matched the carpet. A small penny farthing was in one window, whilst elsewhere were a baby grand piano and a guitar, although whether these are used or merely decorative I’m not sure.

Beers on tap were Rebel Kurt and their own Duke of Oxford, whilst a third pump appeared unused. Ciders were well represented with Thatcher’s Gold, Thatcher’s Haze, Lilley’s Elderflower and Lilley’s Somerset Scrumpy. All in all, I thought they had done a decent job here and I hope they’re more successful than most of the previous owners seem to have been.

Situated over the bridge just outside of town The Three Horseshoes is run by 2 elderly gentlemen who have been at the helm for the last 34 years,and on entry you can be forgiven for thinking you were back in the 1950's.There was no draught beer or lager of any description just 3 forlorn old hand pulls which was quite evident they had never pulled any beer in years.Nothing much in the drinkers favour here even the bottle of lager i purchased had to be brought from the back room.