Wheatsheaf Hotel, Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent

When I first walked past the Wheatsheaf Hotel there were two men with hi-vis vests smoking in the entrance and all the blinds were drawn so I thought it was a building site. I only realised this was the pub when I was on my way back up the street. Inside is a central lobby with the toilets straight ahead guarded by a statue of Oliver & Hardy leaning against an old style lamp post. To the left is a room with a pool table and the bar is to the right. The bar has an L-shaped serving counter on the rear wall with a few bar stools. Under the front windows is a beer shelf lined with high swivel stools, I couldn’t decide whether they were comfortable or not. To the right is an exposed brick wall with a large fireplace that houses a burner. Up on the rear wall to the right of the bar counter is a large display case full of curios, and lots of framed cartoons are up on the walls. Also on the wall is a large television that was airing the Chase, the handful of locals were participating in trying to answer the questions. Standard keg is available from the bar and two of the three hand pumps were in operation drawing Greene King’s IPA and London Glory. The service was polite and the locals all seemed friendly enough, but this back street boozer is far enough away from the town centre not to warrant a revisit.

The Wheatsheaf Hotel is a large back street pub. Once inside the pub had two seperate rooms and a drinking corridor,i went in the bar to the left,this was a decent sized oblong shaped room,the floor was wood laminate which looked a bit out of place in this old pub,there was bench seating facing the bar with normal tables and chairs,a local radio station was playing a load of rubbish,apart from the floor the room looked like it had'nt been decorated for years. The large lounge to the right was not in use on my early dinner time visit. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Ruddles best which was not to my taste,the other beers were Old Speckled Hen and a house beer called Landlords special which was a darkish beer and all of the old locals were drinking this. This is a proper unaltered pub with no frills. Pub visited 1/6/2013