The Crown Inn, Rugeley

The Crown Inn is a white painted pub that is situated next to the Trent and Mersey canal. Once inside the main room is oblong shaped with the bar facing,the room is bare boarded,there is comfy bench seating facing the bar,there was a TV to the left showing rugby. There is also a small room to the front right and a room to the rear which is down a few steps. There was one real ale on the bar which was Bass,this was a decent enough drink. The pub was quite busy on our late Saturday afternoon visit with drinkers. This was a pleasant enough pub to end our crawl in. Pub visited 7/3/2015

Having lived in Handsacre for 6 years, I can say that the refurbishment and new ownership of The Crown has been a godsend. Up until the refurb, it was not somewhere that many of us would want to drink as it was so shabby, the toilets were pretty grotty and it was really uncomfortable. Following this refurb, it is now a comfy pub and the new owners are very welcoming. It makes a lovely change to having to drink at The Old Pec just because it was the best of a bad bunch of pubs in the village. The beer garden is lovely on a warm day and beats the tiny seating area at The Old Pec anyday.

Next door to "Old Market" Moved on map ,somewhere near here. The car park is shown to the right hand side.

Sadly, as Mr Harvey decided to review my review rather than the pub i decided to revisit it, as well as the others in in Armitage/Handsacre and see. Also, the word limit than constriced my previous review has been lifted, so i can explain and expand on what i have said. Hopefully this will show that i am not against Ken (i rated the Fox as the best pub in Shenstone) and "Why don’t folks stop knocking this pub" doesnt actually apply to me. I leave comments, i do not leave stars. My comments are personal to my interests - traditional feel, inside and out, MILD and real ales, and good service. So: A nice, c19th at least, white painted brick build, detached, by the side of the Trent & Mersey Canal, with excellent beer garden. (this hasnt changed and is an honest opinion) The interior sadly is modern, so with red and white walls, arty pictures (this came from the small area behind the bar with the large flower on the wall and the coloured canal photo), sofas (my error - i saw the perimeter seat in the 'fireplace' room and thought it was one) half backed chairs (there are three in the fireplace area). Two rooms, the larger open plan around the bar (this incorporated the small annex - it didnt have a door, just an arch, hence open plan around the bar), all loungy/foody kind of rooms (round tables are bar tables to me, the oblong ones are lounge and food - there are no round tables, all can be set out for food. Food is advertised on the side of the pub and on several blogs, i dont think it is a small part of what the pub does - but as a local, you would know more than I). The décor was green and white (sadly this part refers to the brick partition fireplace area and corridor, which i did class as a separate room rather than call it all open plan - word count meant i was going to cut it all out and put it in the genric bit about modern interiors). Soulless (i am a historian - it is a soulless to me - that's my opinion). Service was very good (and was so second time - so not running the place down) and the clientele more mature. Beer; usual tap tosh (i dont drink keg beer, unless there is a MILD, i prefer some keg MILD to real ales, sadly, the Crown does not cater for MILD drinkers, there for, in my opinion the rest is bog standard Tetley/Guinnes/Strongbow kind of stuff - i use the same, or similar phrase even in my favourite places) with Pedigree, Bass and GK IPA on handpulls (Ped and Bass were still on when i returned, no others - however, these ales and the others on are the more common locally, or nationally). The Ped was very good (excellent even, and was the second time). I wouldn’t really bother unless it was a hot day, as the beer garden is nice. Modern interiors are ten a penny. (i warmed a little more to the interior of this place as on my last visit it was too dark to go in the beer garden, there were some canal pictures and a few buckets on the window sill, then i also noticd the modern vases dotted about) It was nice that some of the locals said goodnight as i left. Sorry, Sir, i just dont go with the modern look. Saying that, i visited the Plum Pudding, which is far worse. I also visited the Swan, as a local pub - that was shabby - please see my reviews. The best local pub - in my opinion, is the Old Pec, the Crown more than matches it for service and beats it on beer garden, but it is better on the beer choice and interior. I am sure we will agree to disagree on this - i hope this gives some publicity to the pub and gets you more custom - i dont want to see it close, but i am entitled to an opinion. Best thing is to say to people reading this is have a look at the pictures on the website and http://thelichfieldblog.co.uk/2009/07/22/the-crown-inn-re-opens-to-great-praise-in-handsacre/ and make up your own minds. Hope they visit and take care.

“arty pictures, sofas and half backed chairs. Two rooms” I sometime wonder if people walk round with blinkers on. This pub as three rooms no sofas and if half backed chairs mean the two armchairs by the log fire that’s it. A lot of time and money as been spent on this pub to bring it back from the dead it is now a lovely place to go with your partner/family for a cosy drink or a meal. It is not a food pub, food is a small part of what this pub is about yes it caters for people who want to eat in the day and early evening. The staff are always friendly and the beer is good I don’t drink “Tap Tosh” but lots do and I am told is very good as for the real ales they have, I find them always of the highest quality. Why don’t folks stop knocking this pub and appreciate the fact we now have a lovely pub we can all use. Would they want see it closed along with the many pubs closing each week, sorry some times we have to move on to save what we have this pub was in free fall it was closed for 4 mounts in 2008. I for one thank the new owners for saving it.