Hops, Crewe

Looks like a converted house – not too obvious on approach. A Belgian style café bar, as the name suggests; perhaps not what you’d expect to find in this rough and ready town. Interior wasn’t overly memorable, perhaps much less of a homage/pastiche than I was expecting. GBG listed with a fair selection of cask here (six in all) but I was drawn to the Belgian draft and bottled stuff, with an 8.8% Xmas beer on keg (Gordon Xmas by Brewery John Martin & Brewery Timmermans) which was lovely and reasonably priced. Nice quiet place on early Sunday afternoon with friendly punters, I liked it here and would absolutely make the effort to get off the train and spend a bit longer next time.

Upping my rating following a recent re-visit. This time there were a few more customers in so there was a bit more atmosphere. Service was friendly. The two cask ales I sampled were on top form.

Official site of Hops - hopsbelgianbar.co.uk

Official site of Hops - hopsbelgianbar.co.uk

Visited on a recent Thursday evening after 7pm, and Hops was pretty quiet with just another couple of customers present. This is a Belgian style bar but also does cask ales, which was the reason for my visit. Six hand pulls and five of those were on at the time of my visit, including Tom's Tap & Brewhouse Coffee Stout, which I went for. A local brewery being represented is always good to see. Doesn't seem to have gone overboard on the Belgian theme - there are plenty of historic photos on the walls, framed CAMRA 'Pub of the Year' awards and some Belgian beer signage. There is an upstairs area that I didn't investigate. Would probably be more enjoyable with more customers in, to generate a bit more atmosphere - but service was friendly and it's not a bad place at all and well worth checking out.

Hops is a Belgian style café-bar that looked extremely inviting as I approached on a recent sunny Saturday afternoon. Most of the café tables out the front were being used and there were a couple of beardy types ready newspapers in the bar area. The serving counter is found to the left of the entrance and seating takes up the rest of the ground floor. This isn’t the biggest place so I imagine it gets a bit cosy when the weather isn’t so clement. There was some low background music playing, which I think was just a radio behind the bar for the benefit of the friendly barmen rather than the customers. There are some stairs that I didn’t venture up. The bar supports six hand pumps and five of these were in operation during my visit. These were drawing Salopian Shropshire Gold, Thornbridge Lord Marples and Redwillow Weightless alongside Ship of Fools and Abyss from Neptune. There is also a craft keg selection. This place is well worth a look.

Although branding itself as a Belgian-style café bar, this is also a fine (and award-winning) real ale and cider pub. The exterior gives the appearance of a converted detached house, although the inside has been opened-out and given a comprehensively modern makeover. Yes, there is a good selection of draught and bottled Belgian beers, but my eye was inevitably drawn to the choice from the six handpumps. These included a couple from Cwrw Ial, one each from Mallinson's, Rat and the local Tom's Tap, but I went for the Brewsmith Bitter (which was much lighter than expected, but in fine form).

An unpromisingly unpublike building from the outside, but once inside this is clearly the best pub in Crewe, as attested by numerous awards and continuing presence in the Good Beer Guide. The lad running the bar had clearly not expected so many Luton Town fans to come looking for good real ale, as he appeared to be on his own. I was quite early and when I had the last drop from a barrel of Trawlerboys Best Bitter (a little cloudy but still in good nick), he had time to start pulling the next beer through before too many thirsty Hatters arrived. When I called back on the way to the ground it was full, but I managed to get served with an excellent half - no make that a pint please - of Titanic Captain Smith. (Other beers can be seen in my photos.) This pub is a good 15 minutes walk from the station, but it would be worthwhile getting off your train, walking up here for a beer or two and then back for the next train an hour later. Believe me, it's the only reason for getting off a train in Crewe. Date of visit: 25th November 2017