The Monkey Tale, Stone

Opened in late July 2021,this building has been a restaurant and a cocktail bar but has now been lovingly revived as an interesting drinking establishment featuring mainly locally produced libations. Leased from the Crown Hotel but seperate,there is a sunked snug to the left of the entrance with comfy seating,sofas and trad furniture.The modest interior to the right has a few tables while down some steps is the bar with room for a bit of vertical drinking .There is a large bar back,and throughout the interior there are fine details and points of interest. The guv'nor is a friendly chap ,experienced in the pub trade and delighted by the free of tie arrangement here.He stocks locally produce spirits (Newcastle under Lyme ),lagers from Freedom (Abbots Bromley) and his two handpumps were offering Lymestone Ein Stein and Stone the Crows (tip top dark ruby ale,NBSS 4.5,with the guv'nor tasting a sample before serving as I was the first customer of the day,great touch) It's bordering on being a micro,but will probably have an audience wider than just CAMRA types,I really liked it.You can always sample Lymestone at their tap 10 minutes away ,but the ale here was top quality and this place deserves to thrive.4pm opening on my visit,give it a go.