The Castle, Macclesfield

Pub SignMan left this review about The Castle

This is a cosy, multiple roomed pub with bags of character, handily located close to the station. The entrance porch has a door to the right for a nice little snug bar, or else continues straight on along a corridor which gives access to other rooms. The snug is a pleasant spot with limited seating and access to the main part of the servery where all the handpulls can be found. Dark wood panels, leaded front windows and an extensive pump clip collection around the walls and ceiling, give the room the feel of a traditional alehouse and the bar has a tongue and groove panelled counter with the bar back to one side, allowing you to look through to the second bar in the back room. The corridor passes a small serving hatch with some nice glasswork, opposite which is a room to the left with nice wood panelling and a good amount of bench and chair seating, plus an old fireplace on the end wall. The rear bar is to the right, in a bare boarded room with low wood panelling, a large rug, a big pub sign style mural, a long curved banquette with bell pushes on the board behind, an attractive tiled fireplace and some patterned leaded glasswork with a full height window above that looks back into the corridor. An open window space at the back looks through to a large rear room which has plenty more tables and chairs, another fireplace with an elaborately framed mirror above and a collection of pub games on the rear window sill. At the end of the corridor, there's a high skylight and the wall here is lined with many potted plants. Indie tunes played quite loudly, which seemed at odds with the pub's general character.
The bar supports three cask ales ,which were Intrepid B'am, Tattoo Best and Whim Flower Power on this occasion. A very friendly barmaid poured me an excellent pint of the Best, then came over and fixed my wobbly table before offering to light the fire for me - now that is attentive service. All the locals seemed to have a good rapport with the staff too, and I got the impression this was a popular pub, despite the quiet, mid-afternoon turnout.
I was really impressed with this place, which I thought had a great interior, some very well-kept ale and top class service. It was the first pub I visited when I got off the train in Macclesfield and I'm not convinced I saw a better one during my two days here.

Date of visit - 16th January 2024

On 12^th May 2024 - rating: 8
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