Potters Bar - CAMRA Potteries

POTTERS 

OF THE POTTERIES BRANCH 

OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE 

BARNEWSLETTER 

No.149 Spring 2012 

CAMRA's National Inventory: 

Historic Pubs in North Staffordshire 

FREE

LOCAL 

BEER 

FESTIVALS 

MARCH 

Thurs 8th- Sun 11th : 

Newcastle Rugby 

Club, Lilleshall 

Road, Clayton, 

ST5 3BX 

Opens: 

Thurs: 7pm Fri: 

5pm Sat & Sun: 

12noon 

Wed 14 th – 

Sun 1 st April: 

Wetherspoons 

Spring Beer 

Festival at 

Bradley Green, 

Biddulph, 

Reginald Mitchell, 

Hanley, Arnold 

Machin, 

Newcastle and 

Wheatsheaf, 

Stoke including 

Thurs 15 th : Meet 

the Brewer Night 

with Brad from 

Lymestone at The 

Wheatsheaf, 8pm. 

Thurs 29th- Sat 31st : 

Fenton Bowling 

and Tennis Club, 

Claud Street, 

Heron Cross, 

ST4 4LL 

Opens: 

Thurs & Fri: 7pm 

Sat: 1.30pm 

Wed 28 th - 

Sat 31 st : 

Rode Park and 

Lawton Cricket 

Club, Knutsford 

Road, Rode Heath, 

ST7 3QT 

Opens: 

Wed & Thurs: 6pm 

Fri: 5.30pm 

Sat: 12noon 

APRIL 

Thurs 5 th – 

Mon 9 th : 

White Star, 

Kingsway, Stoke, 

ST4 1JB 

Opens: 

Thurs: 6pm 

Fri-Mon: 11am 

Sat 28 th - 

Sun 29 th : 

Rock, Booze and 

Blues Weekend, 

Jervis Arms, 

Onecote, ST13 

7RU 

Opens: 

12noon both days 

MAY 

Thurs 17 th - 

Sun 20 th : 

The Congress, 

Sutherland Road, 

Longton. ST3 1HJ 

Opens: 

Thurs: 6pm Fri- 

Sat: 12noon 

Fri 18 th – 

Sun 20 th : 

The 2nd Gresley 

Arms Folk N Ale 

Festival, High 

Street, Alsagers 

Bank, ST7 8BQ 

Opens: 

12noon every day 

Fri 25 th - 

Sun 27 th : 

The Huntsman, 

The Green, 

Cheadle, 

ST10 1XS 

Opens: 

12noon every day 

Welcome 

to the Spring 

POTTERS BAR! 

Just as it was forecast in ancient times, Spring has come to us all, a 

time for much rejoicing and rejuvenating of the leaves that have lain 

dormant during the long, hard winter; and, within the exalted circles 

of CAMRA, a time to give the porters and stouts a rest and turn to that 

most refined of ales, the mild. For the past five years, the CAMRA Potteries 

Branch has organised a successful and revered Mild Trail; but it was felt 

that it was time to give it a rest, and so no such Mild Trail inhabits the 

centre pages this year. However, do not let this put you off imbibing the 

delectable drink: the good publicans within the branch region will no 

doubt still be celebrating by adorning their bars with as many milds as 

they can feasibly get away with, so begin the month with a trip to The 

Blue Bell in Kidsgrove which always has a good selection; then travel 

around the Titanic pubs to drink offerings from the Burslem brewery and 

other; up to The Black Lion at Consall Forge to sample the delicious Black 

Hole by Peakstones Rock; or you could simply wander through the streets 

and pubs of Leek, counting up the milds you find on the fingers of six 

hands, as exemplified by our Wandering the Streets article this issue. 

The Campaign for Real Ale, as suggested by the name, campaigns for 

real ale; but beyond this, other areas are covered too, which can all too 

easily be forgotten about or simply ignored. One is these is about 

the preservation and conservation of historic pubs and so The National 

Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors was created for just such a purpose; 

while not necessarily luminaries of the real ale scene in the same way as 

the pubs contained within the pages of The Good Beer Guide, these pubs 

need to be protected, as they form part of the history of our pubs. We have 

three pubs within the branch area that fall under this remit and you can 

read about them in the article featured on the cover of this issue. 

Another aspect of the real ale world that is often overlooked and 

forgotten about by CAMRA, of course, is exactly what Russian school 

children think about English pubs; and you can find out about this within 

these pages also, as our correspondent takes Lymestone Beers on a little 

holiday. 

So whether you are sampling an English mild, a Russian holiday, or 

a little piece of our local history, we hope you enjoy the balmy and 

lengthening nights in a beer garden somewhere and have time to join us 

for one of our many exciting campaigning activities or mighty socials. 

Martin Perry, Potters Bar Editor 

Many thanks to all the contributors: 

Hayley Armstrong, Gene Bailey, Neil Barratt, Corin Brown, Selwyn Brown, 

Lorna Denny, Maria Dix, Mervyn Edwards, Chris France, Peter Hancock, 

Steve Mollatt, Bob Round, Lyn Sharpe, Henry Sitko 

DEADLINE FOR SUMMER 2012 POTTERS BAR: 

27 th APRIL 2012 

SPRING 2012 POTTERS BAR 3

Potteries CAMRA Branch Pub Of The Month March 2012 

THE GLEBE, STOKE 

35 Glebe Street Stoke (Town) ST4 1HG 

Tel 01782 860670 

On First Bus Route 23 and 23A: Routes 25 and 26 run 

closely 

Opening times 12 noon -11pm Mon-Thurs: 12 noon to 12 

midnight Fri & Sat: 12 noon to 10.30 pm Sun. 

Dogs are allowed after 3pm daily 

This popular pub, close to the civic centre of Stoke, and a five 

minute walk from the railway station, proves that Joules’ Brewery 

excelled itself again with a splendid refurbishment. As with other 

hostelries in the brewery’s portfolio, The Glebe is very stylish in 

many ways, having been brought back to life by skilled craftsmen. 

The fanlights in the windows depict the months of the year, and 

are a particular attraction, having been custom-made to tie-in with 

the originals. The large fireplace is grand and functional, radiating 

heat and the captivating smell of woodsmoke when the log fire is 

lit. 

To the delight of many drinkers, there are three permanent 

well-kept Joules’ beers on tap - Blonde, Slumbering Monk and 

Pale Ale: the latter a nostalgic reproduction of the much-favoured 

beer that ceased to be brewed in the early seventies. A traditional 

cider is always on one of the other pumps, as are Blue Moon 

Wheat Beer, lagers and Stowford Press cider. Polypins and twopint 

cartons facilitate a takeaway service: other capacities are 

also available on request. 

Bottles on sale from the chiller include Belgian beer (the range 

will soon be extended), various flavoured alcoholic concoctions 

and soft drinks. A selection of good quality wines can be bought 

by the glass or the bottle and are reasonably priced. Spirits can 

be doubled for an extra pound. There are four or five choices of 

malt whisky which can also be bought for the same deal. 

Delicious home-cooked food is served from 12 noon-2.30pm & 

from 7pm-9pm Mon-Sat. Mouth-watering Staffordshire cheeses 

with crusty bread, pork pies and home-made pate and chutneys 

are available throughout opening hours, including Sundays. Tea 

and coffee can also be purchased at most times. 

Live bands entertain on Tuesday evenings: (see postings on 

Facebook for up-to-date information) and popular Open Mic 

sessions take place on Thursdays from 8pm. Board games and 

playing-cards can be borrowed and there is a selection of daily 

newspapers for perusal. 

Mein hosts Jason and Sallie, assisted by Sally, Matt and other 

staff, will make you welcome at this venue that is so full of 

character. 

The presentation of the award will take place on Monday 5 th March 

2012 at 9pm. 

Maria Dix 


Potteries CAMRA Branch Pub Of The Month April 2012 

THE BLACK HORSE, CHESTERTON 

The Black Horse in Chesterton is a popular street 

corner locals' pub and is prominently situated in Sutton 

Street at its junction with Castle Street, which is just off 

the London Road roundabout (on the 34 and 34A bus 

route). 

Licensee Carlton Robinson is a genial host, who has been 

successfully running The Black Horse for the last 8 years 

and is only the third landlord at The Black Horse in the 

last 20 years. Carlton is a sponsor and supporter of the 

Stoke Beer Festival and has kindly donated casks of beer 

in successive years. 

The Black Horse was originally built as an Alton's Derby 

Ales house and it still sports some of the original Alton's 

etched glass windows, indicating that at one time there 

were three rooms in this establishment – Public Bar, 

Vaults and Smoke Room. Nowadays the Black Horse 

comprises two rooms - a comfortable lounge on the Sutton 

Street side, with pictures of the pub from days gone by 

adorning the walls opposite a large bar with a substantial 

counter top. On the Castle Street side is a very traditional 

public bar, almost unchanged in 50 years, where pub 

games such as darts and skittles are played. Out back is 

a beer garden with smoking shelter and car park, all which 

used to be a bowling green until the latter half of the 

20th century. 

The beer range varies, but usually includes Greene King 

Abbott and the house beer "Pint'a 'Ollers Duck", brewed 

by Coach House ('Ollers is local name for the Castle 

Street area). There are usually one or two other beers 

available from independent breweries, such as Derventio, 

Peakstones Rock, Cottage, etc. and are always served in 

excellent condition. Carlton knows what his customers 

like and York Brewery's Centurion's Ghost is a particular 

favourite with the 

regulars. It is never 

on the bar for long! 

Excellent quality 

food is served in 

the lounge between 

12 and 3pm during 

the week and 12 

and 4pm at weekends. 

The Black Horse is a true community pub and is a 

very worthy winner of Potteries CAMRA's Pub of the 

Month award once again. The presentation of the award 

certificate and barrel will take place at the pub on Tuesday, 

3rd April, at 9pm. 

Gene Bailey 


Potteries CAMRA Branch Pub Of The Month May 2012 

THE BULLS HEAD, BURSLEM 

The Bulls Head stands in St John’s Square in Burslem, which 

could be the “Real Ale Quarter” of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the 

Titanic brewery Tap and Flagship Pub, ably run by Bob Crumpton 

and his assistant Jim Rae, from whom you are assured of a 

friendly welcome and good beer. There is a cosy lounge with a 

warming fire in winter and a large tap room with all the usual 

games. You will always 

find friendly conversation 

to join in with. 

As it is a Titanic pub you 

can expect a range of 

Titanic beers together with 

a wide range of guests. 

From time to time there 

are themed mini-festivals where guest beers follow a theme for 

a week or so, often in support of a charity such as Lifeboats. 

Upcoming is a weekend of Welsh beers 1 st to 4 th of March. From 

5 th to 12 th March there is a week of Cornish beers and a fundraiser 

for the RNLI, who have saved over 139,000 lives, including mine. 

The RMS Titanic struck an Iceberg at 11:40 pm on 14 th April 1912, 

and sank at 2:20 am on the morning of 15 th April. There will be a 

commemorative event for this centenary. 

Alongside the British beers, there is an impressive range of 

draught and bottled 

beers, fruit beers and 

lagers from Europe with 

an emphasis on Belgian 

beers. Today, as I write, 

there are 22 Belgian beers 

available. 

We haven’t finished yet, 

because in addition, The 

Bull’s Head offers an impressive selection of draught and bottled 

ciders and perries, one on hand pump, which is the reason why 

I am writing this. As I write, there are 11 draught traditional 

scrumpies, ciders and perries available, including Gwynt-y-Ddraig, 

together with a cider and a perry from Thatcher’s in keg and a 

range of bottled ciders. 

October has been considered as CAMRA’s Cider Month, but this 

is when the apples are harvested and pressed and the cider is set 

to ferment. It is not ready until the spring so May is a time to 

celebrate the new season’s ciders. Please join us in this 

wonderful pub on Friday, 4 th of May from around 8pm, with the 

presentation being made at 9pm. 

Dr Bob 


POTTERS BEER 

Pub & Brewery News From The Area 

Pub News 

THE GOOD PUB NEWS 

The final snows of winter have 

finally disappeared for another year, 

leaving our green and pleasant land 

to be green and pleasant once more; 

underneath the layers of snow, the 

local pub scene has been trundling 

along in a fairly healthy fashion, even 

if there is nothing that exciting to report 

in this issue. A pub re-opening and 

serving real ale is always good news in 

the current climate and The Newtown 

in Fenton is now open again, with 

Hobgoblin on hand-pump; while The 

Jolly Potters on Crackley Bank is 

open once more, the new licensee 

here working hard to turn around the 

fortunes of this troubled pub, with a 

couple of real ales. The Gardeners 

Retreat amongst the allotments in 

Stoke re-opened just before Christmas 

and now boasts three real ales on 

hand-pump, so CAMRA members no 

longer have to drink only Pedigree; 

pleasantly refurbished, too. 

At the other end of Stoke, The 

Blacks Head has also had a makeover 

and now dispenses real ale once more 

in the shape of Banks’s Bitter; go along 

and meet Shadow, the rather lovely 

pub dog. Long a real ale free-zone, 

The Tontine in Hanley now has 

Bombardier and Old Speckled Hen on 

hand-pump in reasonable condition. 

Pubs installing extra hand-pumps due 

to increased demand include The Jolly 

Potter (singular) in Newcastle, where 

a permanent mild should be in place 

10 POTTERS BAR SPRING 2012 

as you read this; and the quiet and 

comfortable Robin Hood, nestled in 

the Rookery above Kidsgrove, where 

two further ales should now be in 

place. 

The Spirit Group have recently taken 

over the licences of The Alma in 

Newcastle and The New Inn and 

Smithfield in Hanley; the licences of 

all three are controlled by the same 

person, who hopes to introduce a wider 

range of ales from smaller breweries in 

all three, plus a decent selection of 

ciders; so watch this space! (or, rather, 

go in the pubs). Talking about real 

cider, The Syndicate in Hanley, The 

King William in Talke Pits and The Cat 

Inn in Northwood have all displayed a 

liking for the apply liquid recently, and 

now stock a real cider from the Westons 

range. 

Finally, some slightly different 

pub news: The Queens Arms in 

Cheadle has achieved Cask Marque 

accreditation for the quality of its ales; 

well deserved in this former Potteries 

CAMRA Pub of the Month; and Scott at 

the Malt ‘N’ Hops in Fenton now has 

his own website. Log on to 

http://www.maltnhops.com for the 

current beer list, entertainment news 

and information about forthcoming 

beer festivals. 

THE BAD PUB NEWS 

Two pubs next door to each other 

seem to be serving real ale, but haven’t 

had any on when Potters Bar was 

in town. The old Just in Time/ Five 

Towns in Hanley has re-open as 

Franky’s Bar, but the hand-pump 

never seems to be in use; whilst further 

up Parliament Row, The Burton 

Stores now has a pump dedicated to 

Bombardier, but none was available on 

a recent visit, despite the pump-clip 

clearly advertising it. Other pubs 

re-open but forgetting that real ale is a 

growth industry include The Alton 

Castle in Cheadle and The Jovial 

Foresters in Hanley. The Kings Arms 

in Stoke has given up the ghost, no 

longer selling the real stuff; while 

two pubs in Milton, The Foxley and 

The Miners Arms were found to be 

keg-only when CAMRA recently paid 

them a visit. 

The White Lion, Bucknall, briefly 

suffering under the name Owd 

Grandad Piggotts is now a Chinese 

restaurant; and recent closures of pubs 

include The 

Bird in Hand, Trent Vale, The Boughey 

Arms, Audley, The Roebuck, Burslem 

Chaplins, Hanley and The Foaming 

Tankard, Fenton. The latter may 

well re-open after a refurbishment 

sometime in the Spring, though, so let 

us hope it is in The Good Pub News 

section in the next edition of Potters 

Bar. 

All pub news correct to the best of 

our knowledge at the time of going 

to press. Any corrections and/ or 

additions can be emailed to: 

pottersbar@camrapotteries.co.uk.

Brewery News 

FLASH of Flash 

The brewery is going strong with the three bottled beers 

that they produce, Flash Black, 4.2 % (Dark), Mer Meg, 5% 

(Golden) and Cerberus 6.5% (Ruby). All are brewed in the 

brewery high in the Peak District using a brick boiler and 

all natural ingredients. Seaweed finings are used which 

makes all three beers suitable for vegans. The beers can 

be found on the Farmers Market at Leek every 3 rd Saturday 

of the month. 

LEEK of Cheddleton 

After the brewery has spent some years concentrating on 

bottled beers, a range of three or four cask conditioned 

beers will be available from March. These will be marketed 

through Titanic. A full range of bottled beers continues to 

be available; those over 6% ABV are bottle conditioned. 

LYMESTONE of Stone 

Stoney Broke (3.4%) made it onto The Strangers Bar in 

The Houses of Parliament at the beginning of the year, and, 

unlike a certain other local beer, managed to stay there. 

Still supplying the Wetherspoons national guest list, with 

Foundation Stone (4.5%) appearing in the Spring Beer 

Festival and Ein Stein on the subsequent guest list for April 

onwards. A new beer, Heart of Stone (4.4%) has been 

brewed, which Brad describes as an orange-coloured beer 

imbued with Summit hops from America. Meet the Brewer 

evenings will take place in Stoke Wetherspoons on 15 th 

March and after that in The Society Rooms in Macclesfield. 

PEAKSTONES ROCK of Alton 

At the regional awards held in the Drop Forge in Birmingham 

on 27 th December 2012, Peakstones Rock won 1 st Place 

in the Strong Mild category with Black Hole (4.8%). Plans 

are in place for a commemorative beer to celebrate the 

bicentenary of Augustus Pugin, the Victorian architect and 

designer whose works include the interior of the Palace of 

Westminster and St Giles church in Cheadle, Staffordshire, 

near to the brewery. This will be a blonde beer using a 

blend of pale and lager malts and a single hop variety; 

availability is expected from April or May. Spring will also 

see the change back from the winter Submission beer to 

Dimmingsdale Blonde. 

TITANIC of Burslem 

At the regional awards held in the Drop Forge in Birmingham 

on 27 th December 2012, Titanic won 2 nd Place in the 

Specialist Category with Iceberg (4.1%) and 1 st Place in 

the Stout Category with their Stout (4.5%). Planning various 

events to co-incide with the centenary commemorations 

of the Titanic disaster in April, including two new beers: 

Centenary, a golden ale at 4.5% and 1912, a strong pale 

ale at 4.8% Centenary will also be available in bottles from 

all the Titanic pubs. 

Seasonal Ales: March: New World (4.4%) Port & 

Starboard (4.2%) Shugborough Butler’s Revenge (4.9%) 

April: English Glory (4.5%) Nautical Mild (4.8%) Shugborough 

Butler’s Revenge (4.9%) 

May: Golden Ale (4.6%) Nautical Mild (4.8%) Shugborough 

Coachman’s Tipple (4.7%) 

Bulls Head Events 

1 st - 4 th Mar: Welsh beers for St David’s Day 

5 th - 11 th Mar: Cornish beers for St Piran’s Day 

16 th - 19 th Mar: Irish-themed beers for St Patricks Day 

16 th Mar: Brown Cow Captain Oates Mild for 1912 

Commemoration 

29 th - 31 st Mar: Scott of the Antartic beers for 1912 

Commemoration 

5 th - 10 th Apr: Easter beers incl: 8 th Apr (Easter Sunday) 

Meet the Owls of Gentleshaw in The Bulls Head Yard from 

1pm-3pm. 

12 th - 16 th Apr: Titanic Commemoration 1912 

19 th - 24 th Apr: For England and St George! Beers for St 

George’s Day 

May All Month: Many Milds to Celebrate CAMRA’s Mild 

Month 

4 th May: CAMRA Potteries Branch Pub of the Month 

Presentation and Social, 8pm onwards 

3 rd - 7 th May: Beatrice Narrowboat weekend 

11 th - 13 th May: RAF beers to celebrate the formation of the 

RAF on 13 th May 1912 

19 th May: Annual trip to Barrow Hill Roundhouse beer 

festival. Contact Bob at the pub for details, 01782 834153 

1 st - 4 th June: Royal ales to celebrate the long bank holiday 

weekend. 

The Bulls Head is now stocking an ever-changing range of 

up to ten cider & perries; why not make Bob run down to 

the cellar and get you one? 

TALKE O’THE HILL of Talke 

A new brewery set up just inside the Staffordshire border 

on Mere Lake Road; the first beer was spotted in The Blue 

Bell in Hardingswood, Kidsgrove in January. A dark beer 

called Last Porter Call, it was enthusiastically drunk by 

many a thirsty CAMRA member. 

WINCLE of Wincle 

Things are well under way with the new brewery, with the 

shop open and the Brew For a Day proving very popular. 

Straight Furrow, a new beer at 2.8% to take advantage of 

the new low rate tax laws, sold well during the winter 

months. 


In July 2011, I was invited to visit 

Russia to help some students to 

develop their English Language skills. 

The Kostroma Institute of Education 

was planning to hold a residential 

summer school for students between 

the ages of 9 and 17 years. Their 

idea was to create a 'Typical English 

Secondary School' in a remote town, 

125 miles from Moscow, where four 

English teachers would conduct 

lessons in English based upon a set 

of English themes as laid down by 

the Russian organisers. 

The themes included 'Stately Homes', 

'National Parks', 'Celebrations' and 

'The English Pub'. Given that access 

to the internet would be very limited, 

flight baggage allowance restricted 

and resources and facilities in the 

Russian venue unclear, preparation 

was somewhat problematic. Add to 

that the questionable reality and value 

of teaching the concept of 'public 

houses' in relation to minors, and the 

problem became worse. However, 

"Everybody knows that the institution 

of the English Pub is very important 

in your country and so you must 

teach Russian students all about 

them." would seem to be a reasonable 

paraphrase of the response to our 

doubts. 

In the weeks before our trip, and not 

entirely clear in my mind as to my 

approach when in Russia, I took 

advantage of a chance meeting with 

Viv and Ian Bradford, the owners and 

brewers at the Lymestone Brewery 

in Stone. I was in the company of 

Caroline France who manages The 

Wheatsheaf in Stoke, and whilst 

LYMESTONE 

GOES TO RUSSIA! 

they discussed brewing and brews, I 

took photos of the brewery and its 

paraphernalia. As we left, we diverted 

to the office where I took the opportunity 

to mention my Russian conundrum. 

Clearly, and sadly, taking samples of 

real-ale to Russia was not an option 

for me, and anyway, they wouldn't 

have been of any practical use in 

the classroom, but I gratefully 

accepted sundry bottle labels, leaflets 

and beermats which, in the fullness 

of time, saw daylight in Russia. 

However, a couple of days before the 

'Pub Theme Day' and we were still 

unable to reach a consensus as to a 

suitable approach for a days teaching 

about pubs. The Russians insisted we 

went ahead, even though, as a group, 

we couldn't agree on how 'The Pub' 

would be a do-able subject with these 

youngsters. 

And then, during a late-night pedagogical 

conference, the idea of a 'Folk Club' 

surfaced. They happen in pubs, it was 

argued. Youngsters are allowed to 

attend, not everybody takes alcohol 

and English songs are sung. During 

the day we could talk about the history 

of Inns and Pubs, the peculiarities of 

their names, their links with the Industrial 

Revolution and maybe learn a few 

songs. Pictures and posters could 

be created and the 'Meeting Room' 

transformed into a (large) pub backroom 

with the posters and maybe a 

bar could be created with soft drinks 

and crisps. 

And so it was, that on the Thursday 

evening, in the 'Pig & Whistle', 

Nereshda, in the Oblast of Kostroma, 

thirty-five Russian youngsters and 

their teachers, joined in with a typical 

'English Pub Folk Night'. There was 

a quiz, some Russian youngsters 

performed a play about an old woman 

and a shoe, some recited poems, 

some sang traditional children's 

songs and they all sang sea shanties, 

very loudly; and all in the English 

language. And from a bar, sporting 

a number of very realistic-looking 

bottles of Lymestone's famous beers; 

'Einstein' and 'Stone Faced' being but 

two, there was apple and orange 

juice, water, fruit, biscuits, ice cream 

and black and green tea. 

So, Thank You, Lymestone for your 

inspiration. Was it not that great 

ancient philosopher and hermit, 

Epiphanius (the Contemplative) 

Tipple, of Hanley Moor, an aficionado 

of real-ale and demonstrator of 

scratchings, who once said, "Out of 

little stones great boulders can 

emerge"? (absolutely no idea, but an 

excellent article none-the-less- Ed) 

By Chris France 


POTTERIES PUB PRESERVATION GROUP POTTERIES PUB PRESERVATION GROUP 

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? You’re sitting in the 

cinema, waiting for the main feature to burst on to the 

screen, when there are a succession of adverts for soft 

drinks. 

There’ll be someone drinking out of a Coke bottle – an 

awfully ill-mannered habit, I grant you – and all the 

bubbles are escaping wantonly up the inside of the 

receptacle. Or you’ll be shown a young model ripping 

the ring-pull off a freshly-refrigerated can of Pepsi, and 

gulping it down as if he’d just finished the Hawaii Ironman 

Triathlon. 

Suddenly, you feel restless in your tip-up seat, because 

your throat’s gone drier than the Syrian Desert. 

However, it’s a similar experience reading Charles 

Dickens. Ye Gods, a man could die of thirst. Has there 

ever been an author who has so successfully and 

evocatively described pubs and drink? 

It’s two hundred years since Dickens’ birth, and 

perhaps we CAMRA wallahs should pay homage to a 

kindred spirit. 

We’ve all known a landlady like Abbey Potterson, 

the fictional hostess of the Six Jolly Fellowship 

Porters in Our Mutual Friend - “a tavern of dropsical 

appearance.” Dickens based this pub on the real-life 

Grapes Inn in London. He wrote of this formidable 

woman: “A man must have drunk himself mad drunk 

indeed if he thought he could contest a point with her.” 

Then again, some punters met with danger long before 

they had encountered any viraginous landlady. There 

is the oft-quoted scene in The Pickwick Papers, where 

the perils of entering coaching inns are described: 

“‘Heads, heads –take care of your heads!’ cried the 

loquacious stranger, as they came out under the low 

archway, which in those days formed the entrance to the 


Potteries Pub Preservation Group 

Aim: to investigate, protect and promote public 

houses of special character and historic interest in 

the Potteries and Borough of Newcastle 

CRATE EXPECTATIONS: DICKENS WILL DRIVE YOU TO DRINK 

coach-yard. ‘Terrible place – dangerous work – other 

day – five children – mother – tall lady, eating 

sandwiches – forgot the arch – crash – knock – children 

look around – mother’s head off – sandwich in hand – 

no mouth to put it in.’” 

Of course, it’s Dickens’ novels that really bring to life 

the era of the stage-coaches and the straggling, ghost 

story-peddling coaching inns. 

They are never better described than in his chucklesome 

novel The Pickwick Papers. Detailed research 

has proved that this mentions about 35 breakfasts, 32 

dinners, 10 luncheons and 249 references to drink 

(though not all alcoholic). 

I’ve previously labelled The Pickwick Papers as a 

lurching pub-crawl, continuing through 57 chapters; 

but this isn’t to say that Dickens himself was some sort 

of guffawing, nose-in-the gutter roisterer. 

He believed in moderation - not in the same supercilious, 

square-toed fashion as today’s NHS watchdogs, 

but in a way that genuinely respected the ordinary 

cove’s right to enjoy a comforting, cheering drink. 

He mused, “I am very sure that the working people of 

this country have not too many household enjoyments,” 

and so wrote with gusto about, for example, Mr 

Fezziwig’s ball in A Christmas Carol. 

The flowing bowl was only part of the overall 

enjoyment of a good old knees-up. Dickens certainly 

knew his drink, though, hence references to sherry flip, 

mulled port, shrub and water, dog’s nose and other 

potations. 

Real Ale receives a mention in Martin Chuzzlewit from 

Mrs. Gamp, who praised the delights of Brighton Old 

Tippler. Sounds like my kind of woman! 

By Mervyn Edwards

A HOLY NIGHT ON CHRISTMAS EVE 

Gone are the days when Christmas 

Eve was one of the highlights of 

my social calendar. 

In days of erst, my friends and I 

would spend this joyous occasion 

at pubs such as the Coach House 

in Liverpool Road, Newcastle, 

quaffing ale and wearing fancy 

dress. Over the years, I variously 

appeared as Santa Claus, Ronald 

Macdonald and the Devil. These 

evenings – which always featured 

umpteen plays of Slade’s Merry 

Christmas Everybody on the 

juke box – would usually end 

ingloriously in an alcohol-induced 

haze of smeared face-paint and 

gravel-voiced blethering. 

It wasn’t all good stuff, of course. 

Other pubs left something to be 

desired on Christmas Eve in terms 

of basic standards. The floor of 

the men’s toilets at the Crossways 

was so wet that patrons had to 

wear snorkels and an aqua-lung. 

Older readers may remember that 

the situation ultimately became so 

bad that the British Board of Trade 

insisted that eight lifeboats should 

be hung on davits in the back yard. 

One night, I got really worried 

about the water level in the toilets, 

because a full orchestra entered 

the pub and began playing Nearer 

My God To Thee. 

The floor of the gent’s toilets in 

the Bull’s Vaults were equally 

infamous on Christmas Eve, for 

they too were usually awash with 

the residue of festive jollification. 

Age has not expunged my belief 

that Christmas Eve is a special 

night for drinkers, and so on 

December 24 th , 2011, I was on the 

look-out for a none-too-distant 

hostelry that was likely to buy into 

my philosophy. I knew just where 

to go. 

The Holy Inadequate in Etruria is 

a pub I saw a lot of in late 2011, 

and it did not let me down on 

Christmas Eve. The age spectrum 

of the customers said much 

about this pub’s claims to be a 

community pub. Some folks were 

accompanied by their (wellbehaved) 

children whilst a few 

old coves relaxed with their 

friends and families, even giving 

voice to a few songs. I heard Al 

Martino’s Here in My Heart and 

Paul Anka’s Diana. I also heard 

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree 

played on the juke-box on three 

occasions, as the pub entered into 

the spirit of the evening. 

We can expect big things from Paul 

Cope’s pub in 2012. I have long 

championed the Blue Bell in 

Kidsgrove as a shining example 

for those wishing to establish 

a first-class community pub. 

Deliberately or otherwise, I think 

that Paul is replicating the best 

elements of the Hardingswood 

pub here. 

The beer is everything you could 

wish for, and I drank my Best Pints 

of 2011 at the Holy Inadequate 

on Christmas Eve. The customer 

service is also spot-on, with Paul, 

Sarah, Rachel and Jason providing 

a hospitable atmosphere that was 

absent in the pub’s latter days as 

the Rendezvous. Indeed, it is 

painfully lacking in certain other 

Real Ale pubs. My goodness, they 

actually smile at you here! 

I ought also to mention Chris – a 

regular, who likes to stand at the 

far end of the bar – who always 

welcomes me warmly. Then 

there’s the wonderful spatial 

arrangement of the pub. There 

are plenty of seating areas to 

match your mood or the company 

you are with. 

Paul also has a promising food 

operation on the go, the pork 

pies and the oatcakes being 

guaranteed to attract drinkers. I 

don’t suppose he wants to see me 

in his pub dressed as Ronald 

Macdonald, then. 

By Mervyn Edwards 


VIEW from the Bar Room Floor 

In the 1960s I worked for the N.A.B. (National Assistance Board). My office was on one side of a main road 

and on the other side were three venerable British institutions : a brewery, a prison and a Salvation Army 

hostel. 

I used to visit elderly pensioners in order to assess 

their entitlement to benefits. And benefits at that 

time were far less generous than they are today. 

Many of the elderly pensioners I visited were frail – 

they had lived through the Second World War and the 

years of austerity that followed. 

So how to help them? We had far more freedom in 

assessing benefits in those days and there was a way 

to help these frail, elderly pensioners : on top of their 

weekly benefit I was able to add an amount for ‘extra 

nourishment’, which meant enough money to buy 

seven pints of Guinness and seven eggs a week. In 

other cases those ‘seven eggs’ were substituted by an amount for ‘white meat (ie fish or chicken)’ – but 

there was always an allowance for a bottle of Guinness a day! 

And so Guinness helped to build up the strength of these elderly people. When I visited pensioners later 

they would proudly show me their supply of Guinness and eggs and tell me how much better they felt – 

thanks to Guinness! 

In the 1990’s - thirty years later – I was working for a Christian charity and I worked closely with the local 

Methodist minister. His congregation was old and conservative in their attitude and they did not approve 

of ‘the demon alcohol’. But the minister, who was a 

lovely man and a good Christian, liked a drink. So he 

was forced to drink at home, away from the prying 

eyes of his flock. 

He had a supply of drink in his fridge - buying several 

weeks’ supply at a time -and his choice was Guinness! 

Seven pints of Guinness a week for the elderly 

pensioners in the 1960s and seven pints of Guinness 

for a good man in the 1990s. 

The advertisements used to say ‘Guinness is good for 

you’ before the authorities stepped in and told them 

they could not make these ‘health claims’. But in 

2003 researchers at the University of Wisconsin proved that a pint of Guinness a day will help to prevent 

blood clots that raise the risk of heart attacks. The researchers tested another group, using lager rather 

than Guinness, and found that lager did not have the same benefits. 

So have a drink of Guinness : it really is good for you! 

JSB 


Wandering the Streets 

Of Leek....with Lorna Denny 

On a very wet January day myself and the other 

half decided to hop on a bus and visit the market 

town of Leek. The town has a large number of 

very good real ale establishments; however, so we 

could remember our day out, we concentrated on 

the pubs in and around the Market Square. 

Our first port of call was The Roebuck (Derby 

Street, ST13 5AB), 

Titanic’s newest pub 

in their fleet. An old 

building tastefully 

refurbished, and 

customers are spoilt 

for choice from the 

four seating areas. There are 10 hand pumps on 

the bar; there were seven of the normal Titanic 

crew as well as 3 guest beers. We had a very 

lovely meal of homemade fish and chips (the 

tartare sauce was fantastic) The pub had people 

of various age groups and was family friendly. 

Dodging the rain drops, 

we quickly ran across to 

The Cock Inn (Derby 

Street, ST13 6HN) Leek’s 

Joules pub, where I 

headed straight for the 

real fire and settled myself into one of the leather 

armchairs. I just needed my slippers and book and 

I would have been set for the day. As well as the 

3 Joules usual suspects on the bar, Holdens 

Golden Glow was available as the rotating guest 

ale. A split-level pub with a dining area at the top 

and a snug area to the right of the bar with comfy 

chairs found throughout. Food is available, which 

is all locally sourced. It was interesting to hear 

that the pub does a buffet and dinner service, 

catering for outside dinner parties. The pub boasts 


the CAMRA Potteries ‘Pub of the Month’ award for 

November 2010. 

The Red Lion (Market 

Place, ST13 5HH) is a 

more modern pub, 

with a mix of comfy 

settees and high bar 

furniture. It is open 

plan but the seating gives the impression of 

smaller areas for people to socialise in. Owned by 

Hydes Brewery. their brews, Racey Rudolph 

(Christmas Brew), Golden Delight and Original 

were available. From 

there we moved on to 

The Engine Room 

(Market Place, ST13 

5HH) part of the Smith 

and Jones chain. There 

were 8 hand pumps across the bar, however only 

4 beers on. These were Greene King Morlands 

Original & Tolly English Ale, Marstons EPA, and 

Wells & Youngs Bombardier. There is a Costa 

Coffee within the pub, which is unusual to see. 

On the corner of the 

square was The Bird in 

Hand (Market Place, 

ST13 5HJ), a mock 

Tudor building The main 

bar was a surprise as it 

was tiny; I loved it! The 

bar was very ornate in 

carved wood, all in 

keeping with the history of the building. I loved 

the sherry barrels above the bar but I am biased 

as I do like a good sherry. On the bar there was 

Marstons Burton Bitter and a guest ale which was 

Jennings Cumberland. At busy times there are

two guest ales available. When asked about 

entertainment, it was commented that the pub is 

always entertaining! We had a good chat to the 

chap behind the bar about beer, pubs and stuff. 

We said our farewells and braved the rain to our 

next location 

which was The 

Black Swan 

(Sheep Market, 

ST13 5HW) We 

just had to 

have the beer 

which suited the 

weather- Jennings Soggy Bottom! This was 

keeping the Marstons Burton Bitter and Wychwood 

Hobgoblin company on the bar. The pub was a 

split-level, open-plan pub, a traditional area on the 

lower level and a more modern feel to the upper 

area where food is served. The pub is proud of 

its Sunday lunches and homemade food, Thursday 

night being Steak night. I particularly liked the 

stained glass windows in the doors, depicting 

the Black Swan. Live entertainment is on every 

Saturday. 

The next pub isn’t strictly 

in the Market Square 

area, but no visit to Leek 

would be complete without 

going to The Wilkes 

Head (St Edwards 

Street, ST13 5DS) An 

historic building, with 

documentation dating 

back to 1703 and laying 

claim to the oldest cellar in Leek. It is a regular in 

The Good Beer Guide, and a favourite of many 

CAMRA members. If you are into the music scene, 

this is also the place to visit. The licensee is a 

professional performer and holds regular music 

event with bands from all over the world.(He has 

asked me to mention ‘Shakespeare and the Bible’ 

from Hamburg on the 13 th April) There is a good 

range of Whim ales to be seen on the 7 hand 

pumps as well as guest beers. Real cider is also 

available. However, some sad news, Dolly the 

Staffie is no longer with us; she will be greatly 

missed as she was a regular in the bar. 

Lastly we arrived at Den Engel (Stanley Street, 

ST13 5HG), 

which means 

‘Angel ‘ in Flemish 

(I aren’t really that 

clever as I can 

speak Flemish, I 

read it in the 

write-up by another CAMRA member !!) A 

contemporary Belgian bar with 10 Belgian beers 

and 2 foreign lagers available on tall fonts. As 

well as these, there are four real ales available, 

one Titanic and three rotating guest from micro 

brewers. If that is not enough, then there are over 

100 bottled beers and 20-plus flavoured gins to 

try, although not a good idea to try them all in 

one day! You have been warned! I love the unusual 

little bits, like the penny farthing bike and the 

view into the cellar, which is fascinating how 

they manage to get it all organised. There is a 

restaurant upstairs and food is cooked to suit 

various events throughout the year. I have tried 

the fish and chips here as well in the past, they 

were superb. We have also had many a happy 

hour sitting in the courtyard beer garden outside, 

however we chose to sit inside this time as we 

were wet enough! 

So there ends our little adventure around the 

Market Square of Leek. Sorry, we didn’t make it 

to the Valiant or Benks as we had to get the bus 

home, but remember to call into them while you 

are in Leek. There are many more pubs that I 

would like to visit, so look out, there may be ‘Leek 

Part 2’ in a future Potters Bar. You never know, 

we might bump into you on our wanderings. Have 

fun. 


LETTERS 

Having just received my latest copy of The Good Beer 

Guide, I sat to peruse what has become a joyful 

exercise in planning where to visit for the coming year. 

It came to mind, however, that The Potteries Branch 

were “missing a trick” to encourage and increase a 

wider spread of real ale within local hostelries across 

the district. May I therefore share with you an insight 

that I have been mulling over for several weeks now. 

It can not have gone unnoticed that, within the 

area, “the usual suspects” (and I do not mean this 

disparagingly) often come out on top at the wonderful 

Stoke Beer Festival in October. I certainly feel that they 

do deserve the accolade 

of Pub of the Year, yet, if I 

were to place money 

down now as to who 

would win, I figure that I 

could select a one in five 

chance of who would gain 

the award. So I set to 

thinking why? 

Naturally, the voting is 

placed on CAMRA footfall, 

but this, in itself, is also 

based on key social, economic and geographic 

elements as well. Consequently, given the current 

financial climate, and the debilitating impact that drink 

driving will have on your licence, the voting is heavily 

loaded in favour of hostelries located within the central 

North Staffordshire conurbation. I state the obvious here 

simply for clarity. 

The result of this is clear: pubs such as The Jervis Arms 

at Onecote (and I choose this as an extreme), has little 


or no chance of gaining an award no matter what 

it does. There are a number of fantastically run public 

houses, who make a magnificent effort to be included 

in The Guide and are worthy of such. I mention The 

Huntsman in Cheadle, The Wilkes Head in Leek, 

The Swan in Bignall End and The Royal Oak in 

Harriseahead, to name but four out of many. Likewise, 

their chance of gaining anything other then a 

commendation is beyond question at this moment in 

time. 

To further my proposition, may I suggest that a new 

category is now included and added within the voting 

system, titled The Potteries Country Pub of the Year. 

Naturally, the method for determining the criteria for 

such a category has to be agreed upon, so may I put 

forward another suggestion that “Green Belt” land 

must totally separate and demarcate the pub in 

question from the North Staffordshire conurbation, this 

itself being defined as Stoke-on-Trent and much of 

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough. Thus, by this rule 

of thumb, Audley lies within the category, as does 

Biddulph, Leek, Cheadle, Keele, etc. However, Kidsgrove, 

Silverdale, Clayton and Alsagers Bank do not fulfil the 

basic outline of this premise. 

I would hope that, by undertaking such a step, it 

would help to make the playing field a little more level 

and encourage a greater degree of equality for those 

pubs striving under very difficult conditions to maintain 

and increase their standards. What we must avoid at 

all costs are publicans taking the view that there is little 

point as the system is stacked against them. What we 

want is more choice, not less, and sadly, in my opinion, 

the current format needs adjustment. If it is not 

adjusted, then we all lose. 

Levison H Wood, Forsbrook

The Editor responds: 

Many thanks for taking the trouble to write in 

with your ideas, although I think it needs pointing 

out firstly that one of the pubs you mention as 

having no chance of getting anything other than a 

commendation was included in the Pub of the Year 

Top Ten for 2011, and all the rest are regular entries 

in The Good Beer Guide, so the licensees of these 

establishments can hardly feel, as you seem to point 

out, that the system is stacked against them. 

However, the general point you raise is a valid one 

and, moreover, has been the subject of much debate 

in recent branch meetings. Maybe a brief overview of 

how the awards system within the Potteries Branch 

works is in order: as you letter mainly seems to 

concern The Pub of the Year voting system (even 

though you open by talking about The Good Beer 

Guide), I will begin with this. 

In fact, it could not be simpler: the Pub of the Year 

voting form is sent out to all CAMRA members within 

the branch area inside the Summer edition of Potters 

Bar, and members are asked to list their five top pubs 

within the Potteries Branch area in order of preference. 

If a member votes a pub into first place, this gets 

commensurately more points than the pub voted into 

fifth place; the votes are then tallied up, with the 

highest scoring pub being deemed Pub of the Year. 

It is as simple as that, and the results are not 

modified in any way. The point here is that it is a 

democratic vote and people are allowed to vote for 

whatever pub they so wish; the pubs in the 

Moorlands do not receive as many votes as the city 

pubs simply because people choose not to vote for 

them. If we began modifying or altering the outcome 

of the votes based on the location of the pub, we 

would open ourselves up to legitimate accusations of 

bias and vote fixing. 

You solution based on Green Belt land is an 

interesting one, but becomes deeply faulted by placing 

Audley and Alsagers Bank in different categories 

when, in reality, they lie on the same bus route. We 

have debated other solutions at the branch meetings, 

but found many such pitfalls as this, and we always 

came back to the fact that the vote as it exists is truly 

democratic, and not weighted in any way: it is simply 

the result that the branch members who take the 

trouble to return the voting forms want. 

The Good Beer Guide is also constructed in such a 

fashion, by asking members to first nominate a pub, 

and then vote on it, with the pubs scoring the highest 

number of votes gaining a place within the Guide. The 

additional factor that is taken into consideration here 

is the quality of the ale on offer within the pubs, which 

is gauged over the course of the year by members 

submitting beers scores according to The National 

Beer Scoring. This method of scoring beer quality 

can seem a little daunting at first, and takes some 

getting used to, but basically works on a scale of 0 to 

5, 0 being undrinkable and 5 being absolutely 

astoundingly marvellous (half marks are also 

permitted). The National CAMRA definition of Good 

Beer is 3.0 or above. 

Guide deadlines mean that the scoring year runs 

from September to August; at the end of this period, 

all scores are averaged out; those pubs nominated 

that fall below the 3.0 mark are not considered eligible 

for the Guide, while those scoring 3.0 or above are 

awarded a place on the voting form. 

Any CAMRA member can return pub scores for any pub 

in the country by logging onto: 

http://www.beerscoring.org.uk/index.php 

and following the instructions; or scores for pubs 

within the Branch Area can be returned directly to: 

pottersbar@camrapotteries.co.uk. 

I hope all this goes someway to explaining the 

internal working of the Potteries Branch; and we thank 

you for your kind words about our Beer Festival! On 

that note, I will leave the final word to an enthusiastic 

beer festival attendee from Meir: 

Please say well done to all the people involved in 

organising The 31 st Stoke Beer and Cider Festival. 

There were so many beers to choose from that myself 

and my friends attended on the Thursday evening, 

Friday lunchtime and again on the Saturday. The fact 

that there were plenty of tables and chairs, plus the 

food stand, made the festival a very memorable event. 

AV Kaill 


A DATE FOR THE DIARY: 

Here we go again… 

The 32 nd Stoke Beer and Cider Festival will take place from Thursday 18 th to Saturday 20 th 

October 2012 at Fenton Manor Sports Complex, City Road, Fenton, ST4 2RR 

Lyn Sharpe and Corin Brown have agreed to be the Organisers again, leading a Committee of 

dedicated Ale and Cider lovers in putting together this unique event in this Olympic, Jubilee and 100 TH 

Anniversary Year of the sinking of the Titanic year (a few ideas for glass designs there) 

The planning meetings are being held at The Freebird, Liverpool Road, Newcastle, ST5 2AX on the 

third Thursday of each month at 8pm .The next one is Thursday 22 nd March. Thanks To “Buff” and 

The Bikers club for accommodating this. 

If you’re a CAMRA member, come and join us your input would be appreciated. Or Email your ideas 

/observations to me at beerbunny@ntlworld.com. 

Apologies to the people who used the ”shuttle bus” to get to and from the festival, but we have 

decided to discontinue this service, as the take up was very limited in the past two years, making it 

uneconomically viable. 

Lyn Sharpe 

Last year, The Barry Underwood Trophy was created to preserve the memory of the late president of the Potteries 

Branch of CAMRA, who sadly passed away in July 2010. Barry was involved with CAMRA from the beginning, 

helping to organise the very earliest beer festivals hosted by the Branch (at a time when such events were hardly 

known), established the well-known Stoke Beer Festival thirty years ago, and was responsible for introducing the 

wonderful beers of Belgium to North Staffordshire through his Foreign Beer Bar at the festival. The inaugural award 

went to Keith and Dave Bott of Titanic Brewery for helping to put Stoke-on-Trent on the Brewery map and for 

making Titanic beers the wonderful things they are today, as well as for establishing an excellent fleet of pubs to 

sell the stuff in. 

The time has now come when all local CAMRA members are called to submit their nominations for the 2012 

award. As before, you can nominate an individual, licensee, pub, brewery, licensed trade organisation or any other 

body that you think furthers CAMRA’s basic aims of encouraging and supporting real ale and pubs. So fill out and 

return the form below! 

The award will be presented at 

The 32 nd Stoke Beer and Cider Festival on Saturday, 20 th October 2012. 

I think that the Barry Underwood Memorial Trophy for 2012 sure be presented to: 

Reason: 

Your Name: 

THE 32 ND STOKE BEER & CIDER FESTIVAL 

THE BARRY UNDERWOOD MEMORIAL TROPHY 2012 

Please cut out and return this form to: 

Martin Perry, Potters Bar Editor, 3 Edward Avenue, Newcastle, Staffs, ST5 2HB 

OR email to pottersbar@camrapotteries.co.uk 


CAMRA’S NATIONAL INVENTORY: 

HISTORIC PUBS WITHIN NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE 

The Campaign for Real Ale came into being in the 

early 1970’s to do just that: campaign for real ale, 

as it was fast disappearing from pubs up and 

down the land. Since then, though, the remit has 

spread much wider, now including such facets as 

real cider, and mounting campaigns to save 

endangered pubs; This latter arm led to the 

creation of The National Inventory of Historic Pub 

Interiors, set up to highlight and preserve those 

pubs that have managed to resist the onslaught of 

time and remain little changed since The Second 

World War. 

Three pubs within the Potteries Branch Area are 

thus designated, the most famous being The 

Coachmakers Arms on Lichfield Street in Hanley. 

Consisting of four 

rooms accessed by 

a central drinking 

corridor, the pub 

was added to the 

National Inventory 

around three years 

ago: the tiny bar 

area to the front 

and left is the most charming, becoming crowded 

when more than eight people are occupying it, 

when it begins to resemble a Marx Brothers sketch. 

The bench seating all around means that no one is 

a stranger for long, also a feature of the front room 

to the right of the entrance, complete with its own 

Victorian fireplace, making this a natural point of 

destination on a cold Friday afternoon. CAMRA 

reckon that the rear left room is probably the least 

intact, having been converted from a private area 

sometime in the 1960’s; the right rear room is better, 

despite the absence of bench seating and 

some damage to the floor. 

Still under threat from the ever-encroaching 


development of the appallingly-named City Sentral 

project, it would be a tragedy of the highest order 

if the pub was to disappear from the landscape: 

landlord Phil is still working hard to save the 

Coach, so now is the time to go along and support 

him, drinking the excellent beer whilst savouring 

the timeless history; the pub is open all day from 

12noon. 

Lying on the outer limits of the Borough of 

Newcastle lies The Butchers Arms on Church Street 

in Audley, and it the latest addition to the 

Inventory in North Staffordshire. Little changed 

since the 1930’s, like The Coachmakers above, 

it is a multi-roomed pub divided by a drinking 

corridor, yet here the similarity ends; the “corridor” 

is more like a spacious hall, with a huge staircase 

off to the left 

that leaves the 

casual visitor 

with the impression 

that they 

have entered 

a mediaeval 

manor house 

rather than a

pub. Three rooms are arrayed off the hall: the room 

on the front right hand side is the Public Bar, the 

rear right is the Lounge and just to the left of 

this is the old Smoke Room, now set out mainly 

for diners. There is also an old off sales hatch, 

accessed both from the lounge and by walking 

down a path to the left of the pub. One of the most 

charming features is that each area is emblazoned 

with a number: the Public Bar is “1”, the Lounge is 

“3” and the Smoke Room is “4”; you are hereby 

challenged to find the other two areas! 

These days, The Butchers is run as a Free House by 

Ben Cooper and serves a changing selection of 

three well-kept real ales, also serving rather good 

food every day except Monday. The pub is open 

from 7pm every evening, plus 12noon-2pm Friday 

to Sunday. 

The third entry is the most long-standing on the 

Inventory and also possibly the most difficult to 

find; The Vine on Naylor Street in Pittshill is a 

small, unspoilt Victorian local lying tucked away on 

the backstreets behind St Michaels Road. In the 

same family since 1939, it is the only one of 

the three pubs 

to warrant a 

Grade II listing 

and landlord Sid 

Alcock will 

happily regale 

you with stories 

of how he used 

to work down 

t’Pit in the day, then come home, brush up and 

open the pub in the evening. A traditional drinking 

corridor separates the rooms here: the Public Bar 

is to the left, complete with bench seating and a 

portrait of The Queen on her coronation: note 

that the bar itself contains no cash register, Sid 

regularly having to pop “out back” to collect some 

change. The lounge is on the left of the corridor 

and is usually locked (but ask politely and it 

becomes unlocked), and is simply like walking into 

a private lounge, bedecked with vases of flowers 

and handsome fireplace. The left hand rear room 

is the games room, complete with a dart board and 

fixed seating for those who simply want to watch 

the sporting activities taking place. 

Of all the three pubs talked about here, The Vine 

is the one that is akin to stepping into a time-warp, 

with children 

still coming into 

the pub to buy 

sweets from the 

off-sales hatch, 

and gentlemen 

in flat caps 

reading the 

newspaper in 

the bar. Thirsty CAMRA members need to be 

warned that there is no real ale on offer here- 

Sid will tell you of the time when “The Brewery” 

broke in and removed the hand-pumps- but as a 

remainder of days gone by, the pub deserves to be 

visited. From the Furlong, cross the main road and 

head off to your right, up the grass verge path and 

onto the back of Naylor Street: it is open from 

around 7.30pm every evening, plus 12.30pm to 

3.30pm on Sunday lunchtimes. 

So celebrate Mild Month with a great ale in The 

Coachmakers; Community Pubs month with a trip 

to The Vine; or simply feed your hunger with a 

delicious meal in the Butchers. Whichever you 

choose, the walls will simply ooze with history! 

Martin Perry 

Visit http://www.heritagepubs.org.uk, 

the CAMRA National Inventory website, for 

further information 


Potteries Pubs of the Month 

PREPARE FOR THE 5 th POTTERIES TREASURE HUNT! 

Dec 11: Tanya, Buff and Simon of 

The Freebird, Newcastle accept the 

December Award from Bob Round. 

Jan 12: Paul and Sarah Cope of 

The Holy Inadequate, Etruria 

accept the January Award from 

Richard and Matthew Buddin. 

Feb 12: Debbie & Sammi of The 

Sutherland Arms, Stoke accept 

the February Award from Ken Lee. 

Keeping a watchful eye on his 

beers is Ian Bradford of Lymestone 

Brewery. 

The 5th Annual Potteries Treasure Hunt has been set for Sunday, 

20th May; as last year, it will be in and around the centre of Stoke, 

and the questions promise to be even 

more fiendishly obscure than usual as 

our Question Master was somewhat 

annoyed when some teams managed 

to get them all correct! Starting point 

will be The White Star, Kingsway 

(ST4 1JB) where the questions will be 

handed out from 12noon-1pm. A 

small entrance fee will be charged, 

with all proceeds going to charity; 

there will be prizes and a buffet at the 

end of the afternoon. 

Apart from The White Star itself, the pubs involved will be: 

The Glebe, Glebe Street, ST4 1HG 

O’Leary’s Bar, London Road, ST4 5AB 

The Sutherland Arms, London Road, ST4 5RW 

The Staff of Life, Hill Street, ST4 1NL 

The Wheatsheaf (Wetherspoons), Church Street, ST4 1BU 

Plus a Mystery Pub! 

Email camra.treasurehunt@yahoo.co.uk or ring 07799 427204 

to register your team. 

TONY DOBSON: AN OBITUARY 

The Potteries Branch of The Campaign for Real Ale regrets to 

announce the sudden and unexpected death of Tony Dobson, a 

long-standing and greatly valued member early in February 2012. 

Tony designed our kiln logo for CAMRA's National AGM at Keele 

in 1979, and the familiar bright yellow poster for the Stoke Beer 

Festival. He also designed the festival beer glass for many years. 

He was an ardent collector of Joules brewery memorabilia, and 

found a bank of four hand-pumps with the straight green 

sleeves, with the Joules name spiralling up them in red. He even 

had a wooden 9-gallon firkin cask, which he sent off to the coopers 

at Robinson's Brewery for a refurbish. It came back looking 

gorgeous, and was actually mounted on Bar 4 in the King's Hall one 

year, to great nostalgic acclaim. Tony had a limited edition of Joules 

polo shirts made (behind the back of Bass), but regretted not having 

the space to rescue a Joules brewery dray which he had found! 

A great guy, sadly missed. 

Ken Lee 

A POTTERIES THANK YOU 

The Potteries Branch of CAMRA wishes to thank everyone at The 

Freebird, Newcastle, The Holy Inadequate, Etruria and The Red 

Lion, Hartshill, for being so hospitable to us by allowing us to 

hold our branch meetings there; plus for all the lobby, beer and 

Chinchillas that warmed our cockles during the bleak midwinter. 


POTTERIES BRANCH 

CONTACTS 

CHAIRMAN 

Ken Lee chair@camrapotteries.co.uk 

BRANCH CONTACT 

Corin Brown contact@camrapotteries.co.uk 

PUBLICITY OFFICER 

Hayley Armstrong publicity.camrapotteries@gmail.com 

CIDER & DISABILITY OFFICER 

Bob Round beerandcider@camrapotteries.co.uk 

PUBS OFFICER & POTTERS BAR EDITOR 

Martin Perry 07763 379584 

pottersbar@camrapotteries.co.uk 

3 Edward Avenue, Westlands, 

Newcastle-under-Lyme, 

Staffordshire, ST5 2HB 

WEBMASTER 

Gareth Mawby djgaffa@me.com 

TO ADVERTISE: 

Neil Richards n.richards@btinternet.com 

01536 358670 

You can now find us on Facebook 

and Twitter or log on to the website at 

www.camrapotteries.co.uk 

This newsletter is published by the Potteries 

Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale. However, 

the views or opinions expressed are those of the 

individual authors and are not necessarily 

endorsed by the editor, local branch of CAMRA 

or CAMRA Ltd. 

© Copyright CAMRA Ltd 

Potters Bar design by Art of Matelot 

artofmatelot@live.com 

CONSUMER INFORMATION 

If you have any complaints over matters 

such as short measures, etc, and 

have no satisfaction from the pub in 

question, etc address them to your local 

consumer protection department. 

City of Stoke-on-Trent 

PO Box 2452, Hanley Town Hall, Albion 

Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 1XP 

Tel: 01782 232065 

Fax: 01782 236496 

Email www.stoke.gov.uk 

Staffordshire County Council 

20 Sidmouth Avenue, The Brampton, 

Newcastle-under-Lyme. ST5 0QN 

Tel: (01782 297000) 

Fax: (01782 297010) 

14 Martin Street, Stafford. ST16 2LG 

Tel: (01785) 277888 

Fax: (01785) 259760 

www.staffordshire.gov.uk/trading 

TRANSPORT INFORMATION 

Bus Operators 

First Bus 08708 500868 

Arriva Midlands 0116 264 0400 

D&G Bus 01782 332337 

Bakerbus 01782 522101 

Rail Operators 

Virgin Trains 

www.virgintrains.co.uk 

East Midland Trains 

www.eastmidlandstains.co.uk 

London Midland Trains 

www.londonmidland.com 

National rail enquiries 

08457 48 49 50 

www.nationalrail.co.uk 


Thurs 1 st : 

Potteries CAMRA AGM, 

The Leopard, Market 

Place, Burslem, 

ST6 3AA, 8pm 

*** CAMRA Members Only *** 

Mon 5 th : 

Pub of the Month 

Presentation, The Glebe, 

Glebe Street, Stoke, 

ST4 1HG, 9pm 

Thurs 22 nd : 

Stoke Beer Festival 

Meeting, The Freebird, 

Liverpool Road, 

Newcastle, ST5 2AX 


Fri 23 rd : 

Social, Holy Inadequate, 

Etruria Old Road, Etruria, 

ST1 5PE. 6pm onwards 

Social Diary 

March April May 

Tues 3 rd : 

Pub of the Month 

Presentation, Black Horse, 

Sutton Street, Chesterton, 

ST5 7JH, 9pm 

Thurs 5 th : 

Branch Meeting, 

The Congress, Sutherland 

Road, Longton, 

ST3 1HJ, 8pm 

Sat 7 th : 

Trip to Stockport 

visiting the following pubs: 

Ye Olde Woolpack (10 

ciders on hand-pump!), 

Magnet, Railway etc. 

Meet at Stoke Railway 

Station at 12noon. 

Thurs 19 th : 






Thurs 3 rd : 

Branch Meeting, 

Blue Bell, Hardingswood, 

Kidsgrove, ST7 1EG, 8pm 

Fri 4 th : 

Social and Pub of the 

Month Presentation, 

The Bulls Head, St Johns 

Square, Burslem, 

ST6 3AJ, 8pm 

Thurs 17 th : 






Fri 18 th : 

Social, The Congress, 

Sutherland Road, Longton. 

ST3 1HJ, to co-incide with 

their beer festival. 6.30pm 

onwards. 

Sat 19 th : 

Social, The Gresley Arms, 

High Street, Alsagers 

Bank, ST7 8BQ, to 

co-incide with their beer 

festival. 3pm onwards 

Sun 20 th : 

Annual Potteries CAMRA 

Treasure Hunt. Meet in 

The White Star, Kingsway, 

Stoke, ST4 1JB, 12noon. 

See Page 31 for more 

details. 


The Bulls Head 

14 St Johns Square 

Burslem ST6 3AJ 

Tel: 01782 834153 

The Royal Exchange 

26 Radford Street 

Stone ST15 8DA 

Tel: 01785 812685 


The Greyhound 

67 George Street 

Newcastle ST5 1JT 

Tel: 01782 635814 

The Sun 

7 Lichfield Road 

Stafford ST17 4JX 

Tel: 01785 248361 

www.titanicbrewery.co.uk 

Titanic Brewery Pubs 

- 

Real pubs for real people 

The White Star 

63 Kingsway 

Stoke ST4 1JB 

Tel: 01782 848732 

The Roebuck 

18 Derby Street 

Leek ST13 5AB 

Tel: 01538 385602

Potters Bar - CAMRA Potteries

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