The Magazine

The Magazine, New Brighton, Cheshire CH45 1HP

An imposing double bay-fronted pub situated half a mile south of the town centre commanding an impressive view over the Mersey estuary, although this is partly blocked by trees opposite. It was badly damaged by fire in 2010, but has been sympathetically restored and qualifies for a regional entry on CAMRA’s National Inventory. The bar counter is on the right, with a small cosy alcove at the front right and three separate rooms along the left-hand side, the first two featuring extensive bench seating.

It still bears Bass livery, and has long been renowned as a Draught Bass shrine, in pre-Covid times reported to be selling up to 100 gallons a week, alongside around four guest ales, mostly from local breweries. Unfortunately on my visit earlier this year there was none available, with the barman reporting ongoing supply problems. A menu of straightforward,r easonably-priced pub food is also served. The pub still has its own bowling green at the rear.

The pub has its own small car park to the right, plus there is plentiful on-street parking nearby. There are regular buses along the main road from Birkenhead to New Brighton about five minutes’ walk up hill.

The North Star

The North Star, Steventon, Berkshire OX13 6SG

An old white-painted cottage pub in a quiet location to the west of the main road through the village. The name comes from an early locomotive used on the main line of the Great Western Railway, which passes nearby. The unmarked entrance is through a covered porch which now doubles as a smoking shelter.

It has one of the most unspoilt interiors in Britian and richly deserves its full entry on CAMRA’s National Inventory. The core of the pub is the main bar, with a quarry-tiled floor, and three fixed high-backed old settles arranged around the open fire. There is no bar counter as such, with drinks being dispensed across a half-height stable door from a kitchen-type servery room.

A second room at the rear with a parquet floor is served by a hatch from the bar area and contains a wealth of memorabilia about the local area and the pub itself.

Three or four cask beers are available served directly from cask stillaged in the bar area, typically including the locally-brewed Loddon Hullaballo and others from nearby microbreweries. No food is served.

The Heatons Bridge Inn

The Heatons Bridge Inn, Scarisbrick, Lancashire L40 8JG

A freestanding redbrick pub situated in the West Lancashire flatlands next to the eponymous bridge over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. It dates from 1837 and was built as a goods office for the canal. Since the StreetView image was taken, a couple of letters have been lost from the pub name on the front wall, but in a sense this is a positive sign that the interior has not been modernised to death. The windows contain some original Tetley’s stained glass.

It has been opened out to some extent, with a central bar on the left of the entrance, but still retains a variety of separate areas. There is an alcove of bench seating at the front facing the bar, with smaller snugs on either side, and a further comfortable seating area to the rear.

In keeping with its heritage, Tetley Bitter is permanently available, alongside one guest which is likely to come from North-West independent breweries. The garden contains a World War Two concrete lookout tower next to the canal, and the pub occasionally stages displays of historic military vehicles and hosts a classic bus service.

The Circus Tavern

The Circus Tavern, Manchester M1 4GX

A tiny single-fronted pub in a row of Victorian buildings that is a surprising survivor amongst the modern chrome and glass that surrounds it. It still carries Tetley’s livery, and the blue plaque on the front records it being recognised as a Tetley Heritage Inn. Not surprisingly, it also qualifies for a full entry on CAMRA’s National Inventory.

It claims to have the “smallest bar in Europe” and, while it certainly isn’t the smallest pub, that is probably true. The servery is a small quadrant halfway down the corridor leading from the front door, serving Tetley Bitter and a second beer that in recent years has been a paler offering such as Wainwright or Robinson’s Dizzy Blonde.

On the right-hand side of the corridor are two small cosy rooms separated from the corridor by a wooden screen, both with extensive bench seating. The one at the front features entertainment-related photos and tends to be more favoured by the regulars, while that at the rear has a TV screen and football photos and is more popular with casual visitors. The pub as a whole has a good balance between loyal customers and those attracted to it as something of a curiosity in the city centre. No food is served.

Despite its small size, it still provides separate gents’ and ladies’ toilets that would put most micropubs to shame. Hydes’ Grey Horse three doors to the right is almost equally tiny and, while somewhat more modernised, is also well worth a visit.

The Bell

The Bell, Aldworth, Berkshire RG8 9SE

An old brick-built pub where the licence has been in the same family for 250 years. It stands off the main road in a small village high on the Berkshire Downs, but only a couple of miles away from the Thames at Goring Gap. It won CAMRA’s National Pub of the Year award in 1990 and 2019 – making it the current holder (May 2022), and its unspoilt interior qualifies it for a full entry on the National Inventory.

The core of the pub is the glazed bar servery with sliding sash windows, one of very few now remaining. On the left is the tap room, with its quarry-tiled floor, inglenook fireplace, high-backed settles and scrubbed-top tables. To the right is a slightly more modern L-shaped room wrapping around the servery, with more benches and wood panelling, that was opened out as recently as 1974. The front of the servery holds an impressive display of pumpclips from the defunct West Berkshire Brewery.

Six beers are usually available, with Arkell’s BBB, Indigenous Baldrick and Rebellion Roasted Nuts as regulars plus three guests, mainly sourced from local microbreweries. Food is limited to soup and rolls with a variety of meat and cheese fillings. It is another of those predominantly wet-led rural pubs with a cross-section of customers that crop up in places in the South but are pretty much entirely absent from the North of England.

The Boat and Horses

The Boat and Horses, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire ST5 1LU

A street-corner pub just outside the town centre on the road to Eccleshall and Newport. The name comes form the Newcastle-under-Lyme Canal, closed in 1935, which joined the Trent & Mersey near Stoke station, following a U-shaped course to avoid the hill between the two towns. It is now painted white, but was blue in earlier iterations of Google StreetView. After a brief period of closure, it was revived by an experienced licensee and merited an entry in CAMRA’s 2022 Good Beer Guide.

At the time of writing, it offers four permanent beers – Draught Bass, Salopian Oracle, Thornbridge Jaipur and Facer’s North Star Porter – together with two rotating guests, although unfortunately on my recent visit Bass was not available due to the current supply difficulties. There is no food, but customers are welcome to bring in their own meals or snacks. It seems to have re-established itself as a welcoming wet-led local in a part of the town dominated by modern bars.

The interior is basically one long single room, with the bar in the centre faced by a bank of bench seating, a raised snug-type area to the left and a section with more of a public bar feel to the right. There is also an outside drinking area at the rear. There is a public car park opposite which is free on Sundays.

The Queen’s Head

The Queen’s Head, Stockport, Cheshire SK1 1JT

A small single-fronted pub standing in the shadow of the bridge carrying St Petersgate over Little Underbank. It was originally a free house attached to the wine merchant’s next door actually under the arch, hence its local nickname of Turner’s Vaults.

In the 1980s, it was taken over by Samuel Smith’s, who carried out a very careful and thoughtful restoration project. In fact, although the general feel is very Victorian, much of what you see is a modern recreation, thus disqualifying it from a full entry on CAMRA’s National Inventory, although it does qualify for a mention under the category of Outstanding Conversion and Restoration.

On the bar counter are a couple of original fixtures carrying spirit taps – now disused – while to the rear it retains the “Compacto” urinal, described as the “World’s Smallest Gents’”. This was actually brought back into use immediately post-reopening, although it has been locked for many years as few modern men are skinny enough to be able to use it.

At the front of the pub is the main bar, with bench seating opposite the counter and in the window, while behind this is a distinctive “horse box” snug, and further back still a cosy toplit smoke room with a real fire, all featuring much dark wood. The present-day toilets are on the first floor up a flighgt of stone stairs.

There is the usual range of Sam’s beers including cask Old Brewery Bitter. No food is served, but there is often a good atmosphere generated by the archetypal Sam’s older male clientele.

The Grape Vaults

The Grape Vaults, Leominster, Herefordshire HR6 8BS

The Grape Vaults stands on the north side of the town centre at the top of the handsome Georgian Broad Street. Behind the plain two-bay frontage is a surprisingly shallow interior little changed since the Victorian era, which earns it a Regional entry on CAMRA’s National Inventory. The fron of the pub is basically a single room, with the bar counter on the left-hand side, original fireplaces and plenty of half-height tongue-and-groove panelling and bench seating. To the rear a small snug is separated off by a glazed screen. The original gents’ toilets are extremely compact.

It currently showcases beers from Ludlow Brewery just over the border in Shropshire, and a range of straightforward pub food is served. There is a good town pub atmosphere, with tourists mingling with old boys clustering around the bar.