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 Victoria

The Victoria, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire ST5 1HX

A bay-windowed street corner pub just east of Newcastle town centre on the main road to Hanley. Internally, it has been knocked through into one room, but retains a carpeted snug area to the right of the entrance door, together with a longer, wood-floored bar area to the left, both liberally provided with red dralon bench seating.

Draught Bass is at the core of the beer range, alongside, on my recent visit, Doom Bar and Titanic Plum Porter. Not, maybe, an absolute unspoilt classic that people will travel miles to visit, but a fine example of that vanishing species, the cosy, welcoming local.