please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Always worth visit when in or around Burton station. Still as it was and still serving top rate ales (Joules mainly) - the Slumbering Monk was a very drinkable pint.
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I had never set foot in Burton before today and while I'm aware it is the capital city of UK brewing, that reputation largely rests on a lot of bog standard beers so I was cynical to a degree. No such concerns with this pub though - a perfect way to spend an hour between rail replacement bus and train. The multi room layout is gorgeous with lots of nooks and crannies while the beer is served direct from the cask in most cases. A chocolate and orange porter from Wye Valley was tip top indeed.
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I'm following the Good Beer Guide 2018 and this isn't listed. It was however in an older Camra book detailing 50 great pub crawls.
Next to a couple of other GBG entries and this was pub of the day. There are some very good pubs in Burton.
Lovely interior and great Bass.
Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2O9rRfy
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unique hostelry with damn good beer
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Now has a bàr counter and the very unpleasant landlord makes sure yòu know it. Donot think you are going to wander around and enjoy the pub like before.
Never mind the Devonshire and Roebuck are nearby
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Superb, characterful, multi-roomed pub. Friendly welcome and a superb pint of Draught Bass served by gravity. A 'must visit' when in Burton. 10/10.
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Lovely place with bags of character and an excellent choice of beers and ciders. I had the Oakham Bishop's Farewell which was in excellent condition. There was also an array of bottle-beers available from the "bar" which is tucked in a corner at the back and reminded me of a tuck shop.
There are three rooms at the Coopers, a snug to your right as you walk in - a nice little room with a fire. There's the room you walk through to get to the bar and then the room where the bar is. This final room is my favourite - especially the raised seating at the back. There's not a lot of space so it must get pretty cosy when it's busy. Interesting paraphernalia abounds and the staff were very friendly. Looking forward to visiting again.
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Our first return visit for 25 years when it did just Bass. It's a gem and now serves a variety of beers and styles.
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As previous viewers have noted, this pub is very special indeed. There are three rooms - you will be in the first of these when you enter the pub, a second room with a fireplace leads off to the left, continue to the back of the first room, cross a corridor and you will find yourself in the bar area. There is no bar as such, just a tiny counter on the corner of the L-shaped space. There is fixed seating here and a curious raised area to the right of the bar. The room is lit by a skylight during the day and was incredibly atmospheric.
Beers are available on cask and keg, many of the cask on stillage. On our visit there were several beers from the Joules brewery. I had one of the draft beers which unfortunately had diacetyl but the American IPA on keg was good. We also enjoyed several pints of Jaipur on cask.
My companion and I both agreed that the pub had gone straight into our Top Ten, I would possibly put it even higher. If you are in Burton on Trent, you cannot miss a visit to this wonderful pub
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decent pint of Joules pale ale in a traditional pub, nice little sun trap in the outside smoking area.
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This is the type of pub you must visit. Fantastic beer in a unique pub.
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one word - fabulous!
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Great old fashioned pub. Only a small place but very vibrant. Can't remember how many ales were on but there was plenty enough choice. Friendly staff & clientèle alike.
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If you're in Burton you must visit the Coopers. A timewarp pub that attracts young and not-so-young alike. Great Bass on gravity dispense straight from the barrel, as well as Joules beers and guests. The tap room at the rear is amazing - small, awkwardly laid out, inefficient for staff and customers, but simply marvellous! Great staff too, friendly and knowledgeable.
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Just like being in your grannies front room,how this pub has escaped a makeover is a blessed miracle.There can't be many boozers like this left.Hardly any place to sit or stand when its busy as well as poor toilets and no food to speak of.However,you don't visit this pub for its comfort or ambiance,you go for its amazing choice of cheapish beers and ciders,mainly straight from the barrel.A trip to this quaint museum piece that should be compulsory,especially if you like a pint of Bass.
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Had time to stay for a couple this time, inc best pint of Bass I've had in ages, and the Mumbling Skunk was just as good as last time. Cant speak highly enough of this place.
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Superb pub.
Great range of ales, several off gravity. A very oldy worldy pub the doesn't really have a proper bar, but this adds to its charm. Doesn't serve food but they have great pub snacks. I had far too many homemade pork scratchings, then for desert some chilli chocolate. Nice!
About a 10 minute walk from the station.
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Outstanding little pub down a back street near the centre of town. Dont be put off by the apparent lack of a bar as you walk in, it is there and offering at least 4 on hand pump and another two or three drawn directly from the barrel. My Joules Slumbering Monk was a lovely pint, and my mate rated his Pardoes Dark Swan equally highly.
Never been anywhere quite like this, well worth the effort of seeking out!
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Small pub selling good quality ales and cider/perry
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What more can be said - a superb survival with excellent Bass
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Was in there last saturday for their 5th anniversary beer festival. Nice selection as usual. Well worth a visit.
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One of the 7 Wonders of Staffordshire. Proper old fashioned boozer in a back street with no bar and beer straight from the barrel. Great choice of well kept ales and good food. Locals always friendly. Well worth seeking out. Highly recommended.
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Can't add much to the comments already posted, except to say that for our visit we found two sides of the same (excellent) coin: pretty dead on a Sunday afternoon to the point where we thought staff were waiting for us to drink up for an early closure; lively and companionable in the evening with a variedly interesting set of regulars. But of course this is all part the pub adventure experience. A great little alehouse.
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We were disappointed to discover that the Coopers' Tavern wasn't open at lunchtime, so were 'forced' to move to the Devonshire Arms (which stepped into the breech excellently...)
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Excellent old style smallish street corner pub. Has a main room and snug at the front and the samll bar/serving area to rear. Plenty of ales on - mainly from Joules (the Joules Pale was spot on). Only slight niggle is the practice of pubs selling Joules to have some commercial radio station playing as 'background'.
anonymous - 8 May 2011 10:46 |
Am in here right now!! Great ales, Great ciders, Great staff, Great locals, Great prices, Great pub dog!! Came up from Surrey to watch a footie match and now want to move into this pub!! The toilets and outside area need updating, but a defo 9/10.
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Interesting bar room and overall a really nice pub. Loads of ales on offer. Now a Joules house. 9/10
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Cracking old fashioned pub that is a real gem.
Spoilt for choice on the ale and is probably the best pub in Burton in terms of beer selection.
Essential on any Burton visit.
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Fantastic pub, great range of ales. High point of yesterdays visit was the landlady forming a queue for the lager drinkers - only two taps, while us more discerning drinkers were getting served straight away! Wide selection of ale served in quirky surroundings. Would have liked to stop longer and sampled more of their excellently well kept beer, but we had other pubs that it would have been rude not to have visited.
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A real gem for lovers of traditional old fashioned ale houses.Excellant range of beers and ciders .
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You'll love it if you love real ale, and hate it otherwise. Very congested, furniture was badly organised and cramped, loos were outside with no 'sit-down' loo available at all(!), large hot dogs were the only cooked food available. But the other side of the coin was a fantastic range of real ales, ciders and perries available (though they didn't match the published list) and reasonably priced. Handy for the station.
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Delightful pub with about 8 beers on stillage in the back room, also a few ciders An old fashioned back street pub with no frills and plenty of character. This is how pubs should be. Comfortable and warm with a real fire and settles with cushions. Perfect - and the landlady was very nice too.
chick - 27 Feb 2010 13:26 |
Fabulous traditional pub down a side street that has a fantastic character. This is an absolute gem that rolls back the years - not many pubs like this are left nowadays. The bar doubles as the cellar in the back bar of the pub where beer, cider and perry is served straight from the barrel. Good selection of ale, some Burton cider and two perries were on offer on my visit. We had Sunday lunch there and it was exceptional value for money... a good portion of meat with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, and a fine selection of vegetables.
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This was one of the best pubs that I have ever drunk in - I had a pint of red shield and it was an excellent pint to drink and cheap[ at the price (it and a pint of old rosie cider cost �5). The service was excellent and the whole atmosphere of the pub made it a pleasant experiance
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Visited on a wonderfully warm sunny Sunday afternoon, so we actually sat outside to soak up the rays, but the interior of this museum piece is what it's all about. Two old-fashioned parlour-type front rooms lead through to the bar area at the back, where the excellent range and selction of ale is all racked and drawn direct from the cask. There is a seated area consisting of cushions on a semi-circular bench which is raised up above and around the back of a couple of the casks, so you can feel like you are actually sitting in amongst the barrels...unique.
There is almost no deeper heritage in any pub in Britain than considering its past as the bottle store for the brewery at the very heart of the true brewing capital of Britain. Feel that tradition...
I've only rated it at 8 for now, though, as the welcome given by the landlady on our visit was a little "exasperated" and lacking in warmth...not what you may expect from such a pub, but I'm sure it was just an off-moment and we'll be back for more very soon.
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Arguably the best pub i have visited. In The day this pub is warm and welcoming with the fire literally spluttering out coal, and the atmosphere calm and welcoming, yet go in a few hours later and this place is buzzing. The locals are very friendly and the staff are more than willing to discuss the big variety of ales and ciders which brilliant. We ended up discovering an amazing cider at 8%, can't quite remeber the name now, wonder why!! A brilliant puba t any time of the day, and they do cartons of ales to take away, which is handy with a curry house next door. Would recommend this to everyone.
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This is the old Bass bottle store, now it's a charming pub of several individual rooms, and a small bar right at the back where beer is served directly from casks on benches, stools, shelves, old beds, the window sill and the bonnet of a Ford Prefect. Well, I do exaggerate a bit, but the place certainly does have charm and character. A good old fashioned pub atmosphere. Top class. Rate 8.
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An update as my earlier comment is two years old. The Tower brewed Thomas Salt's bitter is no longer a regular beer but the pub continues to serve a wide variety of ales with small local breweries well represented.
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An interesting Pub, for years it was the Brewery Tap for Bass until some bright spark in London sold it.Thankfully it is again in good hands, sells agood variety of ales from the barrel (alas no longer the wood).Sunday Lunch is recommended but book first as space is limited.
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This small terraced bulding, which is Grade 2 listed, is one of the best public houses I know of. The beer is Thomas Salt's Bitter which is a marvellously drinkable despite it's relatively low gravity and a host of eveer changing guests, all of which are seved in tip-top condition, some directly from the casks that stand on benching in the bar. There is no actual counter and bar staff and locals mix freely.In the larger 'lounge' you can still see the bell pushes on the walls that once brought a steward to your table to take your order. In one word, wonderful.
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Very friendly, good beer and cider, and a lovely little building. Plus Staffordshire oatcakes, which can't be bad.
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Superb gem of a pub - not easy to find, but definitely worth the search! Wonderful beer and Management who are enthusiastic about their pub without being tediously anorak-ish. The food is also excellent.
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Absolutely unique pub built into the back room of someone's house! This place acts as the tap for the Bass brewery so you can't get your pint any fresher. Big choice of other beers and very friendly staff; didn't eat there but the food looked excellent.
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