BITE user comments - Dean_Lane
Comments by Dean_Lane
The Duke of Wellington, Blythe Bridge
This pub has closed and is being converted into a branch of Tesco.
18 Nov 2013 19:09
Pearsons Arms, Crab And Oyster House, Whitstable
I visited this pub over the Bank Holiday weekend and it was predictably busy but the staff seemed to be coping well. Enjoyed a good pint of Whitstable Native. It's obviously a food-led pub but it doesn't discourage the casual drinker at all.
26 Aug 2013 17:23
Lovely old-fashioned multi-roomed pub with some decent cask ales (from Lees). Friendly bar staff.
19 May 2013 23:21
The Belle Monte Hotel, Frodsham
If you like cask ale, don't bother calling here - it's all keg. Keep walking down the hill to the Bull's Head or the Ring o'Bells.
19 May 2013 23:14
I don't think anything has changed in this pub since other reviewers visited. It's certainly not easy to find but well worth the effort. Reasonable choice of cask ales including one from Peerless. Lots of photos of ye olden days when the Harp catered for local miners - hard to believe there was once a coal mine next door.
No food beyond crisps and nuts and not much in the way of atmosphere either. I suppose you go here to look at the salt marshes and the louring skies and ponder your mortality but it would have helped enormously if the barmaid had cracked a smile while we were in.
8 Mar 2013 15:59
The place doesn't appear to have changed at all since "wirraldrinker" was there. It must be doing something right as it was chockfull of families, most of them queueing up for the carvery. I couldn't even see what meats were on offer. The only change on the bar seemed to be the loss of one IPA pump, leaving three. I didn't bother trying it but moved on to the Ship, which has a much better selection of beers.
8 Mar 2013 15:46
Called in here for the first time recently and was much impressed. From the outside it looks like it's going to be a hotel and nothing much else but in fact it's a decent pub and restaurant too. It seems to have been refurbished fairly recently, certainly since the last reviewer was there, and it's under newish management too. But in other respects it's not changed since "Jason Bourne" was there. Very friendly staff, good range of interesting food (e.g. potted shrimps+prawns+crab as a starter), no problem getting brown bread instead of white, and a range of local cask ales (including Brimstage Trapper's Hat, Woodlands Bitter). And yes, friendly locals too!
8 Mar 2013 15:43
No food, despite what the signs on the outside say. We didn't stay to find out any more.
8 Mar 2013 15:28
We called in recently for both food and drink and found a warm welcome. It is undoubtedly a busy pub (book ahead or get there before 1230 if you want Sunday lunch) but it seemed to have room for everyone, whether drinking, dining or both. It helps that there's several tables outside.
The staff were all cheerful and helpful and didn't seem to notice our somewhat bedraggled appearance at all (we had walked along part of the Sandstone Trail, which passes through the village, and were a bit muddy). Neither did they mind the cyclists and other walkers, nor indeed the wide variety of dogs.
Four cask ales on offer: three from Weetwood plus Lancaster Amber as the day's guest (£3.30-£3.40 a pint). Food is pricey as you would expect in rural Cheshire but we were happy with our Sunday lunches (£12.50), and there are cheaper options like sandwiches. One word of warning: they do the roast beef very pink so sing out if you like it well done.
It may interest some readers to know that the Cheshire Candle Workshops and its "The 'Olde Tyme' Penny Arcade" are only a hundred yards away (good place to entertain children).
7 Jan 2013 15:32
I'm surprised to be the first person to review this pub. I occasionally call in when walking along the Macclesfield Canal or the Middlewood Way (which is just across the road). Lyme Park is not far away either.
Anyway, it's a small friendly pub that always seems to be busy, certainly at weekends anyway. Very traditional layout, tap room to the right (with big screen TV), rather more plush lounge to the left (with roaring coal fire at this time of year), and a central bar serving both. Three handpumps, two in use yesterday, offering a Thwaites beer and Bateman's Rosey Nosey. Food also on offer though I've never had occasion to try it.
10 Dec 2012 10:30
After re-reading my review, I feel I should add that I had already necked two pints of the Weetwood before tackling the Lancaster. I would have cheerfully worked my way through the rest of the range but we were going home on a coach (with no toilet).
22 Nov 2012 15:50
Yes, this now trades as "The Dragonfly", and is indeed part of the Smith and Jones chain. Called in at a slightly dead time, between 6 and 7 pm, and found it quite relaxing. Particularly impressed by the bar staff, who were very friendly and helpful. Beer nothing special but it does have a few handpumps (offering Bombardier and Morland's Original at the time). Very good pies: very substantial, filling pies in fact, with peas and mash. Other meals are available.
I got the impression that if we'd turned up earlier, it would have been full of pensioners going for the tea and teacake special. Another hour later and it would be filling up with much younger folk, and the music would be a lot, lot louder. But this is pure speculation, going by the small dance floor and the DJ's booth.
12 Oct 2012 23:34
The Country Girl, Sharpway Gate
Still closed. Lease advertised for sale, if anyone's interested.
31 Aug 2012 00:30
Four of us visited the Mark Addy recently, on a busy Saturday night, for meals and drinks and were very pleasantly surprised. It's under the control of local legend Robert Owen Brown, and we've had cause to doubt his ideas when he's been involved in other local pubs (Bridge, Angel, Greyhound in Flixton). But here he seems to have got everything right.
There's a good range of cask ales, in good condition. Importantly, the bar staff are interested in beer and keen to give advice on what's what, and indeed free samples. There's also some very interesting food, ranging from pub staples (very decent cheese and onion pie) to more exotic stuff (sand eels anyone?). The food side of the operation does not trample all over the beer side: this is still a pub, not a restaurant, and thankfully not a gastropub. And it still offers the bread and cheese that first made the place famous. It's advisable to book ahead if you want a full meal at a weekend.
The atmosphere inside is quite cosy: it's under low arches, built into the side of the riverbank really. Outside there's a beer garden, or yard, continuing alongside the Irwell, where you can watch the tourist boats from the Lowry turning round (some manage a three point turn, others make it more like 33 points).
Prices aren't outrageous: not cheap but then very little is cheap in city centres of Manchester and Salford these days. But it's a lot cheaper than some other waterside locations in Manchester now.
3 Aug 2012 13:06
The pub has been refurbished inside and outside but with no major changes. It's still a classic Holt's house selling beer, beer, beer and it's almost always busy. Although it's been opened out over the years there's still a feel of the original multi-roomed building, with a nice Snug off to the right (as you walk in). The cask beers are Holt's Bitter, Mild and IPA; occasionally there's a "guest ale" from whichever regional brewer Holt's have palled up with. The locals are friendly.
3 Aug 2012 10:39
Currently closed for major rebuilding and extension; due to re-open on 28th August.
3 Aug 2012 10:33
The Marble Beer House, Chorlton cum Hardy
A belated reply to realalerules1983: the Metrolink tram network has recently been extended to Chorlton and that's the quickest way to reach the place now. The trams carry the destination "St Werburgh's Road". The Chorlton stop is on Wilbraham Road, which is where most of Chorlton's modern bars can be found.
You can overlook the Marble Beer House for now as it's been going through several rapid and unexplained changes of management. And to respond to nokegthanks: it's owned by the same people as the Marble Arch in Manchester.
8 Jul 2012 22:40
I only get in this pub at weekends when it seems friendly enough to me and my chums. We visited today and found the staff to be reasonably welcoming and helpful. The first beer I ordered (Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay) was not at all to my liking: couldn't put my finger on why but it had a very sour taste to it. The barmaid was quite happy to change it though. Other beers (Beartown Kodiak Gold and Storm Bosley Cloud) were much more palatable though not in the very best condition. We enjoyed the carvery, which had a decent range of vegetables as well as roast meats.
I think the pub has been refurbished recently: carpet and chairs look quite new. But the best thing about the place is definitely the location, with views out over the canal and the fields to Winter Hill, some 17 miles away.
8 Jul 2012 21:11
Just to confirm, the Railway at Heatley is very much closed: not only burnt down but demolished. Only a bare site is left. This is an ex-pub. It has ceased to be. A pity, because it was a good pub in its day (several years back).
8 Jul 2012 20:54
This is a fairly standard estate pub, mostly open plan, but with a definite separation between the tap room/games room on the left and the lounge/dining area on the right. Two cask ales, currently Greene King Abbot Ale and Old Speckled Hen.
30 Jun 2012 16:09
I suppose I should add that the pub was formerly the Foresters Arms.
18 Jun 2012 18:03
This pub has been renamed the "Silver Tally" as of 1st June 2012. It has been taken over by the Prospect Brewery, in partnership with Thwaites. We are promised at least two Prospect beers and one from Thwaites. I visited shortly after opening. The pub has been refurbished inside and out but is not radically different from what it used to be. Modern fittings include a lot of hard surfaces, which make it a bit noisier than it should be, and a great deal of mushroomy paint. Beers on offer were Silver Tally (inevitably), Nutty Slack and another Prospect one (Pioneer?), plus Thwaites' Wainwright. They were good but not exceptional: perhaps we were expecting too much from a newly re-opened pub. Clientele were mostly middle-aged or older, on a wet Sunday evening: mostly local folk, we thought. They are planning to offer food once they've found their feet, probably in a couple of months' time.
5 Jun 2012 20:22
Since it re-opened as Oddest, part of trio of Mancunian bars (Odd and Odder being the others), this bar has been transformed. It's a friendly, comfortable cafe-bar with the accent on interesting quality drinks and some decent home made food. There are usually 4 or 5 cask ales on, one or two ciders (proper stuff, from tubs), genuinely Continental lagers and a big range of bottles from around the world.
Food is served until surprisingly late at night (last orders at 8pm Fri and Sat, otherwise 9pm). I'm just back from having a very decent Sunday roast, which I think cost �7.75. Beer is �3 a pint for session beers, more for stronger stuff. Staff are knowledgeable and interested in what they sell.
This is all beginning to sound like a PR chap's blurb, so I will add one word of caution - don't sit too close to the toilets, you'll get a strong whiff of disinfectant every time someone opens the door.
18 Mar 2012 21:47
I called in again on Sunday, mainly to check out the food. They offer a Sunday roast, with a vegetarian option too (home made cheese and onion pie). Very palatable but rather limited portions considering the price (�6.95).
The two beers on this occasion were Taylor's Landlord and Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. Both tasted oddly bland and the Landlord was hazy. I agree with gunninm, this is not going to be a temple for fine ales. It may take off as a centre for community arts, in the upstairs rooms, but as a pub it's struggling to find its way. The flooded floor in the gents' toilet certainly doesn't give a good impression.
6 Mar 2012 23:54
Well, I've just got back from downing a couple of pints in the Black Lion, and I'm struggling to recognise Roy22's description. I don't doubt him, that may well be an accurate description of the pub on a Saturday night, but it's also an accurate description of most city centre pubs on a Saturday night. Early evening on a Tuesday in February was very different.
The pub had half a dozen drinkers, all perfectly civilised, some low key music on the juke box and two cask beers on offer. Again they were Jennings' Cumberland Ale and Rooster's Yankee. I stuck with Rooster's as I don't often see it this side of the Pennines and it was good stuff. The pub now offers bar food as well as drinks: just sandwiches early in the week, more substantial fare from Thursday to Sunday. I didn't try the sandwiches but they looked decent (French stick things with cheese or ham).
28 Feb 2012 19:39
Pub is not only closed but demolished and the site levelled. Coming soon: "leisure facilities including an ice rink, homes, offices, shops, restaurants and cafes and a 500-space underground car park". But no new pub.
16 Feb 2012 19:14
The Farmers Inn, Clarencefield
Called in very recently and found the landlord to be friendly, welcoming and obliging. Is it the same person that other reviewers have mentioned? I have no idea. Perhaps the pub has changed hands.
It's the first time I've ever set foot in Clarencefield, which is a little off the beaten track when you hail from south of the Border.
We found it to be a very quiet pub in a very quiet village: indeed the two of us were the only customers at all for the first hour. But it did what we wanted, providing decent beer and decent food when the Dumfries restaurant we had hoped to eat at turned out to be closed.
Just one cask ale on offer but in good form. Food unremarkable but filling.
14 Feb 2012 19:43
Despite my pessimism, and thanks to much pressure from the local community, this pub re-opened last week as the Moorfield Hotel. It's now owned by Greene King and branded as a "Hungry Horse" pub/restaurant. I've not been in myself yet but am told that it stocks the usual Greene King beers and the landlord is quite keen on cask ale.
3 Oct 2011 12:26
The builders are in now. Looks like they're revamping the place. It has planning permission for a small extension, no mention of any change of use, so with luck it should re-open as a pub in the next few weeks.
28 Sep 2011 16:49
Well it's certainly closed now, and the Manchester Evening News says police will now seek revocation of the licence (again).
12 Sep 2011 11:56
Surprisingly, Mambo's now offers cask ale on handpump, and is a pleasant enough spot for an afternoon drinkie, if somewhat gloomy inside. Evenings and nite time are much more, er, lively.
17 Aug 2011 20:40
This bar has closed, after a spell under the name of "The Green Room". It is due to open in September 2011 as an Italian restaurant ("Danito's Ristorante").
17 Aug 2011 20:37
Update on the toilets. The Gents has been completely renovated and re-opened for business. Somehow it's become more spacious though the walls haven't moved, it's just that the urinals and wash basin are better placed. Work continues on the Ladies and great things are promised.
The bar now boasts seven handpumps, six for ale and one for cider. An eighth pump is planned when they can get another beer line installed (unusually the cellar is actually overhead, which complicates the plumbing; personally I would just let it run down by gravity but some folk like a head on their beer).
17 Aug 2011 20:32
The Sale Hotel has been closed for the past couple of years, threatened with demolition and rebuilding as flats, then given a Building Preservation Notice by the local council. No-one's sure what will happen to it, but it seems highly unlikely that it will re-open as a pub.
12 Mar 2010 09:55
Corbieres Wine Cavern, Manchester
Corbiere's just carries on being Corbiere's, a great place to hide away from the world. The only thing that's changed in years is the smoking ban - just as well, as the place has no windows! Just one cask ale, usually Bazens' Pacific - and it's no longer contaminated with that peculiar smokey taste, that's gone. Good, cheap food available up to 4 p.m. or so. I particularly like the quesadilla with refried beans (�3.75 inc salad).
11 Mar 2010 17:01
Pub has been closed for a long time but there is finally work going on inside. Not clear if it will re-open as a pub.
11 Mar 2010 16:58
The Golden Heart, Nettleton Bottom
We visited this pub for the first time recently: can't think why we've never tried it before, unless it's just because we've zoomed past on the A417 without really twigging that the old stone buildings actually are a pub. It's a traditional rustic pub with several small rooms and a tiny two-sided bar, plus some sort of function room at the back. There's a big beer garden with great views out over the valley.
Four beers were on offer: Otter and Brakespear bitters were both on top form; Cotswold Lion Best In Show was good but not the best; the guest beer, Stroud Tom Long, was sour but quickly changed. Food was just what we wanted, with particularly good starters and substantial Sunday roasts. Friendly service, well worth a visit if you're on the Cirencester - Cheltenham road.
30 Jun 2014 18:52