Leather's Smithy, Langley

The Leather Smithy could be the best pub in the East Cheshire area if it weren't plagued by an obnoxious landlady selling average beer and overpriced and uninspiring pub grub.
It has a captive market of walkers and day tripper out to see one of the region's best loved walks and it is a 'passage oblig�' for anyone who visits the Macclesfield forest. If you wish to sit out on a summer's evening next to the reservoir, or cosy up next to a fire in winter to watch the snow gather on the hills then you might think you had found the perfect spot.
You would be sadly mistaken, whichever way you look at it you are not made welcome in that place.
I have been going there for years and every time it gets worse, I have now decided not to return. The location is all the pub has left. The beer is not good, and you should not expect a full pint or a honest top up. The food is a pretentious array of frozen stuffs clearly all straight out of the microwave or the frier, and the service is abysmal. The owner cannot get the money out of your pocket and you out of the door fast enough.
If it's a real pub you are looking for in that area I recommend you try the Hanging Gate, the Dunstan Inn, or the Crag, they are all within a couple of miles, and they are clearly in a different league.

6 Apr 2008 19:17