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ONE PUB ONLY?
Bulls Head
CRAWLING FROM RAILWAY STATION TO THE GROUND?
From Longport station visit the Packhorse and the climb up to the Bulls Head and the Post Office Vaults
SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT?
Bulls Head
HELP SAVE THE COACHMAKERS
|  |  Bulls Head
14 St. John’s Square, ST6 3AJ T 01782 834153 W www.titanicbrewery.co.uk
G Bob Crumpton
F Home made sandwiches from 12
SP JB P D
O 3 to 11 Mon - Thu. 12 to 11 Fri. - Sun.
Looking through the possibilities for sensual gratification on the way to Vale Park the plethora of pubs tantalizes as much as the fabulous buildings to be gawped at in this, the mother town of the Potteries. My advice is to start from the top of Waterloo Road (up from Hanley to the south). Turn left by the George Hotel (don’t try their breakfasts, however) note the magnificent town hall to the right, pass the amazing art college on the right and espy the Bull’s Head straight ahead. It is titanic in many a sense. Apart from the care and attention purveyed by Bob the man, you have to try the oatcakes. My recommendation for the perfect gastronomic treat is stuffed with bacon and cheese. Titanic beers are brewed a few streets away and there is the prospect of an open garden abutting choice modern town houses (Victorian brick walls up to now). This area is extremely friendly, and there’s so much to air in conversation starting with the range of beers on tap, Titanic always and many touring bitters, frequently the subject of a beer festival. Any excuse really – Welsh beers, Battle of Britain (Bob is an aircraft buff), animal name for which you could have tried Cotleigh’s various bird appellations, and made a contribution to charity. The lifeboats event raised £350. I was also able to buy a bottle of Burslem’s Legend, a reference to a local favourite son, Roy Sproson. I thus handed over a shekel to ‘the loyal servants of Port Vale Football Club’. And not a telly in sight.
BWV 1210.07 (ME): Titanic Steerage, Iceberg, Anchor, White Star, Stout; Itchen Valley Pure Gold; Dorset Harbourmaster
BWV 10.3.05 (RS): Titanic Anchor, Best, Black Ice, White Star, Vale Special
BWV 2.12.05 (RS): Belhaven St. Andrews Ale, Cairngorm Trade Winds, Titanic Anchor, Best, Iceberg, Legend, Oilslick, White Star, Thatcher's Cheddar Valley Cider
Mick Escott
It's well worth mentioning that there is Bar Billiards, Table Skittles and a rather old jukebox. The entire Titanic range is available as you would expect. When we visited, this was complimented by 2 from Black Hole (Cosmic & Milky Way), 2 from Abbeydale (Matins & Stormbringer) & Fullers London Porter which was excellent. Also, there is an extensive range of bottled beers both foreign (mostly Belgian and locally brewed, all listed in a nice menu, which also details all of the Titanic seasonals for the whole year.
Didn't try the Oakcakes, but a good sized locally produced pork pie went down rather well.
Graham Privett | |  Coachmakers Arms
65 Litchfield St. Hanley, ST1 3EA T 01782 262158 W www.thecoachmakers.co.uk
G Jason Barlow and Sue Grocott
MP
O 12 to 11.30. 12 to 12 Fri. - Sat. 7 to 10.30 Sun
Andy McCormack of a Vale fanzine came up trumps with this offering. Having tramped the streets for two days, with some very mixed success, the final call was something of a reward. The Coachmakers is run by Jason and Sue and immediately I entered I felt I had found a new home. The humour of landlord and locals was instant, and the choice of ales, refreshingly interesting. They may only have been there a few years but the pub offers something out of the ordinary.
The oddities include a preservation order on the shelf in the corridor bar! Another is the cool (or is that cold?) outside toilet. It has notices on the ceiling to question your sobriety, and a landlord who, by his own admission, “knows more about nuclear physics than footie.” Weird! The pub itself deserves some description. It has four rooms and that corridor, the largest of which is unbelievably the home of Sunday jazz sessions once a month. Each has beautiful tiles, fires, and / or timber walls. No room is large enough to accommodate a large group of lads. I shared a really pleasant afternoon pint or two with Trevor, a CAMRA enthusiast. On matchdays both Stoke and Vale fans will use the pub. During the week the time will be spent in the company of the professional classes who quite happily travel distances to use it. Who could blame them?
BWV 2.12.05: Acorn Sovereign, Burton Bridge Burton Porter, Stairway to Heaven, Coach House Gunpowder Mild, Woodlands Full Bodied Bitter | |  Pack Horse Inn
Station St. Longport, ST6 4NA T 01782 577322
G Keith Ward
F A good steak pub with a full all - round menu.12 to 2, 6.30 to 9
SP TV BM D
O 12 to 12
This is the pub that the locals recommend for food and a pint, especially if you are in a family group. Keith, an Everton fan, is well known locally as a landlord who knows the tastes of his regulars. So the “Landlord’s choice” may be a mystery but inevitably it is a good one that changes every few weeks. Sam behind the bar, is equally helpful, if a little confused, about his new allegiance to the Vale, having Leeds United roots.
The pub is very much in the village-local style. Quite roomy, it is carefully divided by wrought iron screens into two sections. The restaurant specialises in steaks and becomes a drinking room when the nosh stops. In the summer the canal provides some extra passing trade. It is also the first pub one sees when taking the obvious route from the A50 into Burslem. A meal will be well walked-off by the 20 minute or so trek up the hill. Lazy old me would take the 98 bus from outside the pub door. The lunchtime trade draws from local workers; at the weekends the professional classes come out to play, using the neat courtyard on the hot summer days. Entertainment is of the pub-singer and karaoke style with quiz-nights thrown in. This all adds up to a great local that has something a little extra. And so it was that I left the pub to Sam still bleating about “the goal that never was” as a couple of Wolves fans came in to eat and chat about the beautiful game.
BWV 2.12.05: Coach House Dick Turpin, Courage Directors
BWV 12/10/07: (ME) Courage Directors, Slaters Totty, Theakston Mild Ale | |  Post Office Vaults
3 Market St. Burslem, ST6 3AA T 01782 811027
G Patrick Hayes
MP SK BM
O 11 to 11, 12 to 11 Sun
The Post Office stands out in the centre of a town where there are masses of pubs, many serving real ale but few having something different to standard national ales. It looks really attractive from the outside and is remarkably tiny when you go inside. The “Postie” should really be the “postage stamp”: if thirty people could squeeze in, then I would be amazed. So it is then that this great little pub deserves your early custom. You will find a good welcome and beer that has both national standards but also an interesting guest.
Pat, a Shrewsbury fan with Vale affections, was sporting a No. 37 Grumpy shirt when I called. Nothing could be more misleading. He knew everyone who entered by name and beer choice. It would be almost impossible to not get into conversation here. The footie enthusiasm was seen as Soccer AM was amusing the locals in a pre - midday warming - up pint session. When I talked to locals about the apparent liking for grim buildings as pubs they replied, quite rightly, “that it is what is on the inside, which is beautiful.” Aah. Bless! The Post Office is both beautiful inside and out and should be part of anyone’s mini- crawl around town. The regulars are typically mixed in both age and sex. The consistency, as Pat has found in his short time in the pub, is that the real ale attracts “nice folk” to good locations. That was certainly the case here.
BWV 2.12.05: Fuller’s London Pride, Greene King Abbot, IPA, Titanic Night to Remember
Seating for no more than a dozen makes this a very interesting venue and well worth a visit. I tried the Stone Cutter from Millstone which wasn't that good to be fair. I reularly frequent Ye Olde Vic in Stockport which regularly feature Millstone beers, so I know how good they can be. A decent range including Abbot & Bishops Farewell from Oakham, Coach & Horses from Millstone & Summer Lightning from Hopback.
We also planned to visit the Old Smithy which doesn't usually allow away fans, but we were warned off so didn't bother.
Graham Privett | |  Old Smithy
50 - 52 Moorland Rd. ST6 1DT T 01782 827039
G Adam Keenan
SP SK BM D
O 12 to 12. 12 to 1a.m. w/e.
This is primarily a home fan’s tap, a hop and a spit from the ground. All comers are welcome, however, which did not seem a surprise as the place successfully conveys an open, welcome atmosphere. Adam, confessing to Arsenal affiliation and formerly involved with sport himself, runs a popular pub with good humour and smiling staff. There is live sport aloft on the machine, akin to a home movie centre. When England scored the electricity was palpable. It’s a comfortable, amenable space, with no frills and never a threat – no unpleasant incidents in the four years since Adam took over. Besides the spacious single bar there is a pool room next door and a multi-purpose space upstairs. The house serves mainly as a local for blocks of flats up the road. You can smoke outside – it’s a pleasant enough road to sport a fag and a pint. There are no frills here, no food apart from light snacks sometimes on matchdays. This is hardly a problem as Burslem town centre is just up Moorland Road, with many cafés and the market. And there’s always Vale Park pies and Bovril – the latter was particularly appetizing. The Smithy was a good place to drop into for a final drop when I stayed, just before midnight.
Mick Escott
BWV 10.3.05: Everards Tiger, Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Wells Bombardier, Worthington Cask Bitter
BWV 2.12.05: Bass Draught, Greene King Abbot, Wells Bombardier, Worthington Cask Bitter
BWV 13/10/07: Wells Bombardier, Everards Tiger, Greene King Old Speckled Hen | | | LOCAL CAMRA | | 
Taxi numbers: Magnum 01782 819819, Empire Alpha – 01782 833733
VALE PARK
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LOCAL BREWERY
Titanic Brewery
Unit 5 Callender Place,
Lingard Street,
Burslem,
Stoke-On-Trent,
ST6 1JL
T-01782 823447 | | WETHERSPOONS
The Wheatsheaf 84-92 Church Street Stoke-on-Trent ST4 1BU Opening Times: Sun-Thu 9am-midnight; Fri/Sat 9am-1am
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