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ger it closed in spring 2004 and has been replaced by the small cedarwood close housing development en route to the church we would have passed the spread eagle this was another modern rebuild of a more modest 19th centruy pub which you can see here being an old groves whitnall house it ended up in greenalls s hands and hadn t sold cask beer for years a troubled pub its license was suspended in 2011 following a shooting details here it was demolished in december 2012 to be replaced by flats and houses the monolithic church started life as a hardy s crown brewery house you can see the crowns on the top of the pub here and so ended up as a tetley house another pub with more than its fair share of problems including a murder in 2002 it closed in 2006 a subsequent and suspect fire sealed the church s fate and after lying derelict for several years it was converted into flats in 2016 still lying derelict after its closure in 2008 is the equally large tatton arms numerous schemes have been put forward for its redevelopment the latest in december 2019 which you can read about here happily the final two pubs on the stagger are still with us the crown and the farmers arms continue to thrive and also sell a range of cask ales cask boddingtons bitter was a fixture until it ceased to be i think they may still sell the keg version there have also been one or two openings in northenden with perhaps the best being northenden untapped a micropub partially owned by the licensee of the crown it sells three cask and eight keg beers along with a range of cans and other drinks it s been a very welcome addition to the area and you can read a bit more about it here hardy s crown brewery was jointly taken over by cornbrrok brewery which took two thirds of the pubs and ind coope which took the remainder hence once the 1960s take over and merger frenzy had subsided most of the ex hardy s pubs ended up as bass houses with the rest going to tetley posted by john clarke at thursday july 23 2020 13 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday 15 july 2020 here s how all about wine and other stuff i ve recently come into possession of various old books to do with pubs and booze one of the most entertaining is here s how published by the victoria wine company a once major off license chain that went through various mergers before vanishing into history in the 1930s the company produced this quite substantial booklet covering all things to do with wine and spirits beer and cider get a couple of pages too it was reprinted in 1954 which is when my copy dates from and retailed at 6d that s 2½p it s very much of its time as shown by the casual sexism of the introduction in here s how is presented a veritable encyclopedia or handbook of the cellar from which the socially inclined reader may glean what suitable information he requires or just the cocktail recipe he desires for his own friends delectation the housewife too is not forgotten there s a section to guide here in the fine art of flavouring soups puddings and meat dishes by the introduction of a little something a discreet touch to a dish will often hang invisible diplomas around her fair neck by her guests approval and certainly bring here husband home punctually to dinner six days out of six much is devoted to wine as you may expect with a description of the many types available including empire wines these wines chiefly from australia and south africa now enjoy a great popularity due not only to their excellent and uniform quality but also to the lower prices made possible by preferential rates of duty both dominions also ship good quality rich wines of port character ruby tawny and white there is guidance on storing and serving wine and also how to select the best vintages you ll note that in 1941 everything apart from champagne was considered valueless i wonder what was happening that year pages of cocktail recipes are followed by some notes on beer cider and how to throw darts it seems clear that victoria wine offered a variety of cask beers in pins and firkins which would be delivered and tapped by a burly representative interestingly the very brief notes on cider do reference a couple of proper cider apples foxwhelp and kingston black before listing the varieties stocked from bulmers coates and gaymers skirting past the pages of recipes where margarine lard and dripping feature generously we come to something that would give the likes of the portman group a funny turn here s how to nip a cold or chill in the bud perhaps my favourite suggestion for keeping a cold at bay is buy a bottle of whisky and have plenty of hot water handy soak your feet in hot mustard and water light a candle and get into bed keep sipping the hot whisky and water preferably sweetened with honey until you can see two candles continue this treatment until you see three candles then snuff out the middle one turn over and go to sleep notes on how to throw a party with long drink punch and mulled wine recipes are followed by a brief discourse on liqueurs those potent distillations of myriad colours and pure delight there is advice on how to choose and store cigars with the slightly rueful note since the second world war the importation of havana cigars has owing to currency restrictions been prohibited in this country and it is only since the beginning of 1952 that the importation of small quantities has been permitted the booklet finished with a list of local branches mainly based in london and the home counties but also with around 20 branches in bristol where they traded through e a mitchell ltd i wonder how many of those stores exist today there s a history of the branch at 229 church road redfield here while 243 north street bedminster still seems to function as an off licence if this is correct i must say this sort of window into a vanished world always fascinates me i imagine there must be may similar books and leaflets around here are a few more pages for you posted by john clarke at wednesday july 15 2020 8 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday 8 july 2020 from the archives march 1985 the edgeley escapade you lucky people two from the archives posts in one week this time we go back to march 1985 and a stagger on my doorstep which i remember taking part in it actually took place in january the author was the pseudonymous jock stroller who in fact was and is alastair walker who lives with his wife angela in whaley bridge i still see them for a few beers from time to time as you ll see his write ups tended not to mince their words as we ll see later this stagger caused ructions in more ways than one anyway here we go beer scores from 0 undrinkable to 4 excellent the first good beer guide survey crawl of 1985 kicked off in the alexandra northgate road off castle street edgeley this excellent multi roomed victorian pub with a superb ornate listed interior is a perfect example of how excellent many of robinsons pubs were before their current wave of so called improvements turn them into boring identikit one room bars that are totally devoid of character the beer was also in good nick with the bitter 63p averaging 2 75 and the mild 60p 3 75 handpumped old tom is available at the ridiculously low price of 98p the pub is slightly off the beaten track but is definitely well worth a visit turning right up northgate road and right again brought us onto bloom street where the hollywood is located formerly a private residence this is now a large rambling pub with many rooms to suit all tastes it is owned by pennine joke hosts so it will doubtlessly soon be turned into a licensed astrodome or such like beware of low flying drunks and very noisy children lobbing beer mats odd job fashion wilsons mild 62p and bitter 64p scored 2 9 and 2 2 respectively turning right took us up to castle street the third port of call was wilsons royal oak a predictable brewers tudor type pub short measures all round and no sign of a price list the west wing of the open plan lounge is called the regency suite and the east wing the royal box i doubt if the royal family would be inclined to visit this nondescript pub bitter 66p0 scored 2 5 and mild 63p 2 9 a little further up castle street is the prince albert this good basic boozer is somewhat spoiled by the cheap and nasty brewers tudor interior but sells a reasonable pint of wilsons mild 62p 2 9 scored and bitter 64p 2 1 note the interesting directions for the toilets before going back out to castle street and the sir robert peel this greenalls pub has recently been modernised and most people agreed that the new decor was an improvement the comfortable and congenial atmosphere was compensated by good beer on handpump with mild 64p scoring 3 1 and bitter 66p 2 4 back to wilsons in the pineapple where the bitter 65p scored 2 and the mild 64p was unavailable this boozer is somewhat nondescript but not unpleasant i am reliably informed that there is a lovely mirror in the ladies loo across the street lay the windsor sports ex castle a recently tarted up pennine joke pub the keg decor was complemented by keg mild in this pseuds pub which looks like an art nouveau mcdonalds with pool tables in fairness there were a lot of sweaty bodies packed in so it is undoubtedly popular unlike the handpumped bitter 64p which only managed 1 8 a bit further on lay the jolly crofter for some inexplicable reason this uninteresting pub was even more popular than the windsor sports the bitter 66p received the night s poorest score 1 1 there was a ridiculously loud jukebox playing bloody awful music short measures were dispensed by unfriendly staff the only point in its favour was that the mild managed a fairly respectable score of 2 4 a quick diversion to the other side of the roundabout led us to the armoury an ex bells pub with many excellent small wood panelled rooms but a disappointing lounge robinsons mild 60p scored 2 and bitter 63p 2 5 back across the roundabout to the grapes for last orders this good basic boozer is on the reserve gbg list and has an excellent chance of getting into the 1986 guide a convivial atmosphere is reinforced by good beer and good prices robinsons mild 59p and bitter 63p achieved 2 9 and 3 respectively since it was the end of the session we were forced to sample the old tom 1 06 which scored 4 enough said nb since this crawl robinsons increased their prices by an average of 2p per pint what happened next well may you ask there were repercussions firstly one of the local newspapers decided to aggregate the scores and publish a camra league table of edgeley pubs or something along those lines needless to say that wasn t too popular among the lower ranking pubs cue outraged letters this prompted a re think on how staggers were written and in future average scored were dropped in favour of comments like the beer was above average more long winded perhaps but much less controversial although scores were still recorded for beer quality monitoring as they still are the other minor explosion came from the direction of the jolly crofter where the licensees objected to the phrase short measures dispensed by unfriendly staff this prompted a reconciliatory visit by a few of us which did patch things up mind you our stay was accompanied by so many ostentatious displays of generous topping up that by the time we left the bar top was awash with surplus beer so what about the pubs themselves the alexandra still trades as a robinsons tied house and its architectural merits have been recognised by a place on camra s national inventory of heritage pubs you can read all about it here for the record though it s neither victorian nor off castle street it s not entirely certain that the hollywood started life as a private house what is certain is it closed in january 2012 and has since been converted into a nursery school i remember going to a camra committee meeting in one of the upstairs rooms and a local brass band playing in the next one which made conversation difficult to say the least on to castle street now and the royal oak is still open albeit to let it s had a variety of licensees in recent years and could do with some stability i think it still sells cask beer well usually anyway the mock tudor interior has gone along with the regency suits and the royal box the prince albert was a two roomed lounge and vault wilsons pub back in 1985 with a long serving licensee the pub was knocked through after he retired but today it still fills a role as a community pub with generally speaking a more mature customer base it s run by the craft union pub company this is a division of ei formerly enterprise inns concentrating on community locals and which seems rather keen on cask beer the prince albert currently has wadworth 6x and taylor s landlord on handpump the sir robert peel is a punch taverns pub which is currently to let or rather as the sign puts it pub lover wanted it can be quite a lively pub at times and does not as far as i know sell cask beer although it has dabbled with it from time to time back in the day this was a tied house belonging to joseph worrall s windsor castle brewery which was sited just off castle street next up was the pineapple one of the few remaining mid terraced pubs around and another worrall s tied house once upon a time it s a remarkable survivor and is i think independently owned very much a locals pub no cask beer has been sold for years the pineapple was almost across the road the the windsor castle which had become windsor sports back in 1985 this was a classic example of a host group refurbishment being left untouched for far longer than its anticipated shelf life and in later years it all just literally fell apart the old windsor castle brewery was located behind the pub which formed part of a terrace the brewery sold out to wilsons in 1896 and in the 1930s the whole site was redeveloped and the new pub always looked somehow out of place among the smaller pubs and shops on castle street after its sports phase the pub has various incarnations one as the joseph worrall it finally closed in june 2006 and after two years blighting the area it was knocked down and replaced by shops and flats which you can see here it is i think lucky that the edgeley discount store lost the u from its sign rather than the o the aforementioned jolly crofter is also still up and running it hasn t sold cask beer for years though unlike the armoury which is something of a local flagship for robinsons despite some minor opening out it s still a multi roomed community local which has thriving darts scene and is home to various local groups the meetings to organise stockport beer cider festival are usually held there the wood panelled lounge is a particularly fine room and the robinsons beers are among the best you ll get in stockport unsurprisingly it s a regular fixture in the good beer guide and finally...