On my fourth visit last week, I felt as if I saw Nantwich for the first time last. That can happen; I must have been to Stockport a hundred times and each trip reveals new beauty.
Nantwich must have treasures to discover, it still has a cheery and well-staffed Tourist Office that supplied a compact little map, which you can enjoy today instead of the OS extract.
My mini-tour starts at the Almshouses, apparently stolen from Crewe,
before moving on to an impressively austere St Mary’s,
and a succession of black and white buildings of increasing beauty. Eventually you reach Nantwich Book Shop and then the Crown, a dull recent GBG entry in need of a bit of de-cluttering. But leave the Salopian on, please.
I had a sudden craving for cheese and bacon Oatcakes, in the wrong county but not far from their spiritual home. Until blogs come with a tasting option, you’ll have to take my word for it that Chatwins is your essential lunch stop in Nantwich.
A busy High Street wasn’t obviously packed with day-trippers from Deeside or coach parties from Congleton, so as expected lunch business looked a bit quiet.
A decently pubbed town, but with nothing for my Top 100 emerging over the years, and with Crewe hogging the only interesting pubs round South Cheshire.
Still, a surprise to see just the one Beer Guide pub this year, and not the Joule’s house either. Clearly some quality control at work here.
Even more of a surprise to see a Hyde’s house in the GBG, though the Vine seems to have taken a “count the handpumps !” approach, with six beers I saw on 2 bars.
Before you accuse me of hypocrisy, yes, the glass for the Old Indie was an (elegant) abomination.
But the beer was fabulous, cool and rich and, er, dark. An easy NBSS 4.
And the pub was better than this picture suggests;
A mixed crowd of OAP diners scoffing proper pies, suited drinkers two pints down by 12.30, and lesser ne-e’r do wells gave it a highly pubby atmosphere. And that despite Aretha Franklin competing with Sky Cricket for attention.
That I can recommend a pub with too many beers, thin glasses and a TV/dart board posing table alcove says all you need to know about my inconsistencies.
Some gorgeous pubs that aren’t in the Guide, and a perfect site for a future micropub opposite the Leopard up for sale. I expect I’ll be back in 2018.
retiredmartin 
You can get Draught Bass in the Wickstead Arms in Nantwich 😀
But, like many places in Cheshire, it’s an attractive town that never quite seems to have a pub to do it justice. The best bit is Welsh Row to the west of the river.
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Ooh. Misses the Bass. Mind you, average Bass is worse than no Bass. You’re right on Welsh Row, lovely street. Black Lion was GBG. I sense if Nantwich was in Scotland it would have half a dozen GBG entries, if you know what I mean.
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I saw the Tourist Office map had a “Pratchetts Row”, but sadly the WhatPub map shows it as “Prachitts Row” (which is the way Google Maps has it spelt as well).
Cheers
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Very attractive town, now with massive new housing developments on the outskirts. There are two micros, a second site for Beer Dock which also has an outlet in Crewe ( more about take home, no cask from memory) and the Barrel & Tap, which is very near the Vine. A couple of cask but lots of keg and cans.
The Joules pub, the Leopard (ex Tetley) does not really work for me, it’s quite open plan and the Joules decor makes it very dark. It’s always been a tricky site; its most successful incarnation was as a Thai restaurant.
Wickstead Arms seems to be doing quite well, but as it’s a Punch pub you can never be sure.
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I have bought the olde worlde black & white premises in the photo and will be opening a micro-pub just in time for the Christmas rush. As you know, that is the busiest time of the year for pubs when all the people who protest when their local is closing, come out for a pint, sometimes two! Sometimes they also come out on New Years Eve, as well as Christmas Day/Eve, how charitable of them!
My micro-pub will be called ‘The Upstart Crow’ and Ben Elton has said he will officiate at the grand opening. He said it doesn’t matter that it’s nowhere near Stratford upon Avon, because actually Shakespeare was a Yorkshireman and actually he made up all the stuff that he wrote anyway, so it doesn’t matter. On that basis I have had a word with my neighbour, Sir Geoffrey, he will also come to the opening, but will only drink South African wine? Probably why you never see him in any of the pubs round B.Spa, even Sir Geoffrey can’t afford the wine in his local Sam’s pub (Admiral Hawke).There will be no fancy glasses in my pub neither, just tankards and flagons. Look out for it in GBG2019!
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Churche’s Mansion (last photo) is on the market for £1.05million – already fitted out as a restaurant, one assumes B&P have already run the sliderule over it as it’s almost a twin of their place in Sandbach.
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One box of matches and it’ll be an Embers Inn.
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Ho Ho.
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