Say what you like about Stoke; they know how to get a basic Bass pub in the Guide.
But the Olde Bull & Bush is a new one on me, though the Chinese takeaway looks vaguely familiar.
Reassuringly, someone else has a pint of Bass in front of them, so mine won’t be the first of the night.
I guess the presence of two beers I’ve never heard of helps it’s GBG case, but not drinking Bass here would seem an act of treason. Besides, it was a mere £2.70, virtually theft.
You can’t have enough pictures of Draught Bass on this blog. This belongs firmly in the “Northern” head department.
Another bloke at the bar with a Lancashire accent made up the rest of the customer, he was a malt whisky enthusiast. What more can I say.
I took my Draught Bass (I shall name him Bassy) on a little tour of the pub. He particularly appreciated the Stoke City mural, featuring such club legends as Matthews, Banks and Clarkson.
A boisterous couple took position under Ian Bloor and the club cats, and took photos of each other. Shameless.
Music covered the spectrum from “Dock of the Bay” to “I Will Follow Him“, which is a song you don’t hear in pubs every day.
The Bull & Bush deserves its day in the Beer Guide sun, a cool and tasty Bass (NBSS 3.25) in its own glass on a pub beermat for less than £3. What more d’ya want ?
And there’s even a decent Chinese takeaway across the road.
Like the fact Bassy is with you. Hope he (?) will be a regular companion on your travels. Good to have a Bass Hound
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Quite cute that they were pairing it with the Charrington IPA from the Burton museum brewery – it’s a nice beer.
The brewery you’ve not heard of is Facer’s, which is the ex-Boddies head brewer set up in Flintshire. Won a couple of CAMRA awards for his mild and porter, although to my mind it’s his ordinary session pale that is the pick (not surprisingly).
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Ah, thanks, now you mention it that clip looked familiar. Haven’t seen Facers since it appeared regularly in the King’s Arms in Salford.
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I’m very intrigued by this idea of a brewery set up by an ex-Boddies brewer. Does the Facer’s session pale taste a bit like Boddingtons?
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Does Stoke have a long proud football tradition? Oddly, it is one of two stadiums I have seen a match in.
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Yes, it does. Second oldest professional club in the world, competitive in top leagues, noisy crowd. What did you watch ?
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Stoke and Wolverhampton when they were champions league. Great stadium.
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Championship (2nd tier, I guess). But why ? (sorry for daft question). I assumed Americans wouldn’t understand our game since we introduced lines and goalposts !
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My son in law was with us and he played in college. I have developed a mild interest. No question it is a great sport. He helped me appreciate it. “A game of triangles,” he told me.
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Yes, second tier when we saw them. I bought the tickets and did not splurge for Premiership. I am not sure I could tell the difference and the cost was dramatically different. My son in law clearly could as he obsessed on how bad one Stoke midfielder was during the game. I loved the crowd and the John Smith’s beer.
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20 years ago, just after the new stadium opened, I took a Nowegian visitor to Mrs RM’s firm to a night game. There were several Norwegians in the Stoke team. She thought the football (tier 2) was rubbish (it was) and said so loudly !
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Bass beermats less than £3 and some (literally) unbelievable murals of former Potters! What a cracking looking bar 👍
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“unbelievable murals of former Potters!”
I take it you’re the fellow in the striped jersey on the right holding the ball?
Cheers
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Is he really really old??
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I’m the hooligan in the crowd.
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“And there’s even a decent Chinese takeaway across the road.”
Looks like someone ‘took away’ the pole for the street sign. 😉
Good to see a pub with a Bass sign outside that actually has Bass inside. 👍
Cheers
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A perfect combination, Russ.
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‘a malt whisky enthusiast. What more can I say.’
I’d say great bloke…..provided it’s single malt.
But ice in it? Aarrrrgh!
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Indeed. It wasn’t a complaint. As you’ll realise, I like pubs that caters for all types of people and tastes, as long as they keep the Bass ticking over.
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I thought you had caught me out on a pub i had not done in Stoke on Trent for a while, Martin.
But you have not as the pub has had a few name changes over the years,when i first did it on 17th September 1983 it was called The Sea Lion and was a keg Ansells tied house,when i did it again on 12th January 2013 it was called Grays Corner and was a Thwaites tied house with a decent drink of Lancaster Bomber on the bar.
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Odd to see a pub change its name to something more traditional than Sea Lion, isn’t it ?
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But maybe they had just realised it’s a long way from any sea lions, and it is on a corner.
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Stoke, from my recollections – did some enquiries down there over a few weeks back in 90’s. It doesn’t actually exist? It’s more a collection of several smaller towns that frankly all looked the same. I have to be frank and say it was worse than Bradford on a damp and dreary half day closing in February.
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Sadly Stoke does actually exist.
Stoke is POLYCENTRIC and there’s not much more needs saying about it.
It was formed as a County Borough by the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from Stoke-upon-Trent where the main centre of government and the principal railway station in the district were located. Hanley is now the primary commercial centre. The other four towns are Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, and Fenton.
In his Five Towns novels and stories Arnold Bennett changed the names of the towns but he omitted Fenton which most definitely is, and most probably was, an absolute hole far worse than Bradford on a damp and dreary half day closing in February.
At least in Bradford on a February afternoon you can get a proper curry or a decent pint in the multi-roomed, Edwardian gas-lit New Beehive, and you can get out of Bradford as it has two railway stations.
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I will defend the Potteries until the end of time. Even if that happens quick in Stoke than the rest of the world.
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You really need to get out and see some dreadful bits of West London before you slag off Stoke and Bradford !
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Yes, other depressed areas are available.
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I must admit that there are bits of West London I have never been to, and never will.
Some of my best friends are Stokies but Stoke, despite having a few proper pubs, just isn’t the sort of place you would want to go to.
Listing all Midlands cities in terms of whether they’re worth visiting Leicester would be some distance down the list but, as we well know, one can have a Proper Day Out in Leicester with several Proper Pubs mostly about 200 yards apart.
Plot the several Potteries pubs worth going to on a map though and, across the six towns, they’re more like two miles apart which would mean more money spent on taxis than beer, a meal and a pot of Bombay mix and nearly as much time waiting for and in taxis than drinking our Bass or Titanic.
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I’d agree that the best Potteries pubs are more spread out, but you could certainly do half a dozen good ‘uns in Stoke itself, Burslem or Newcastle these days. Hanley is tougher but the Coachmakers is essential.
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Good logic 👏
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Yes, maybe.
Stoke itself has a few decent pubs.
I must be due another visit to Burslem as I’ve not been there for a few years.
I get to Newcastle at least once a year. The cluster of ‘pubs’ near the Lymestone Vaults are rather characterless micropubs, Hopinn some distance away being much better.
In Hanley I tend just to stay on the Bass in the Coachmakers but it’s a shame when the walls of a Proper Heritage Pub can’t be seen for pumpclips of beers I would never want to drink there.
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You sound just like me !
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