Coming almost up to date with this weekend’s (26-27/1/18) trip to Stockport, surely the Vegas of Cheshire. No football, but Manchester Beer Fest, a crawl round Levenshulme and a Bass challenge on the “To Do” list.
Trivelles Mayfair is the unlikely name of my regular hotel for trips into Manchester*, ideally placed for trains to Piccadilly and 20 minutes stroll down the A6 to the Petersgate Tap. Some strange people live round here, so I walk quickly.
“But what’s the street art like ?” you enquire.
Not as good as the natural beauty of the Plaza,
or the Underbanks, even with the lights in Winters dimmed.
I rarely go back to a pub (unless it was really bad the first time), and the Petersgate Tap isn’t even in the Guide yet, but I’m a sucker for direct advertising involving a red triangle;
Properly conditioned Draught Bass, and it turns out Chris would take the sparkler off for me without making a withering comment !
And here’s that unsparkled pint. Ignore the other exciting beers on the left,
and the Evil Keg. Even the Tiny Rebel.
The Hawkshead was the beer that marked the Tap out as a purveyor of quality cask last year, but could they do it with a pint of Bass on a wet Thursday night in Stocky ?
Yes they could. This was a near perfect pint of flat Bass, on a par with the Black Swan in Gweek. In fact, this could have come straight from the jug. Nectar, cool and complex (NBSS 4.5).
So if I score the flat Bass so highly, the sparkled version must score the same, surely ?. I guess so, and again it was a compelling pint to match those you get in southern Derbyshire. It’s just, I prefer it flat.
Nobody else seemed convinced of the merits of the Red Triangle, but a busy pub full of groups of blokes were all on the cask. Unlike me, they were making it last.
After a four hour trip from Cambridge, my two pints of Bass were sunk in 20 minutes. That’s almost Mrs RM standard.
Upstairs, a band was rehearsing ahead of a Friday night gig as part of Stockport’s First Friday event. I didn’t recognise the tunes but at least they weren’t Coldplay.
I really needed someone to compare notes with on the great “flat v sparkled debate“, but as the only lone drinker I had to content myself with some quality reading.
Years ago in Exmouth, I heard a chap leaving a pub say words that have stayed with me
“Blessings on your house, you serve good Bass”
The Tap served great Bass. Bet it’s all gone now though.
*For the avoidance of doubt, Stockport is NOT in Manchester. It’s in Cheshire.
retiredmartin 
Personally I prefer a head on my pint.
But Bass is such a fantastic beer I’ll take it any which way I find it,which sadly isn’t that often these days.
It is the chrome-bumpered MGBGT of beers and its decline is a shame..
If Jezza Corbyn was to announce he’d nationalise Bass and have it served in every pub in the land I’d vote for him.
THAT is how good it is.
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I’m sure the beer that leaves the giant factory in Burton is as good as ever (albeit slightly different), it’s the volumes and disinterest that reduces it from “great” to “OK”. Same with Pedi, and 6X, and Harveys etc.
Oh, and I’d always prefer Landlord or Black Sheep with a proper head; Bass is different.
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So Sotckport is listed under Cheshire in the Guide then? 😉
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Or even Stockport
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No, but neither is it listed under Manchester. It remains in Cheshire geographically.
“Greater Manchester” is really a misnomer – it’s like calling West Yorkshire “Greater Leeds”.
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Or like talking about Greater London. Oh, hold on…. Isn’t that a convenience that reflects that the conurbation actually contains two cities and it’s confusing to refer to the conurbation as a “city” of London when that’s actually just a small part of it? You don’t get that ambiguity with Leeds.
The boundaries have changed in the same way that Poland and the Sudetenland are no longer part of Germany. The county boundaries were arbitrary in the first place, based on medieval kings waving their hands when they gave land away to their faithful knights – and the County Palatine is all about the relationship with Wales and the Dee, not the Mersey. But you can’t seriously argue that things like transport are not better organised from a Manc perspective than their relationship with the A500, and that Stopfordian culture is not closer to Manchester than say Chester or Crewe. Because that’s ultimately what these things come down to – they start as bureaucratic conveniences that comes to define culture. But at the same time these things are not fixed for all time – New York no longer speaks Dutch and California learnt to live with not being in Mexico.
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I hadn’t intended getting distracted from discussing Draught Bass but it was the 1974 Metropolitan Counties that caused confusion and politicians probably spent ages discussing whether to name then after the biggest town, biggest river or old county and decided on a mixture of these ;
Greater Newcastle (andSunderland) – no, Tyne and Wear – yes
Greater Manchester – yes, Irwellside – no
Greater Liverpool – no, Merseyside – yes
Greater Birmingham – no, Tameside – no, there’s one of those in Manchester, West Midlands – yes
Greater Sheffield – no, Donside – no, South Yorkshire – yes
Greater Leeds – no, Aireside – no, West Yorkshire – yes
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Blasphemy! Greater Huddersfield surely…..
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Greater Hudders would include major suburbs like Birkby (pop.30) given separate billing in the GBG.
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“Or like talking about Greater London.”
All the “big” cities are doing that now. It’s the in-thing. Granted, it’s not as big as London but our own ‘centre of the universe over here’, Toronto, has that moniker:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Toronto_Area
As does the capital of British Columbia, whose “greater” population is barely 350K:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Victoria
Cheers
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Stuckpit is. In my own version. Don’t get me started on geographical listings in the Beer Guide. Never been the same since they dropped the Dutch section…
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Lesser Norfolk…..
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Surely the Fens are lesser Norfolk; didn’t some Dutch bloke come over and make them so he could build grim Elgoods pubs no-one visits ?
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Early attempt at Dutch colonization, to be completed when Heiniken buy Elgoods and enforce even worse beer on the locals.
Eventually the Dutch will just drain the North Sea and plant bulbs all the way across.
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You read that hear first.
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Maybe they should just give Stickprat honourary inclusion in every GBG region?
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Mudgie may remember the year in early ’00s when Stockport’s GBG entries were listed under Standish in error, so the precedent is there. I’ve discussed with the Petersgate Tap the idea of franchising into Cambridge as well.
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Was there not a rural pub somewhere that 2 branches claimed and it ended up in the Guide twice in different counties?
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Duncan (Pubmeister) will know, I have a vague recollection. The Olde Mitre in Ely Place in The City was technically part of Ely, so could have been claimed by Cambridgeshire, of course (in 1657).
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Cheshire south of the Mersey, Lancashire north of it, hence Lancashire Hill.
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Let battle commence…
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Great headline for Mudgie’s column. The modern day equivalent of Reasons to be Cheerful.
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We do actually have a “beer café” in our branch area called Reasons to be Cheerful.
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Beer cafes..not a Reason to be Cheerful.
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“Manchester Bee encroaching into Stockport etc etc”
Well I’ll ‘bee’ damned. 🙂
“Not as good as the natural beauty of the Plaza,”
Since you mention Stockport is the Las Vegas of Cheshire I’m assuming from the photo of the Plaza that the missing lights on the left indicate the position of the elevator? Either that or they have two kegs of Double Diamond on tap and one is half empty? 🙂
Cheers
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Excellent detective work, Russ.
I should have said that Stockport is a gap-toothed version of Vegas. Have you been to Stocky, by the way ? Can’t remember what you’ve seen of UK.
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Alas, have not seen a lot of the UK. Left when I was too young to enjoy pubs (lived there from 4 to 7 years old), went back for a visit in ’75 when I was old enough to drink, then again in ’81 when I backpacked around mostly by train around mainly relatives in Kent, London, Notts, and then did the hostel bit around Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ben Nevis and Loch Ness mainly).
Some day perhaps I’ll come back for a (pub tour) visit. 🙂
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But you did see Nessie, right ?
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“But you did see Nessie, right ?”
Well, after drinking six bottles of Old Peculiar in the shade of Urquhart Castle one afternoon I’m pretty sure I did. 😉
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Wow. I’m a believer but I’ve never seen her/him. I’ll keep looking. You do know there’s more water in Loch Ness than the entire volume of Doom Bar in the world ?
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“You do know there’s more water in Loch Ness than the entire volume of Doom Bar in the world ?”
That’s only because people keep drinking the bloody stuff. (LOL)
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I’m more of a sparkling creamy man so will compare mine ‘virtually’ next time I have one! It’s the modern way ….
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It does my heart good seeing you get to a place that gives Bass the respect it deserves. But did they have Pipers crisps to complete this moment of perfection? 😉
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You know what these hipster places are like, Mark. They believe they can get away without stocking the world’s premier crisps. Perhaps the Pipers were conditioning in the store room to be served in optimum condition !
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Proper Northern pubs have Seabrook’s. Pipers, while very nice, are (dare I say it) a touch artisanal. Also dear.
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The money you save on cheaper beer oop north can be diverted to proper crisps i.e. Pipers.
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