I left you in the bar at the Petersgate Tap on Thursday night (25/1), two great pints of Draught Bass down in 20 minutes, wondering if I should ask for the flat version again. But I figured a great night in Stockport needed a Chinese takeaway.
I stuck out a tweet and waited for the flood of responses.
Thanks Pete. One quick, accurate reply is better than a thousand people telling me a day later their Indian restaurant in Leeds is OK.
The walk to Sun Hing takes you into the retail park hell of Portwood, via one of the great UK pubs.
Like all the best Chinese takeaways, Sun Hing is very yellow.
A good way to check whether you’re in the north or not is to see whether the price of your Chinese includes rice.
Order placed, I realised to my dismay that Hobbycraft was now shut, so I’d have to wait in the Railway for a bit.
It’s been a while, I’d forgotten how cosy it was.
Again, that yellow glow helps.
When I first visited in 2002, I stuck the Railway in a box marked “no-frills Stockport boozer” along with the Olde Vic and Spread Eagle, before soon realising that was a very large box.
No problems with the size of the beer range here, with those handpumps working overtime the 20 minutes I was in. You won’t be surprised by my choice.
It was £2.50. Two pounds fifty. In fact everything was £2.50; I seem to recall competitive pricing last time here. Good beer too, a solid NBSS 3.5 and a third excellent pint in an hour.
The pub is as much a throwback to simpler times (2002) as the prices. Opinion on Twitterweb would have you believe it’s scruffy, but I find it neat and simple.
A good place for lone drinkers, with a mix of bench seating and stools contrasting sharply with many of the GBG’s modern “high tables down the walls” approach.
Being Stockport (or Portwood if you’re fussy) the banter was first-class.
“Magaluf ? Isn’t that near Stalybridge ?” “I’ve been to both, they’re the same place”
“Y’know what sherry does to you ?” “Shakes and sweats, shakes and sweats”
A classic slice of real pub.
retiredmartin 
Do Chinese places often do fish and chips?
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Very common in the north. My pre-match chippie in Manchester survives on portions of chips, sausage and curry sauce. Some Chinese places round here just do fish & chips.
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Going back thirty or forty years, a lot of traditional chippies were taken over by Chinese and expanded their offer. But you’ll still get the best fish from a specialist.
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Definitely.
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That is a great bit of arcane history. Interesting stuff.
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Here in Ireland it gets more confusing.
All the best fish and chip shops ( or chippers as they’re known ) are run by Italians.
They have their own association called the irish Traditional Italian Chipper Association.
Their Irish competitors are known as Abrakebabra.
I told you it was confusing.
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Are Chinese takeaways any good over there ?
Talking of fish & chips, some of the best ones here are Italian and Cypriot (e.g. Petrou Bros).
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My local one does a great Singapore noodles.
Crispy shredded beef less so and the prawn toast is an abomination.
But as a valued customer and one who once came to their defence by boxing the ears of a local miscreant who was taunting them I receive a free can of Diet Coke and a bag of prawn crackers with every meal so I’m loath to transfer my custom elsewhere.
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Never get Fish & Chips from the Chinky, disgusting, they fry all sorts of different stuff in there, they don’t use lard neither. My experience of these Chinese takeaways that do fish and chips in NW is that they put pre-fried, cold chips back in the pan to warm them up – again disgusting.
On the other hand, our village chippy is run by a lovely Chinese couple who have fried top class fish and chips for a good number of years now. They don’t however serve anything else apart from fish and chips, maybe a battered sausage and peas. There was a very good chippy off Ivy St, LS 9 that was run for a long number of years (I’m talking donkey’s years) by a Chinese chap. They were legendary, absolutely fantastic. Again that’s all he sold, nothing else.
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I’d agree, the less the better. Same with beer.
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Wasn’t the Railway under threat a few years ago?
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It was, but the proposed development was what I think became RedRock, so I think it has a somewhat more secure future now.
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Ah love that place, responsible for much of mine and Susie’s early drinking career. Should have had the Pictish! (Please tell me there’s still Pictish!?). That, or the Kriek that tasted like Cherry Drops – very avant garde back in 2004…
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99% certain there was Pictish. Someone else had just had the Oracle, so no choice really !
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“and Spread Eagle,”
I was going to make a witty comment with regards to appropriating Viking customs but thought I’d check online first. Oooops! The Viking phrase is Blood Eagle. Do NOT Google spread eagle! (blush)
Cheers
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Actually, I think the terms Blood Eagle and Spread Eagle are interchangeable in Viking terms.
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A spread eagle, or “eagle displayed” is a common heraldic symbol deriving from the eagle standards of Ancient Rome and most notably used by the Holy Roman Empire. As a result it made its way into a lot of medieval heraldry and hence into pub names, you’ll also see it on the coat of arms of Germany and the Great Seal of the US.
The Viking punishment seems to have been rare at best if not complete fiction, albeit memorable.
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That is a nice pub. Mudgie took Dave and me there in December 2016. Glad to see the Monkeytown Mild is still on. I had that, and liked it very much, while Dave had the Rossendale Pitch Porter and Mudgie, the Rossendale Sunshine.
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That was before I met you in the Boar’s Head, wasn’t it ? You mentioned how much you liked it,
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It was actually after you left us and before we met for dinner. We visited Alden Arms and the Railway.
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Your memory is startling, Dick ! I remember now.
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My memory is selective, or so I am told.
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I remember the occasion, but not the specific beer consumed. Maybe Dick made a note of it in hieroglyphics.
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It did take some doing to figure out what I had written. Still working on a note I wrote on our October trip that I cannot work out. Thankfully, it is not about an ale, I think.
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Make sure all your jottings are left to the Art Institute of Chicago in your will as they are surely a work of cultural and national importance.
Note inevitable Ferris Bueller reference.
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You are actually selling Stalybridge to me! Oracle a great pint
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As in “Stockport looks so awful I’m sure Stalybridge must be better”?
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I assumed Beermat reckons comparison with Magaluf is a good thing !
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As in comparisons with Magaluf are appealing! Aside from edgeley park I’ve not been to Stockport but looks tremendous for people of my age 🍺
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Well, you’re more than welcome to have a guided tour of its pubby delights 😀
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If you’re travelling through Offerton you’ll need innoculations, so plan ahead.
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And a stab-proof vest 😮
But, as reported on Twitter this morning, another Offerton pub (the Victoria) has bitten the dust.
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I’m not sure the Victoria has “bitten the dust” – looks like it;s closed while Lunch tart it up and re-let it.
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