Our final pub as night descended on Macclesfield wasn’t even on Bing Maps, having only just reopened after 6 odd years closed,
and I’ll admit even a Macclesfield regular like me temporarily forgot the exact spot tucked away in the lanes leading up from the station before I recognised the lovely lane and black and white.
The Castle was one of the very first pubs I mentioned in my embryonic (aka “rubbish”) blog back in 2015, when it had just closed.
Mark Crilley has been asking me about it ever since, and I’m delighted to tell Mark it’s a triumph.
Perhaps too much of a triumph, as it was packed on Friday with all of East Cheshire converging on the hatch bar. As Mudgie notes, “the stickler for social distancing would have done well to give the Castle a wide berth“.
I did manage to squeeze through to the bar,
and nab a seat in the corner where I was probably sitting on someone’s coat, but never mind.
Oh, yes, it was the smiling chap on the left’s coat.
After I went to the loo, which I’ll never find again, it was standing room only on the street under the stars, but that’s no hardship when the company is as good as Jon, Will and Oxford Nick. Oxford Nick becomes plain “Nick” on his 3rd Codger trip.
The beer was tremendous, cool and rich, but it was secondary to the atmosphere of a born-again pub.
Don’t lose it again, Macclesfield.
retiredmartin 
Macc Pubs for Macc Lads
There are too many beardy pub tourists coming to Macc these days. Us locals can’t get in us local pubs, as you pointed out regards the Castle. The streets are now full of beer warriors marching from pub to pub. The Castle is a pub not a shrine.
We need to be left alone with our memories of silk and humble working class textile mills
Sam
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“Sam” ? What sort of name is that ? Get yourself a proper northern name like Peter, then complain about gentrification.
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There’s only one allowable Sam and he lives in Tadcaster.
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….Sam is a good old Macc name. The 1890 Macc census was riddled with them. Macc will never be gentrified
Sam
Chairman
Cask ale wing of Macc Pubs 4 Macc Lads
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That Sam is Tadcaster
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What a pleasure to read this. I guess I knew The Castle was a special place when I was there, but it’s been great seeing that its reputation extends well beyond Macclesfield. Thank goodness they’ve been able to reopen.
Don’t know if I’ve already mentioned to you previously the most memorable moment of the evening I was there: an older woman came in holding a small dog wrapped in Christmas lights, that were somehow lit up, presumably by way of a battery. I’d love to know what Simon would’ve done with such a thing, write up wise!
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Simon would have ditched Colin and adopted the dog as his new mascot ! Lovely image, Mark.
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Great pictures – good to see a pub revived after so long….
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