3rd March 2023.
On we go, much to the apparent horror of Stockport’s top pub.
Yep. Just as Bass follows Bass, Bass follows Bass and then you arrive at the Bank House Hotel, a recent-ish GBG entry..
I really should have stopped at the butchers for a pork pie,
but I had some recollection of the Mudg(i)es reporting on good food here in 2019,
and the words “Bistro 1777*” raised hopes,
But a lot had changed since 2019, and the only food was scratchings (and a huge almond croissant I’d saved from Sheffield Station that I nibbled BRAPA like all afternoon).
Still, who need food ?
A real mix of seating here, from the plush,
to the benches.
I guess the Bank House squeezed in the GBG by putting on a Locale (Mr Grundy’s I think), but no-one drinks that when there’s a Pedi that Mudgie described as the best of the day in 2019 and I couldn’t fault here; cool and crisp (NBSS 3.5).
Some lively banter at the bar about someone who was “a right ******” and a genuine question as to whether “Wuthering Heights” had been speeded up. “No, mate, that’s what Kate Bush sounds like“.
Could have stayed there all day, but just then we spotted Will walking across the churchyard, as is his wont.
He’d been off taking photos of estate pubs for Pubs Galore. Someone has to.
Suddenly quorate again, it was time for the centrepiece of the day.
*What happened in 1777 ?
retiredmartin 
This is the hotel at which I spent that single night all those years ago.
As I recall we were in a rush to get out for pubs and curry so didn’t get time to rate the ale – if any – on offer there, but Pedi perhaps rings a bell.
I doubt that the planets will realign that way again – in this life at any rate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Off topic question… what is the most prevalent Beermat on your travels? Must be between Birra. Carling and Pedigree? My top three I think
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just looked through nearly a hundred of my posts and virtually every one that had beer mats had different ones ! Two Amstel, two Madri, two Tim Taylor…hardly conclusive !
LikeLike
Martin,
My first memory of “Stockport’s top pub” was of it being unexpectedly closed on 3rd January 2019. A few months later I didn’t find it the most welcoming of the town’s pubs. Maybe I was just unlucky.
I don’t know how the Bank House manages to have “a real mix of seating” without it looking “random”.
“*What happened in 1777 ?” You can’t have forgotten that the Bass Brewery was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent.
Etu,
The Bank House was a free house with Hardy’s and Hanson’s beers until the brewery closed towards the end of 2006. The takeover came as a surprise as only two years earlier our Pub of the Month presentation there was attended by two senior members of the brewery who said that the shareholders were happy with their annual dividends. They provided champagne to accompany their beer. You’ll see two of their beers on the pub sign. Four beers were then on for a while including Abbot from the replacement brewer and Pedigree.
LikeLike
Thanks Paul, ah, the much-missed H&H…
LikeLike
Stockport’s top pub as voted by the members of local CAMRA, no less, as well as serving one of the best pints of Bass I’ve ever had, though I’d rather have drunk it sat in the Swan with Two Necks.
LikeLike
Er yes, I should know better than to disagree with Stopfordians about their pubs.
Best of all though is a pint of Old Tom in the Swan With Two Necks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well I’ve never had that particular pleasure, Paul, but the Unicorn on a Proper Day Out in late 2021 was pretty perfect.
LikeLike