February 2024. Hanley. Stoke-on-Trent.
Before I get to the last pub of the night, I need to confess that when the driver of the Number 4 back to Hanley asked to see my day bus ticket I flashed him my receipt by mistake. I take full responsibility.
Back in the “capital of the Potteries“, nowt has changed since my last visit 2 years ago, though I note the town hall is up for sale. I guess it would make a good Brunning & Price.
Here’s the pick of the street art.
I had the toughest of decisions about which Hanley pub to end the night in, with the Golden Cup and Unicorn highly regarded.
Actually, not that difficult.
Yes, visiting Hanley without popping in the Coachmakers Arms is like going home and not ordering Crispy Beef from Chung Hwa. Technically legal, but a mortal sin nonetheless.
The one thing that has improved since 2021 is Bass supplies, and that one thing makes the Coachmakers worthy of a fifth visit.
Not many pubs get a fifth Retired Martin return visit. In truth, it’s not the Bass (cool, foamy 3.5) that makes this so essential,
it’s the cosiness of the rooms,
the view to the stars in the alley leading to the outside Gents,
the golden light from the piano room where I headed next,
and the positioning of the dart board above the piano stool I perched now.
Perhaps a Top 10 pub, and as you’ll know there’s only 38 on that list.
Potteries CAMRA’s Pub of the Month; they know their beer.
While I’m in the Coachmakers, who remembers Bazooka Joe ?
My Crispy Beef and Singapore Rice outlet was just across the road,
and 20 minutes later I was swinging a bag round as I entered a packed Unicorn,
where (perhaps luckily) the Bass had just run out.
NCTSS 3.5 for the Wishing Tree, too, a good result in an uneven takeaway town.
retiredmartin 
The “capital of the Potteries“ is about right.
From Stoke railway station to Leek now is two buses, changing in Hanley with the wonderful Coachmakers handy for the bus station, an extension of which nearly caused it to be demolished.
Getting a bus from Macclesfield would be an easier way to Leek for me, ten minutes longer but actually quicker without a Bass up ‘anley.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you like the Coachmakers, incredibly underrated. A day out of Coachmakers, Unicorn, Golden Cup, Victoria and Woodman works for me, though the Woodman had too many pumps on my visit.
LikeLike
Yes, those five should work well.
Rather than 82 minutes on the 101 bus for Hanley I’d probably get the train most of the way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, yes. But arriving at the Unicorn *before* the Bass runs off would be a distinct improvement.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Who doesn’t remember softening up a piece of rock hard bubble gum while reading a Bazooka Joe comic strip! And then spitting the gum out 30 seconds later after the sugar rush was over.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me!
I’ve never used bubble gum. I saw what idiots the guys made themselves look. (Sorry, Dave. I’m sure *you* never blew bubbles and splattered them all over your cheeks.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Baseball without bubble gum is inexcusable. No baseball either though, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
We call it rounders here.
LikeLike
I never bought bubble gum, thinking it uncouth like drinking out of a bottle, but once had chewing gum that included Beatles cards which, being during he second year at junior school, would have been between September 1963 and July 1964. The cards are about the only thing I’ve not kept and I think they’re worth a bob or two now.
I’ve never been to a baseball match, or cricket match or anything similar.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tsk. These Bass thralls are just too easy for the comment “likes”.
I’m just back from a long, spring-like weekend in the Cotswolds, but the Donnington’s* gave me the swerve somehow, and I ended up settling for second best, TT Landlord that is.
Come to think of it, there was neither Bass nor Brains either, so make that fourth best.
*You were robbed, of a typically emotional, and highly subjective estimation of its qualities.
LikeLike