retiredmartin

February 2024. Newcastle-under-Lyme.

A pattern is emerging for my town visits; see the street art, tick the GBG newbie, revisit a “great” pub, take a chance on a pub that you’ve never even noticed before.

And so, with 12 minutes to kill before my next No. 4 back to Hanley (not because I walked too slow, the previous one left early), I surveyed my options.

Whatever that is, it’s shut.

A Craft Union ? Perhaps.

And then, in the market square, it stared at me…

The Golden Lion hasn’t been surveyed by local CAMRA since 2016, so here goes.

What Pub says “Bustling pub on the central High Street through town, always crowded with the local community“, a real market square hero.

A confession; I was a teenage Marillion fan, for about 12 months, till they went pop in ’85.

Bustling may be pushing it, but there’s a pleasant early evening atmosphere,

and an incredibly cheery tattooed barmaid serves me a half of Abbot,

which is good enough, if a little chilled.

It’s calming and pleasant, with Gerry Cinnamon on the radio and local history on the walls,

and a reminder that you should always do a “real” pub, you just never know. Next year, it might have Bass.