“Biddulph’s first ever pub to feature in the Good Beer Guide”. Can that be true ?

April 2024. Biddulph.

A last Staffordshire Beer Guide 2024 tick, without fanfare but actually quite exciting to visit Biddulph.

I thought so, anyway, with Mow Cop, the Biddulph Gardens and who knows what other north Staffs treasures to explore.

Even Little Moreton Hall on my doorstep.

And what a view from my parking space lane.

But the wind ! Blimey. I thought the pub might blow away into Cheshire that Saturday.

I took safe refuge in the JDW, weighed down by half of North Staffs eating fish and chips. The Bradley Green is one of the dullest Spoons imaginable, despite being opened by royalty (below),

and having an exciting beer range (on paper, the beers on the bar weren’t).

Babies cried, a genteel lady with a walking stick contemplated carrying a pint of Doom Bar to her hubby.

“He can come and collect his own pint !” she says.

“I’ll take it to him!” I offered.

Hubby looked impressed with my informal waitress service, possibly assuming I’d taken a swig as a pre-emptive tick. But I’d bought my own half, a very dull one too.

But it did occur to me odd that a Spoons open since the turn of the millennium hadn’t yet graced the GBG. Come to think of it, I couldn’t recall any Guide pubs in Biddulph, a town of award winning sausages

and oatcakes.

“Closed from 3pm” said Povey’s, but it was already shut at 5 to 2. Or sold out of oatcakes.

There’s still a joy about discovering a town as if for the first time, its quirks and quiet lanes.

It’s quite hilly, always a bonus, and though it’s no Leek there’s a few standout buildings;

But despite a fair few entries on What Pub the stand out was a lovely cafe bar called Sam’s where I resisted the keg,

in favour of an astonishingly good Americano and peanut butter chocolate flapjack combo.

After Prescot (still not done it) I always doubt that the micropub will be open, even when there’s staff in it (see also : Darwen).

But the shutters, firmly closed an hour before, were now firmly up 10 minutes early at the Crafty Flanker, proclaiming its status as the town’s first GBG entry. Surely not ?

Inside, not a soul. What do you do ? Call “Ullo there“, head down the steps to the cellar, serve yourself, or walk out and in again and hope for a low key bell to ring ?

“Oooo, you made me jump !” says a voice in the distance. I do that to everyone.

Drama over, the Crafty Flanker swiftly became a minor classic, the lovely lady chatting about life and Leek and beer and rugby, the landlord naming his brews after his former profession,

Home brew and rugby; not a combination I’d normally celebrate, but that Dark Mild was cool and chewy and the perfect end to another county. Lacings never lie.

Obviously I interrogated our heroine under oath about the “first Guide entry in Biddulph” claim; does Knypersley count as Biddulph, wasn’t there a Brunning and Price on top of Mow Cop etc etc etc.

Only two people will know The Truth. Duncan the Pubmeister and Saddleworth Jim.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

15 thoughts on ““Biddulph’s first ever pub to feature in the Good Beer Guide”. Can that be true ?”

  2. Was there 6 weeks ago, Biddulph Gardens are delightful. The spoons had Plum Porter and Jaipur, and the beer in the micro was excellent, but like you, we were the only ones in.

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      1. If Newcastle under Lyme, population 75,082, hasn’t got a railway station Biddulph, population 17,241, can hardly expect one.

        Biddulph didn’t even wait for Beeching and closed its railway station in 1927.

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      2. There was a fairly good bus service from Hanley to Biddulph I nearly used this year, but got distracted by the competing attractions of the Coachmakers Arms.

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      3. The opposite of that is Stafford and Wolverhampton having three trains an hour each way taking just over ten minutes while the 877 and 878 bus service of ninety minutes is so little used that the four one way and five the other each day can be empty for much of the way.

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      4. You’ve made me realise that I don’t think I’ve ever visited Biddulph during my 69 years in Staffordshire. And it has more people than Hednesford, Stone, Uttoxeter or Cheadle.

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      5. Don’t feel too bad, Paul, it was my first visit apart from a trip to the National Trust gardens, and I like to tell people I’ve been everywhere. There’s some places above Wisbech near the Wash I may never visit.

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      6. Yes, I’ve now remembered we went to Biddulph Grange nearly thirty years ago.

        I’ve realised that it’s over two hours on buses, changing in Newcastle or Hanley, but much easier with 28 minutes on a train to Kidsgrove then 29 minutes on a bus. But after looking on the WhatPub site don’t think I’ll bother.

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