February 2025. Stockport.
Part 2 of our cultured cruising of Cheshire’s finest town, as I narrowly divert our Blackpool visitors away from the Egerton Arms.
Look what you could have had, Jane.
I sometimes feel I know Stocky as well as Cambridge, bullying visitors into stopping at the best spots.
“NO ! Look that way“
“That’s Winters, gone forever. A bigger loss of cultural heritage than Tommy Ducks“.
It’s Foodie Friday, when the pedestrianised streets around the market hall will later be packed with Gen Z queueing for exotica like pizza, kebabs and paella.
For now, it’s cakes.
We resist the lure of the market,
as the Arden Arms is your only man for lunch and we arrive at noon.
“We’re full. Try again at 1”.
An hour is enough to fit in the superb free museum and cheap enough Staircase House, a Jacobean gem.
For free, you get Lowry,
a quality exhibition on Strawberry Studios, birthplace of Unknown Pleasures and the 1963 Manchester City song,
and a collection of photos from the 1970s, when CAMRA GBG selection meetings were held in the rain outside Sam Smiths pubs.
Or something.
retiredmartin 
About the best sandwich I’ve ever had, but I see new handpumps and Old Tom no longer straight from the cask.
LikeLike
The cask wasn’t quite as good as on my previous visit in 2021, but you’ll see that I actually enjoyed the pub more when we finally got a table.
LikeLike
The beer always tastes better sat at a table in “its hidden snug”.
You could have easily got a table in the Egerton Arms !
LikeLiked by 1 person
They certainly took GBG selection meetings seriously in those days. As indeed they should. It used to be said that, no matter what the weather, the pony express would always get through. Same applies to GBG meetings.
(I take three days off to visit my daughter, her partner and my grandson in the Peak District, and WordPress has all but forgotten me. I had to sign in like a newbie. Not so much as a “did you have a lovely time?” Yes, thank you.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never heard of you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Can’t be a CAMRA meeting, far too many women. Unless that’s a secret, early Trans(pennine?) branch.
LikeLike
Stockport branch seemed to have more women at their meetings, and socials, than elsewhere.
LikeLike