July 2025. Sutton. Macclesfield.
Back from Glasgow, I actually spent a whole day at home in Sheffield, successfully ignoring domestic duties, before sanity kicked in and we set off in the campervan.
Mrs RM fancied a night in the Peak District; Macclesfield Forest was close enough, and Sutton Hall would let us park up overnight for free.
What lovely people Brunning & Price are. A decade ago I was declaring myself “BrewDog No.1 fan” and slagging off B & P pricing and performative hand pumps.
Oh, and the little jam jars too.
But in fairness, Sutton Hall was shifting real ale to blokes in nice cardigans faster than the pubs on our Proper Day out in Macclesfield last month.
And the young barman was a star, pushing the cask and offering samplers to a receptive crowd.
Two pints of Zephyr from local stalwarts Storm (Mrs RM’s recent abstinence coming to a crashing halt) a cool, crisp NBSS 3.5 in a pub that’s dropped out of the Guide.
Mrs RM used to stay here while she fixed accounting systems at Cheshire Building Society, before B & P bought it and turned the rooms in manager accommodation.
It’s a lovely place to sit and waste an afternoon, but I have work to do.
“Can I have another one ?” asks Mrs RM.
“No“.
retiredmartin 
It’s quite different from how it was in the 1980s…
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I don’t need reminding of the 1980s !
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It never carried off any pretension to class back then, but neither did anywhere else in or close to Macc as I recall.
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Mrs RM stayed there in 1998, which is when I visited. It’s been Brunning and Priced since then !
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Did you get your glasses topped up? B&P are notorious around here, for serving short-measure pints!
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No. I have topping up in the same category as “asking for a taster”. Pints of that c.5.5% beer were £5.50, Paul.
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Just ask for a half litre next time.
When met with “We don’t serve half litres” you can riposte with “I think you’ll find that you do “
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I fondly remember when publicans and customers respected each other, when publicans wouldn’t short change customers by a quid in today’s money by serving sixteen fluid ounces and when greedy customers wouldn’t expect a quid’s worth of free beer by asking for tasters.
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Ah, two samples.
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