South Cheshire

This award, presented by the South Cheshire Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is in recognition of the consistent quality and range of ales offered at the popular local Hotel. The Bear’s Paw beat off competition from hundreds of rural pubs across South Cheshire

At a presentation ceremony Clive Rodgers, CAMRA Branch Chairman, commended the efforts of the Staff and Managers of the Hotel and presented them with a commemorative certificate.

The Bear’s Paw Business Manager, Mr Nick Bayes, said “We are delighted to receive this award. It is particularly gratifying that it comes from our local CAMRA members, who obviously appreciate our beers. Real ale is part of our national heritage and we continue to enjoy great ales from all over the country.”

The Bear’s Paw has featured in the CAMRA ‘Good Beer Guide’ for the past two years and has held the prestigious ‘Cask Marque’ beer quality accreditation for the past two years. They also feature in the AA Pub Guide 2005

This latest award comes hot on the heels of the Hotel gaining AA 4 Diamond status and their restaurant being recognised by the legendary ‘Les Routiers’ fine-dining organisation.

South Cheshire
Pub of the Year
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Bhurtpore Inn,
Aston, near Nantwich.

This worthy winner features ten Real Ales, generally from smaller breweries,
real cider, Belgian beers on draught, and an extensive selection of bottled Belgian beers. When you add in the excellent food and attractive rural setting, you can see why we chose this as Pub of the Year

South Cheshire Town Pub for 2004

The Black Lion, Welsh Row, Nantwich

This excellent, black and white timbered pub has long been a beacon for quality real ale in the town, and is a Good Beer Guide regular. It has a tranquil, relaxed atmosphere during the day, and is a welcome oasis just on the fringe of the main shopping area. The beers on offer are Titanic White Star, and two from Weetwood; the Best Bitter and Old Dog, plus an occasional other and a real cider. It's rare to see a local small brewer's beers permanently on sale in a town pub in South Cheshire, and for this the Black Lion should be encouraged. The pub itself has a roaring fire in the front room, and the interior is mainly attractive exposed brickwork and beamed ceilings (not the ubiquitous false variety either). There are no intrusive machines to distract from the Chess often played in the window table, although the pub livens up when there is live music on weekend evenings. This is a dog friendly establishment - you normally see some friendly canines mixing with the humans - they obviously know a good pub when they see one. If you haven't visited the Black Lion yet, this is a worthy winner of the title and well deserving of a visit.

South Cheshire Pub of the Year 2003

The Rising Sun, Wistaston

Since taking over the pub two years previously, manager Peter Barratt has transformed it from a "usual suspects" (Boddingtons, 6X, Courage etc) Scotco outlet, into a pub where the drinker has a real choice. There will be up to eight real ales available on the hand pumps at any one time. As a bonus, this pub may have as many as three traditional ciders on tap. If you are not familiar with the Rising Sun, do give it a try. And keep an eye out for the occasional beer festivals, too!

Managers Darren and Liz Snell were worthy recipients of the South Cheshire CAMRA award for the best rural pub of 2003. This distinctive and attractive inn serves excellent food in great surroundings, complemented by a choice of guest beers.
Visit the pub's own web-site or see our pub review.

Rural Pub of the Year 2003

The Dysart Arms,
Bunbury

South Cheshire Pub of the Year 2002

The Borough Arms, Crewe

A well deserved and popular choice for this genuine free house. The pub sells Titanic beers on a regular basis; the only outlet in Crewe as far as we know. Not only that, but well over 1000 guest ales since Alan Hinde, the genial landlord, re-opened the pub in late 2000, without fuss or public fanfare. Since then, many have enjoyed the amazing range of guest real ales/beers from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Recent Irish gems have been from Co. Tipperary (Dwans Ruby Ale and Porter), and Co. Carlow (Cuirim from the Carlow Brewing Company). Also worth a mention in despatches is the Porteur Breton, yet another Celtic connection. Probably the most popular request (yes, Alan does respond to requests) beers in the Boro’ are those from Churchend, Oakham, Osset, Woodforde’s, Beowulf, Orkney and Titanic. Apologies if we’ve forgotten any here, but it’s a continuous beer festival at this place.

So, not content with offering us all those wonderful ales, Alan also stocks a real cider whenever he can get it, which is most of the time. And if that wasn’t enough, there are at least 50 different bottle-conditioned Belgian beers plus a few Teutonics, Franks and Czechs.

Opening hours are different to most other pubs. Monday to Thursday: 7-11pm. Earlier opening Tuesdays when Crewe Alex are playing at home. Friday: 3-11pm. Saturday: 12-4pm; 7-11pm. Sunday: 12-3 pm: 7-10.30pm. If you plan to turn up late evenings weekends, don’t expect automatic entry as it can be very busy. Telephone first if you are making a detour to visit: 01270-254999, and it is worth noting that the pub is 15 minutes walk from Crewe railway station.

The Mere, Alsager, has replaced the fizz Caffreys pump with an extra handpump for a further real ale, and has just been voted South Cheshire CAMRA’s Town Pub of 2001, with the award presentation being made in January 2002.

Rural Pub of the Year 2002

The Swan, Wybunbury

Callum Downie was presented with the South Cheshire Rural Pub of the Year Award in April 2003. This spacious beamed village pub on Main Road in Wybunbury is distinctive, not least, for being the very last entry in the Out Inn CHESHIRE Guide. At the time of the award, Callum announced that he has just secured permission form the owners, Jennings, to hold a Beer Festival at the pub, illustrating his commitment to the cause of quality real ale.

The Mere, Alsager "Town Pub of the Year 2002"

Once again, an Alsager hostelry has won the South Cheshire seasonal award for Town Pub of the Year. There must be something about Alsager, as it has thrown up two excellent candidates in last year’s winner, the Lodge, and the well deserved champion this year, the Mere.

Local CAMRA members started noticing the pub a couple of summers ago, when the chalkboard outside announced an interesting range of guest beers, and plenty of them. In fact, it was a far cry from many houses owned by pub-chains, where such ‘rare’ beers as Bass or Pedigree may be the only so-called guest ale. Closer inspection of the Mere over a number of months confirmed the existence of these beers, and their quality.

Currently, there are up to five, plus Flowers IPA as the standard beer, and they have been consistently good enough to gain the pub an entry in the 2002 Good Beer Guide. This is principally down to landlord Dave, who has championed the choice of a range of real ales alongside the lagers on his bar (this is the sort of busy town pub where there will always be a demand for heavily advertised keg products, but it is good to see that a healthy range of tasty alternatives are available). In fact, as previously reported, he has removed the plastic Caffreys font following the reduction in the nitrokeg beer’s strength (but not price) and replaced it with another handpump.

As to the pub, it is a cosmopolitan, lively, open plan building with a window table next to the bustling bar, opening out to a second window alcove at the front and a long side area with plenty of tables. This ends in a large screen TV, across from which is a separate games room with pool table. Thus virtually all tastes are catered for, and the atmosphere varies from when we visited on a Friday evening (music and a young crowd) to the more sedate on the Saturday lunchtime when the presentation of the award was made (quieter children welcome, food served). In fact I had to restrain my son from putting Limp Bizkit on the jukebox after the award as it would probably have upset some of us older drinkers! An excellent spread was put on by landlady, Debbie, and a thoroughly enjoyable lunchtime was had by all. The beers on offer included Banks’ First Harvest, Wychwood Hobbit’s Quest, Jennings Snecklifter, plus two others, all of which were eminently drinkable. For anyone passing by, the Mere is well worth a visit.

The Lodge, Alsager "Town Pub of the Year 2001"

For some time now, Alsager has not been noted for the quality of the beer on offer in its pubs. There have been distinct signs of a change for the better in the last year or so, however, with good reports from the Lodge and the nearby Mere.

The local CAMRA branch voted the Lodge its Town Pub of the Year, and duly presented licensee Caroline Wilson and her sister-in-law, leaseholder Sue Wilson with a certificate to mark the occasion on a blustery winter Saturday lunchtime. Although a Punch Taverns house, Caroline has shown just what can be achieved with a good turnover of well-kept real ales. She stocks Bass, Tetley Bitter, and Everards Tiger, the latter a welcome addition to the beers on offer in the area. A real cider, Addlestones, is also on sale.

The pub itself has a fairly plain Ansells exterior, but Caroline and Sue have stripped the lounge back to the original brick and beam walls and a quarry tiled floor. This has also exposed a marvellous original fireplace which, with a blazing fire in, is now the centrepiece of the room. The addition of large bare wooden tables gives the lounge a rustic look, and it is heartening to see a change from the unimaginative interiors of so many modern pubs. The Lodge’s other room is a thriving public bar with pool table and dartboard, well used by followers of the Turf on our visit. Its use is encouraged by offering Tiger at £1 a pint on some early evenings and the pub as a whole is popular with both students and locals alike. When it comes to cellarmanship, Caroline has a refreshingly straightforward explanation on how she deals with a cask : ‘I just take the bung out, and connect it up’ she says. There is obviously somewhat more to it than that, but her approach clearly works as the quality of the beer on our trips there has shown. It was good to see that the pub was crowded for our presentation (and not only due to the excellent spread put on by Sue and Caroline), and some valuable publicity was generated in the local press for both the Lodge and for Real Ale itself. In fact, it was well worth the branch chairman posing outside the pub for five minutes sipping a pint with the two ladies, despite the cold, and the beer going up his nose!

South Cheshire Pub of the Year 2001

The Combermere Arms, Burleydam

This award is made not only for the consistent quality and choice of real ale but also the other things that make a good pub. These include the tasty range of food available, friendly staff and the excellent facilities for families. More details will be posted later.

Rural Pub of the Year 2001

The Cotton Arms, Wrenbury

We are so impressed by the commitment to Real Ale shown by this pub that we presented it with this award in September. It continues to have a great guest beer selection. Many a fine guest ale has been available here, with Coach House Gunpowder Mild being particularly impressive.

Canalside Pub of 2001

The Big Lock in Middlewich was the recipient of this honour in May. Stocking a variety of good quality real ales for some years has merited this award. At the presentation, beers from Beartown (of Congleton), Black Sheep, Charles Wells and Greene King graced the hand pumps. It is good to see such choice in a pub which has a strong accent on food, rather than the national "blands" seen so often nowadays.

There is still a bar with a traditional pub atmosphere in addition to the restaurant and two other rooms, as well as an extensive and picturesque frontage onto the canal.

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