Welcome

If you love the British pub, you will like this blog. Here I will review the pubs I drop into in my wanderings around my home region - urban, rural, posh, homely, fun pubs, restaurant pubs, and local backstreet pubs. I hope to encourage people to appreciate them.
I will score each pub out of five points each (30 points maximum) on its ambience, decor, service, whether it serves real ales, state of the toilets (but I can't vouch for the state of the gents because I don't use them!) and what extras it has - games, beer garden, newspapers, serves food, karaoke, quizzes, live music.
If after reading one of my reviews you decide to check out a pub, I hope you enjoy the experience. But bear in mind that I have only visited some of them once, and pubs and pub managers change. If the review needs updating, please leave a comment.
Ups and downs? Well, people drink when they're down. And they drink to celebrate, when they're feeling 'up'. Besides that, this is hill country. It's full of ups and downs.
(ALL PHOTOS ARE COPYRIGHT)

Saturday, 24 December 2011

The Buffet Bar, Stalybridge


The Buffet Bar, Platform One, Stalybridge Station

This pub is notable for occupying a platform on a railway station first of all, and for retaining its interior Victorian features from the 1880s. However, by modern standards this makes it drab and uncomfortable and, apart from its range of real ales, it has little to recommend it. It is popular with locals and real ale buffs, and is frequently overcrowded and noisy. The staff allow patrons to hang around at the bar when they're drinking, and since there is little space this means you have to fight your way to the bar to get served, and then fight your way out to find a seat.

ambience - 1

decor - 2
drab, seats are fairly comfortable

service - 0
the service is consistent: consistently grumpy and off-hand, and dead slow. If you're in this pub for a meal, expect to wait - and wait. I thought the service was slow because the pub was a victim of its own success, it frequently is very busy with people wanting to eat. But I have been in this pub a few times, and the speed of service never varies. I have been kept waiting an hour and ten minutes for a sandwich when it wasn't busy.

real ale - 5
always a selection of at least five

features - 0

toilets - 3
drab as the rest of the pub, but clean and adequately supplied with handwash, loo paper etc.

score 11 out of 30

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