RILEY’S RAMBLES: BUXTON
W
ith the warmer weather coming up, this time my ramble will take you to the spa town of Buxton in the Peak District, which you can visit for a day out, or have a longer stay and enjoy a mini break. It is easily reachable from Preston by train and will reward you with some excellent pubs offering a wide range of different beers. From Preston, you catch a train to Manchester Piccadilly, changing there to the direct service to Buxton. It takes approximately two hours all told. Arriving at Buxton, you can go down towards the square and start from there, or do what we did and turn left and walk
down Station Rd. where you will find the RAILWAY, a Holts pub with three of their beers on sale, plus a changing guest. A dining pub which retains a gaming area to the left with large screens, it was taken over by Holts in 2017 from Greene King (it is a pity Greene King didn’t sell the Sumners in Preston to Holts at the same time. We would still have a fine pub instead of a hole in the ground). Anyway, a couple of hundred yards further along will bring you to the local Wetherspoons, the WYE BRIDGE HOUSE. Inside the former Midland Railway hotel you will find all the goodies we have come to expect from this brand. Going back to opposite the Railway, you should go down Spring Gardens to see the MILTON’S TAP on your right. Usually up to four real ales are on sale in this recently
reputed to be the oldest hotel in England, built in 1573 by Bess of Hardwick. Mary Queen of Scots was held under house arrest there. It has three public bars with varying opening times from noon until 10.30 with food served 12–10. The bars sell up to four real ales including a house beer ‘Queen of Scots’, a 4.2% IPA brewed by Sharps. There is also that rarity these days, a revolving door at the entrance. Coming out of the Old Hall, look for a street named Hall Bank diagonally opposite, go up, where you will find on the right LUBENS. This is the original 53degrees and refurbished pub. With a tap room on the left and separate dining room to the right and bar area to the rear, it opens at 9am for breakfasts. Turning right on leaving and walking up to the end of Spring Gardens, you will see the famous colonnade in front of you. Turn right again and on the opposite side of the road find the REDWILLOW. It does not open until 4pm Mon–Thurs, (noon otherwise), so you might have to come back to this bar on your way back to the railway station later. The bar is in a former bank that has been refitted with a large bar area and mezzanine floor, and is a showcase for RedWillow brewery with usually 4 of their beers plus a guest on sale. On our visit these ranged from Headless (3.9% at £3.30) to Breakfast Stout (5.6% at only £3.60). From here go down the side of the Willow on George Street where you will come to 53DEGREES @ BUXTON TAP HOUSE and
the adjacent CELLAR BAR (which has more limited opening times). A collaboration between 53 degrees North and Buxton Brewery, the Tap has up to four Buxton beers on sale and on our visit ranged from a 3.6% to a 5.6% one. 1/3 pint measures are available and food using local products is available all week. It is open from noon midweek and from 10am Sat and Sun. Turning left on exit and after 100 yards left again, you come to the OLD HALL HOTEL,
after they decamped and joined up with Buxton Brewery it was reopened under new management as a stylish restaurant and bar with three real ales. The bar area is to the rear. Thornbridge Jaipur is a regular here as is a beer from Wincle brewery plus one other. It opens at 11.30 until 11 (10 Sun, midnight Fri/Sat) with food 12–3, 5–8.30 (7.30 Sun). Turn right on exit and go up to the top, past the KING’S HEAD which serves mostly Marston’s products and the EAGLE, a Hydes pub with a couple of their cask beers on, to join High Street. Go onwards past Sainsburys and look out on the right for our next pub, the ALE STOP on Chapel Street, just past the Methodist chapel. The Ale Stop was the first micropub in the High Peak, with an objective to bring to Buxton beers that were rarely seen in the town. With two rooms in a converted wine shop, this is still its aim and to this end there are four changing beers from up and down the country as well as three real ciders. It is a proper drinkers’ pub. There were even some CAMRA members there perusing the newly published Good Beer Guide for 2022. We chatted with them and gave them a copy of our Preston pub guide, with them promising that one day they would visit Lancashire and have a crawl round there. The pub opens www.centrallancs.camra.org.uk
Ale Cry
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