My Six Favourite Pubs In Stalybridge

Stalybridge isn’t a town on many people’s radar; it’s noted for being somewhere you pass through on the way to the southern Pennines, for Stalybridge Celtic football club, and for having one of the more famous ‘Parliamentary Train’ limited rail services in the country (one train a week to Stockport). It’s a small ex-industrial town with a canal and a quite picturesque setting.

However, it may surprise you to know it’s worth visiting if you’re fond of beer. I’ve been a few times now and feel I ought to make a note of some of the more noteworthy pubs and bars in the town, in case you find yourself here after a hike or because Trans-Pennine Express have cancelled another train again.

Q

The outside of Q bar, Stalybridge. Old brickwork in two shades, big spub sign on the wall with a stylised 'Q'. and some fancy leaded windows. It's quite a tall building; three storeys.

Coming out of the station and turning right towards the town centre is the Q Inn. There’s a plaque outside the door commemorating it being in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the shortest pub name in the country, which I guess makes it interesting to visit in and of itself.

Close-up of the plaque on the wall talking about its name.

It’s quite a traditional pub inside, with visible stonework and low ceilings. It’s also feels like the opposite of open-plan; there’s open archways and tables everywhere and it feels a little rabbit-warreny.

Inside Q bar. Large tiled flooring, internal brickwork, wooden beams.

There’s a few cask ales on tap from local breweries (including Hydes from Manchester and Thornbridge from the Peak District), and it also serves food. There’s also a series of small screens showing sportsball but they’re easy to avoid if that’s not your scene.

My research (including asking the bar staff and at least one pub regular) has not yet revealed the origin of the name, so if someone has any idea, let me know.

The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn

The outside of the Old Thirteenth. Brick upper wall and what looks like cement slab lower wall. It's on the corner of a road junction, and where the corner is, there's a wreath high up on the wall. There's a Lord Kitchener style poster below that says 'Welcome Back'.

Literally opposite Q, across a side road, is this pub, which conversely is claimed to have the longest pub name in the country, although this isn’t as officially attested. It’s opened and closed a couple of times in the last few years, and is a very different type of drinking establishment.

Wide view of the inside of the Old Thirteenth. Cluttered space with tables and chairs, with a bar at the back, with a few people sat drinking.

It vibes, as the name might casually indicate, more like a Working Men’s Club in layout and feel, albeit one made out of modern plastic. It’s very much a local’s pub, with snooker table and big screen, and where the staff seem to know most people who pass this way. There are nods to the military (including adverts for fundraisers), and one suspects it’s the sort of place that would be very decorated every Remembrance Sunday.

Close-up of the bar, with lagers on keg, and several fridges behind the bar full of bottles.

Beerwise it’s very standard; on tap (keg) are the standard nationwide ales and lagers – I had a Camden Pale Ale as I felt it was the most exciting of the lot, while being serenaded by a huge TV screen playing 1980s and early 90s pop videos. The clientele here are exactly the sort of people who’d be enthused by Roxette and Rick Astley.

The White House

Probably my favourite pub in Stalybridge. It’s on the same street at the first two, a bit further towards the town centre, and while it looks quite bland from the outside, it’s definitely worth a trip.

Wide view of the inside of the White House. There's a couple of low, but narrow, wooden beams on the ceiling. There's a scattering of tables, chairs, and one fruit machine.

It feels quite homely inside. It’s quite long and thin. The bar is along one wall and the drinking area is pretty much everywhere else. It feels a little cramped but that’s just because the width is crammed with tables and stools, and the layout is such that although open-plan, it feels quite sub-divided. The ceilings are quite low, with beams, if memory serves there’s a fireplace, and everything feels quite ‘lively’ inside.

I am inside the White House, facing the camera, in a non-binary bobble hat, blue bee dungarees, white t-shirt, purple hair, and headphones around my neck. I am holding half a pint of beer.

It has quite a large range of beers, again including many from Hydes Brewery, and though I didn’t have any of the food on offer, while I was sat at the bar the lady next to me was served with what looked like a very tasty pie.

Close-up of the bar in the White House. There are a myriad of beer pumps behind the bar. The ceiling here is covered in lots of fake flowers.

The Crafty Pint

In the centre of Stalybridge is this small micropub. It’s right next to a bridge over the canal, which sadly lies a cutting so it’s not accessible from the pub. Inside it’s basically one reasonably-sized square room (like a large living room) with the bar in one corner and tables elsewhere. It feels quite airy and light inside, mainly due to the use of light-coloured wood. I’ve no idea what kind of wood; I’m a beer blogger not a home decor blogger.

Inside of the Crafty Pint, looking towards the bar. It's quite high, and made of plain light wood, like a wardrobe. It's two sides of a square in the corner, the other two being the red walls behind, covered with boards and shelves of drinks.

It being a micropub means it has a rotating and varying array of local craft beers and ciders on tap; up to eight in fact though they won’t all necessarily be on at the same time. It doesn’t do food but it does serve up beer snacks.

View from the side of the bar looking back towards the main area of the Crafty Pint. The bar's on the left, and in the background are a couple of occupied tables.

It’s one of those places that feels like a local’s place but which is open to visitors – on my visit we were all having a natter about the deptitude of the food festival setting up by the canal basin. It’s also dog friendly, as many of such micropubs are.

Bridge Beers

Only a couple of doors down from The Crafty Pint is this even smaller micropub. It serves as the brewtap for the brewery, and before you go it’s worth checking the opening times as they’re quite limited.

The inside of Bridge Beers. There's a series of leather-wrapped casks on the wall on the left. The bar is wooden and resembles an old-school physics lab desk. On the wall above the casks is the beer list. It all feels very cramped.

I don’t know how many people you can fit in it, but it’s not a high number; there’s a couple of tables by the door, then a couple of steps up to the bar where you can sit, and beyond the bar isn’t a lot else. What there is a lot of though is kitsch, some of it railway related, much of it old-fashioned – think posters, signs, trinkets, paperweights; I even saw a couple of small old boardgames from my childhood I’d forgotten existed.

A close-up of a wall. On it are a series of old-style beer adverts and logos, and a map of Stalybridge from 1892.

Behind the bar is a wall covered in the beer barrels used to serve from, all of them from the brewery itself (which at the time of my visit was in the process of moving closer to town). You can also buy the beers in bottles – the wall opposite the bar has shelving full of the brewery’s bottles you can take home with you.

Stalybridge Buffet Bar

The railway station platform at Stalybridge station. The platform itself is covered in a long canopy. To the left are what appear to be waiting rooms but in fact is advertised with a sign saying it's Stalybridge Station Original Buffet Bar, established 1885.

There’s a theme in this part of England for railway stations to have epic bars, and I’ll probably do a blog post specifically about that at some point. Stalybridge is no exception, and indeed if you get stuck in town because of a problem on the railways, you might not even feel like you need to leave the station.

Wide view of the inside of the Stalybridge Buffet Bar. The bar is long and wood-panelled. Behind the bar are all manner of bottles, and above are old railway signs from stations around the eastern Greater Manchester area (and Beith North which was in Ayrshire).

The bar is on Platform 4/5 of the station, although there’s no ticket checks so you can walk right in even if you’re not planning on travelling. It’s an old waiting room, but refurbished with all manner of railway memorabilia. There’s old metal railway signs from across the country, photographs and maps of railway stations, and all manner of other memorabilia.

A corridor linking a couple of rooms in the Buffet Bar. There's a table and chairs in the background. In the foreground is a low open-plan doorway, on the wall above which are framed prints of old railway engines. More are on the walls in the room beyond.

There’s a vast array of beers on tap, and there’s a good selection of snack food including crisps and pork scratchings straight from the jar. They also do a good line in pork pies.

My train back to Salford is hourly, from the platform just beyond; it’s very easy to miss the train because ‘oh just one more for the tracks’.