I’ve known The Cross Keys for a long time, and driven past it a lot, but somehow, I’ve never been in it until now. We were having a meal in the restaurant which occupies part of the building but is a separate business, and we were early for our table.
There’s decent outside space, but we headed inside. Friendly staff, very traditional and relaxing inside, 2 cask ales on offer and a couple of alcohol free options, friendly staff behind the bar- overall a nice place for a drink.
It’s a very old building, a former coaching inn, and the centre of Hednesford was here, but is now some way north.
We had been in The Drill once or twice since the last blog entry nine years ago, but it had been a while again: the bus route no longer goes nearby, but not to worry, we were in the car.
A small celebration saw us eating out in the week again.
The Drill really feels like a country pub, tucked down a lane. Plenty of parking, a kids area, outside space. Inside is fairly traditional but with some modern shabby-chic decor. There’s a strong food bias with a pretty decent menu- the food is great and reasonably priced, and the staff friendly
Food-biased traditional pub with views over Staffordshire- you can easily see The Wrekin in neighbouring Shropshire.
There’s extensive menus- bar food and restaurant, real ale, and outside space. Plenty of parking, lots of different spaces, inside and out. Food was decent, staff were pleasant, service was great.
We wanted to take our neighbours out for food and drinks, and The Nelson fitted the bill nicely: above average pub food, decent parking, a country pub atmosphere. It’s just outside Burntwood, but the suburban sprawl drops away quickly and it feels like a proper country pub.
It’s quite food-biased, though there are places to just drink. Food was very good, beer was apparently good, and there was a decent choice of alcohol-free too. Pleasant staff, and decent prices- it’s not bargain basement pub food, but it’s good value.
Traditional, sizeable village pub. There’s decent-looking food, but we’d already been to The Two Pigs nearby. Busy in the bar, a little quieter in the lounge, but pleasant enough. Real ale on offer.
Previously The Red Lion this was sold off by Marstons and bought by the people that also own The Boat near Muckley Corner. The Boat is very much restaurant, not pub, but The Two Pigs is a bit more pubby, in that the front feels like a bar, though as you head back the restaurant feel becomes more prominent. Great food, as you’d expect- a step above typical pub food. Pleasant staff, nice laid-back atmosphere, pleasant interior. Real ale on offer.
What a pleasant village pub this was: there is dining, but the food bias is in dining rooms, there’s a comfortable bar area with a real fire. Modernish decor in places, but tastefully done. Pleasant staff and locals, good beer choice (sadly I was driving), acceptable music on at a volume we could hear but still talk. I’d love this to be my local…
We had to wait until 4pm for this to open, but we’re glad we did, as we’d been meaning to visit since it opened in 2016.
The first surprise was the landlord: Tony, late of The Wheatsheaf and briefly The Drunken Duck, and a man that knows how to run a pub well.
He’s doing that here. It’s big for a micro, the inside is clean, tidy, and pleasant, the beer is ace, and there’s snacks (sausage rolls from “the centre of sausage roll production” in Chuckery). Worth the wait.
Second Stonegate pub of the day. This is a typical town-centre spoons-a-like, but it managed, despite lovely staff, to be less inviting than the actual ‘spoons. it felt a bit grotty and soulless to us, but it was by no means awful, and my pint of Landlord wasn’t at all bad.