Railway Inn, Alsager

"Pub for lease" sign, January 2024.

Victorian in origin, the name was changed to the Yeoman in the 1960's. Bought from a pubco in early 2014 by Reclamation Inns Limited, a small company based in Stafford. They owned two other pubs, the Black Boy Inn, in Bridgnorth and the Great Western in Bewdley. (All three pubs sold to Red Oak Taverns in January 2021). The pub has undergone a total internal refit into three distinct drinking/seated areas. New seating out front, on decking, as well as improvements to the exterior fabric of the building, and the beer garden. 8 handpumps serve a wide range of beers from Greene King and elsewhere, usually including one or more from Titanic. Overall result is very pleasing with a mix of wood and tiled flooring, unpretentious furniture and railway memorabilia on the walls inside and out. Pride of place is an original 1900 mural, signed by “F. R. Ford”, now protected by a glass frame, depicting a stylised Midlands Railway 4-2-2 steam locomotive, possibly a 115 class, nicknamed "Spinners" (because of the large single driving wheel). They were designed by Samuel Waite Johnson and a total of 15 of the class were built between 1896 and 1899. The pub sign is also worthy of note, being a painting of LMS Royal Scot class, 4-6-0 locomotive 6137, “Vesta”, built in 1927 and scrapped at Crewe in May 1963.