Family-run, friendly 19th-century village free-house incorporating a comfortable dining room at the front and a public bar to the rear. The former features a large 1577 map of Staffordshire in a ceiling recess. The latter comprises a clear open area around the bar counter plus two adjacent small rooms. A narrow hallway accommodates a charity library and tourist information. There is a secluded beer garden with picnic tables and a children's play area at the rear.
Fairly standard pub food with separate lunchtime, evening and Sunday lunch menus.
Events, music and otherwise, are advertised on boards outside the front door and in the public bar.
There is a village link with Jane Austen who stayed at the rectory, then occupied by a cousin, for a few weeks in the summer of 1806.
Historic Interest
Originally believed to have been a butchers shop to ~1800; licensed as a public house from 1827. No early information, but it may have been a Wards (Sheffield) pub at some stage, judging by the lamp above the front door, although it has not been found on lists of former Wards pubs. Later recorded as owned by Ansells (Allied Breweries) until the mid-1980s, when sold to a local builder. It has remained in private ownership ever since.
This Pub serves 2 changing beers and 1 regular beer.
Shoulder of Mutton, Hamstall Ridware
Source: Local