Having decided to honour our train tickets, Green and I went to Burton anyway on Saturday. As the train entered Burton station, the industrial heritage of this storied town is clear to see. They brewed here and they continue to brew here. Set off by a persistent drizzle, Burton town centre lies off to the right, while the ground is, apparently, over on the left. Few more pubs on that side of the town, which we didn't manage to get to.
National Brewery Museum - after a somewhat cheesey peppers' ghost video, we went on the tour. Errr, its a bit 6/10. At the home of UK brewing, the brewery tap had 6 very similar ales on the go. Still, met two shire horses and the edwardian bar in the museum is quite nice, even if you can't play darts.
Burton Bridge Inn - Green went for a pint of prize winning Burton Bridge Bitter, myself a sharing tray of 3 thirds from elsewhere on the menu. Cosy pub with a fire, cheap and big pork pie with pickle and sachets of mustard. Friendly staff. Good stuff.
Walked along the river and through a stereotypical spoons. Nope. Prince of Brewers. Nope. Some bar with blacked out windows. Nope.
The Fuggle and Nugget - now this is more like it. Decent pints here, a dark porter for Green and something a bit more insipid for my meeker tastes. Had a decent chat with some locals about the teams.
The Crossing - recommendation from the Burton supporting X-factor star (he's auditioned twice, don't you know). Bit upmarket but a pint of Bass, as you'd expect. When in Rome and all that.
The Locomotive - Nope.
The Dial - more of a restaurant but a decent pint of Sharps' Atlantic. Rather nice looking rooftop terrace, which overlooks the distinctive, enduring skyline of Burton town centre.
The Coopers - would highly recommend. Pint of very smooth gravity poured Bass. Proper, cosy pub in the shadow of the Molson-Coors brewery. Paged Kes to thread. It's what he would have wanted.
The Devonshire - now, it looks a bit ropey on the outside, but a good pub, with good pork pies and friendly bar staff. My note taking skills fail here, so while I had a Burton Bridge Bitter, Green had ... a beer?
The Last Heretic - named after Edward Wightman, a micropub and probably my favourite of the walk back to the station. I had two here - the Motorhead beer tasted of road, so I had a session beer, as did Green, to take the edge off. We'd caught up with a rival day trip around here and the Devonshire, who had the same views of the brewing museum.
The Roebuck Inn - now, this looked unappealing on the way in, but was a solid pub, with a few dominoes games going on. Bar man from the Coopers was in here, a sign of quality. No idea what I had, but we had a train to catch so that Green could get back to London. Which he did via meeting a fellow 'nobber near Euston.
All in all, a good day out and not ruined by 2 hours stood in the cold.
BFTG Burton
It is currently 26 Dec 2025 17:41