I count myself fortunate to have visited this superb establishment last weekend. In the two hours avaialble to me I sampled a half pint of all their 12 traditional ales. It was a real "kid in a sweet-shop" session. They have a beer festival from 30th June to 5th July this year. I think that it would be most rude not to attend!I agree with Snecky. As near perfection as it's possible to find in an imperfect world!

Super beer, good food and if (like me) you're into military history and only went there because of the name, loads of fascinating stuff on the walls to look at and if you're not a leaflet explains how the pub got its unusual name.

Go there and go there soon! You will not regret it!Late review from November when we had a weekend locally so we could attend the beer festival. It was a great weekend with superb beer and food. Great pub with a brill atmosphere throughout the weekend.

Wonderful pub. Wide variety beers on offer and open fires. Friendly conversation at the bar or enjoy a quiet read in front of an a open fire in one of the rooms off the bar area.Somewhat gutted that I have to withdraw my only-ever rating of 10 after my concern that one of the beers was iffy was summarily dismissed last week. It was changed eventually, but shouldn't be that difficult. Back with the nines, for now.Absolutely rammed on 'Black Friday'. Usual varied selection of beers, mostly kept well, although as beers were going left right and centre I was unable to try them all! Unfortunately, to my horror, the landlord went into the cellar to change the beer and started pulling new (different) beer through WITHOUT CLEANING THE LINES. Come on, this is not what you expect from such an award-winning pub!!!

Real old fashioned beer drinker pub. One to visit for the real ale drinkers. Micro Brewery due later in 2009.Quality boozer - well dressed and well mannered bar staff/clientele. How a pub should be. Top notch beer. Micro opening soon I believe.Fantastic range of ale's to choose from,sadly pub was dead when visited on a sunday evening so they decided to close up early @ 9pm. But if visiting Warrington and in search of good beer this place is a must!,7/10

Up market pub with a great range of beers. Don't expect it to be cheap though. Food is OK but it's mainly bought in from Brakes/3665/other and it shows at times. Selection of beers is ever changing and I have never been served a bad pint on any of my several visits. Handy for the top class Siam restaurant (Terriyaki or Thai) as well as it's above the pub but with a separate entrance.Always been a favorate but popped in for lunch last week and found the menu very pricey. The food was Ok but not as good as previously - the fish and chips soggy and too greasy. Perhaps just a one off. Ale choice great as always.Really lovely. Food pricey, but the portions were huge, and the staff friendly.

Attractive interior, lots of wood panelling and little rooms off the bar area. Robinson's pub, now I'm not a big fan of Robinson's but in here you get a really good pint of it. Friendly and welcoming bar staff.This is a really decent town centre boozer. Well run, pleasant staff, excellent feel to the place and the beer is very well kept.

Unfortunately, this is Stockport town centre so you're likely to encounter the occasional chav/pikey scum for which Stockport is notorious. Not threatening, mind, just ill-educated and, occasionally, loud.

Great place, nevertheless.Much improved pub under new management. Impressive range of Robinson's beer now available, with 7 on my visit this weekend, including the uber-rare Dark Hatters, Chocolate Tom, and a cask of Old Tom on the back of the bar. I tried a decent selection, shall we say, and 50% of them were good to excellent, the others were served warm and slightly uninspiring. A smaller range with higher turnover might be in order here.

Still, a lovely little pub and certainly a lot better than my previous visits. Very busy on Friday lunchtime, less so on Saturday evening - the opening hours are now extended also.

I can't add a lot to the recent reviews, both in terms of the positives and negatives of this place. It is very idiosyncratic, and I like the place for it, given Chester hasn't got as many top class pubs as you'd expect compared to what it probably should have.

Food is very good, beer is always well kept with a decent range, but undoubtedly the landlord is full of himself, the pub is living off it's reputation somewhat and the opening hours are very erratic indeed. Can often go and it's shut.

7/10 on balance the good points outweigh the bad, but the reviews sum it up well and it's definitely not for everybody.The last 4 times I have been to Chester, this pub has been closed. If thats how the manager thinks this is the way to run a pub, he is very much mistaken. I will not be back.If a lanlord sees fit to put up these in-your-face proclamations of who he will and won't serve then he sets high standards for himself.
A) Although the menu looked good it was expensive. It may have been excellent but we couldn't afford it because:
B) We had just paid £7.20 for a pint of ale and a gin and tonic.
Suggest he adds the following line to his many notices "Only enter if you're prepared to be ripped-off".
The interior is nice enough if a bit overdone with the WW1 stuff - but £7.20 - for heaven's sake.

Attractive, unspoilt interior. I've eaten here on many occasions, the food is excellent, restaurant quality. Robinsons pub.A traditional Robinsons pub with an excellent interior. The hand pumps are rather unusually at the back of the bar facing you. Five hand pumps but four available; Hatters, Unicorn, Double Hop and Dissy Blonde. This was the most expensive round of the day at £7.80 for 3 beers. We had earlier been advised by a local around the market area to eat there. We all chose to eat steak and ale pie and chips at £8.95. The food arrived pretty quickly and was very tasty, shame there was not more of it. Fine traditional Robinsons pub with a multi-roomed layout, included in CAMRA's National Inventory of historic pub interiors for its glassed in bar and floor tiling.

Also of note is the grandfather clock and a small snug reached through the bar, which apparently is by invitation only - you're expected to ask rather than just walking through the bar.

I was slightly disappointed by some effort to adopt a more contemporary feel - in particular background music, which was a bit loud and some French bistro-style posters that I thought looked out of place.

The pub is highly regarded for its lunchtime food apparently.

The pub has an informative website - worth reading if you want to know more about the pubs history and facilities.

Worth seeking out - close to the Market Square in the old part of Stockport.

I too have only ever had memorable experiences at The Plough Inn... Amazing food and fantastic service in this enchanting "gastro pub."
I would strongly question any negativity from the self appointed food critics amongst us and urge you to try it for yourselves.Was at a wine-tasting evening on Monday. Outstanding food accompnaied by unusual and really good wines. Will definitely be paying this gem aniother visit! I must begin by admitting that I am a stalwart fan of The Plough! Nevertheless it's no bad thing, now and then to let others know how good this place really is!
We eat in the restaurant at the plough several times a month and are always delighted with the ambience as well as with the high quality of the food. The last occasion was on my birthday a week ago. My husband and I were overwhelmed with the hospitality and christmas warmth. Not only did the lady waiting on look after us with great care but we were also presented with a bottle of champagne!
We will certainly continue to go the Plough on regular occasions.

Damn good pub near the town centre. Very well priced beers, loads of crumpet too! Highly recommended for the well served first class beers.Ventured in here not knowing it was a samuel smiths pub and tried the stout-yummee! And so cheap as well, very old fashioned and cosy, well worth a visit.Traditional Sam Smiths pub in the centre of Chester on "the Rows" serving real ale - OBB at £ 1.40p on my late September recent visit.

It's typical Sams - unbadged, traditional, no music and with a bit of a "take us as you find us" attitude. There's seemingly very little, if any, effort to attract the hordes of tourists despite the location and attractive building.

The trade appears to be mainly local

I was intrigued to see a large prominent notice in the window stating " no tracksuits / jogging bottoms after 5 pm", which had me wondering to myself why they were acceptable at, say, 4.30 pm, but not an hour later. I was half expecting the fashion police to come round at 5 o'clock on the dot and summarily evict offenders, but there didn't seem to be any anyway !

Definitely worth a visit when in the City Centre.

iv have made this pub my local, as i like the atmosphere in here. there is a large amount of largers and also quest ales.
almost every weekend there is a reason to go here, the BBQ's on a weekend are fantastic. Popped in last weekend to watch the final of the tennis, although the pub was packed, still got served quickly and lots of TV's to watch sports on (5 I think)

Paved area out in front for those elusive summer days and beer garden / BBQ area round the back.

Plenty of staff working what is quite a small bar area, 3 cask beers on tap, and plenty of choice of lagers.

All in all a pleasant pub, with speedy service from staff that can remember your drink and decent beer.

Heartily recommended !What a brilliant night at the Orange Tree last Friday. They held an Independence Day Party with a Rodeo Bull, BBQ & DJ. Great fun & a nice friendly atmosphere. Best Night out i've had in ages!! I'll be going again next weekend!!

Declined recently. No football on the telly and all the shirts have gone. The poster in the window advertising John Smiths for £2.40 seems a bit odd considering there are at least three pubs in the same street selling it for less.Got to agree, The Station is back on the up! Get in there - Real Ales, Good Food, reasonable prices, friendly staff, live music - Whatr more do you want????New Manageress (Janet ex Market Tavern), She's cleaned the place up, No chavs now, Live Blues and acoustic nights, Real Ales!!! Food, and a good atmosphere, if a little quiet, though it is early days for her... If passing call in, Give her your support drinkers of Altincham!

I think it would help if the pub looked a bit more welcoming which may come with the redecoration of the outside although I would replace a couple more of the windows with clear glass to make it lighter inside and more obvious what's going on.
Prior to a marketing sweep it might be nice to put a couple of signs up in the window to show that there's a quiz on a Thursday and karaoke on a Saturday, then at least people know what's going on.
They also need to make it clear that the pub no longer serves food as I've been in on a number of occassions where people have walked in and walked out, particularly on a Sunday.
It perhaps needs something to pad out the quieter nights such as a pool team and darts team and maybe a weekend football team to pull people in on Saturday and more appropriately SundaysI think you are being a bit unfair, Mobilesid.
For a long time this pub has been shut in the afternoon on a weekday; the market is just not there. I can understand your frustration, but look at it from the pubs point of view, it is not on a main road and doesn't serve food, if it is to remain open all afternoon it has to pay staff, light and heat the buiding. It is not worth it.
It is no super pub, but not worth writing off as you say you will. Try it on a Thursday evening when there is a quiz; Friday teatime is always busy too.

I can agree with you about marketing the pub, never understood that, even before the flats were there, it has undergone a bit of a makeover and once the new smoking shelter is fitted it should be complete. Perhaps that is the time to market.The pub is changing hands again. Eric and June are leaving and heading to The Station in Bromley Cross.

Fingers crossed for good management taking over.

Brilliant pub with a good seletion of real ales and very friendly atmosphere. The railwayana on the walls is very interesting, and the staff on duty when I visited where the freindliest I've ever come across in a pub.As unlike the usual station buffet as it is possible to imagine, and just shows what can be done with a bit of effort. Had an excellent pint of Hanby's Black Magic Mild and wished that I could have stayed much longer (where's that "Would passengers please note that trains to Huddersfield have been delayed..." announcement when you need it?).The conservatory has now been totally rebuilt and formally reopened - no more wild drafts in mid-winter! Beer and banter as good as ever.

Easiest the biggest Wetherspoons barn I've been in, but having stuck my head into the few adjoining pubs a better option. Decent range of local and micro brews but served very cold. A sign over the bar states "All draught beers served between 1-3C" I can only assume the locals like it that way.Good choice of real ale's which are cheap, but is still very good quality. Getting served can be a problem, my record is 16 minutes on one saturday night.Yes its a barn, but I thought usual high Spoons tandards were maintained - good real ale quality/choice; service bit slow.

After a bit of a break the music night is back on so get down to the Barley for a good night on Wednesdays for open mic. Paula the hostess is as good as ever and singers musicians and even poets are all welcome.
The Festival bitter is pretty good and the wine if thats your tipple is good value. Its a friendly atmosphere with original music with anything from Dylan to Mozart to Amy Winehouse to Johnny Clarke and original songwriters tooNice building but that's about all it seems to have to offer. Dark and Dingy inside. They have lots of real ale hand pumps but only one in use. It did not entice me to stay.Seemed pleasant enough but no choice of bitter on offer apart from Worthington's. Every lager you could think of though! Several little sections and very cheap menu, didn't eat but the food at other tables looked alright