George & Dragon, Cheadle

1 High Street, Cheadle SK8 1AX

The December Pub of the Month Award stays in Cheadle and goes to the George & Dragon. Stuart Ballantyne put the pub forward and here explains why it's a worthy winner.

Originally the George & Dragon was an ill-fated Greenall's pub that closed some eleven years ago and remained closed and boarded up for a lengthy period of six years. Enter then Nicola Foster and Amber Taverns who refurbished and reopened in 2014.

Nicola has a long and distinguished career of running some highly regarded cask ale pubs in this area and beyond - the Prince of Wales in Widnes, two Wetherspoons pubs in London, the Bank on Mosley Street and Rain Bar, both in Manchester city centre. She ran Rain Bar for seven years. Most of these are key pub company or brewery-owned pubs that demand the very highest standards from the people who run them.

The George & Dragon is primarily a 'wet-led' pub, meaning that no food is served other than just the usual crisps and peanuts etc. To increase trade by a third in these circumstances is almost unknown in an industry where pub-restaurant chains can dominate.

Nicola has done all this by selling good beer at very competitive prices in a community-focused local pub. Some of the beer in question comes from the Cheadle Brew House, sited behind the George & Dragon, which also supplies beers to other pubs in the Amber Taverns chain.

So why not join Nicola, her staff and the CAMRA group on Friday 27 December to celebrate the presentation of her award?

Back to Pub Of The Month selection page