December - Crown (Great Moor)
Crown, Great Moor
416 Buxton Road, Great Moor, Stockport SK2 7JQ
The Stockport & South Manchester CAMRA Pub of the Month award for December 2016 is the Crown in Great Moor. Jim Beeson is a regular there.
There has been a pub on this site on the A6 since the old days of coaching, when there were stables for the coach horses at the back. Stockport Council has recognised its iconic status by including an image of the pub on the location signs at the Northern and Southern boundaries of Great Moor.
It has enjoyed a succession of good licensees over the years, the names Pete Flaherty, Diane and Francis McDonald (who obtained the Pub of the Month award in 2005), and Dennis Davies come to mind. The pub is currently in the safe hands of Mark Taylor, who together with his partner Sharon has been running it for the last three years.
Mark has continued and enhanced the reputation of the Crown as a first-rate community pub which can be relied on to provide a good range of beers. Live sport from Sky Sports and BT Sport is available, and high quality karaoke and live music are a regular feature at weekends. Darts and pool are available in a separate sports room, and the pub is regularly booked for family events such as birthdays. The upstairs function room is available for other events, and is a regular venue for CAMRA Branch Meetings.
The most noticeable change since Mark took over is the increased visibility of the cask beer range. The original five handpumps have increased to six, and have been re-arranged so that they now occupy the most prominent place on the bar, leaving one in no doubt as to which cask beers are available. Normally there are never less than four handpumps in action, the current "core" range being Unicorn, Wizard, Cumbria Way, and the Seasonal, while Double Hop has recently also been regularly available. All six pumps can be in action at busy times. Most importantly, the beer quality is also impressive, to the extent that the Crown has qualified as a Robinsons "Perfect Pint Zone", and proudly displays a banner proclaiming this over the front door.
You can sample these excellent beers on the Presentation Night on Thursday 29th December, which promises to be a great night!