October - Hope Inn
118 Wellington Road North, Heaton Norris, Stockport SK4 2LL
The Stockport & South Manchester CAMRA Pub of the Month for September is the Hope on Wellington Road North, writes Margaret O'Brien.
Occupying a prominent site on the A6 just north of Stockport town centre, the Hope Inn for many years offered little of interest to local beer drinkers. The Hardy's Crown Ales boldly advertised along the top of the pub has long since ceased to be brewed.
However since February this year, the pub has been re-born as the town's latest free house and Hardy's beers are also back in a way. This transformation is down to Martin Wood and Samantha Halfyard who bought the pub last December. They promptly closed it down and started a complete overhaul.
The pub is now a comfortably appointed two-roomer with a "vault room" to the left, with leather fixed seating and a bare board floor, and to the right a comfortably appointed lounge. The emphasis is on good beer with 10 handpumps on the bar dispensing a range of cask ales and a traditional cider. These are complemented by draught foreign beers and a range of bottled beers from Europe and the USA. The bottled beer list has recently been overhauled and expanded to 75 beers.
Of particular interest though is the in-house brewery producing the pub's own range of Fool Hardy Ales (Martin couldn't find out who owned the rights to the Hardy's Crown name). The brewery produces three regular beers and a range of seasonal and one-off specials which are already making an impact at both the pub and on their occasional forays into the free trade.
So, the Hope is not only a revitalised pub but has also given birth to Stockport's fourth brewery. In recognition of this superb transformation join us when we present this well deserved award on Thursday 24th from about 8.00pm.