February - Railway (Heaton Norris)
The Railway
74-76 Wellington Road North, Stockport SK4 1HF
The Stockport & South Manchester CAMRA Pub of the Month for February 2013 is the Railway, Wellington Road North, Heaton Norris. John Clarke went along.
When Ray and Pam Ford took over the Railway, just a short walk uphill from Stockport Town Centre (there is a bus stop close by for the less agile) it was a pretty ordinary Punch Taverns leased pub selling a pretty ordinary selection of cask beers.
While the pub remained tied to Punch there was not a lot they could do about that. However Punch's financial difficulties resulted in a fire sale of their pub stock and three and a half years ago the couple were able to buy the pub free of tie. It's fair to say that since then it's not looked back.
The Railway has comfortably settled into the local pub scene, quietly making a name for itself with the quality of the live entertainment it offers. No tuneless karaoke here - instead there is top rated live jazz every weekend and this has now been supplemented with a rock'n'roll night on Mondays.
The beer range has now settled too. Holts Bitter is always on sale - always good to have a familiar name of the bar - and this is supplemented by four ever changing guest beers, often from local micros (Ray has been a great supporter of the new Ringway and Privateer breweries) and some from further afield. Quality is spot on with the pub appearing in the 2013 Good Beer Guide.
Ray and Pam have already been rewarded for their efforts with a previous Pub of the Month and Pub of the Year award. However their continuing hard work taking the pub forward makes them worthy winners a second time around.
This very well deserved award will be presented on Thursday 28 February when an excellent night out is in prospect. The pub is easy to get to being on the 192 bus route. From the south Manchester area bus number 22 will also drop you off nearby.