Stagger - Stockport Market Place
Stockport Market Place
Friday 21 August 2026
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This is a very compact stagger, never venturing much more than 200m from the historic Victorian Market Hall in Stockport. Surprisingly for a trip around central Stockport, Robinson's pubs are thin on the ground!
Starting in the Market Place, face away from the Victorian covered market and there is the Bakers Vault, which underwent an extensive refurbishment a few years back. We will be able to have our first pint of Robinsons of the evening here, along with up to three guest ales. Yes, you did read that correctly, a Robinson's house with guest ales. The running of the pub has been taken on by the same team that runs the Castle in central Manchester. The Bakers has a reputation as an excellent venue for live music and on many evenings we would also be treated to live music. Their innovation of serving food menu, based upon a variety of (very good so I am assured) hot dogs and burgers, continues, so a chance to save having to cook at home and pick up your tea here.
Crossing the corner of the market square will bring us to the Boar's Head - but whether we will be able to enter hangs in the balance. Currently closed (3 July), but there has been a change in the upper management of Sam Smiths, so there may be new licensees. Hopeing it is open, being a Sam Smiths house there is currently no music, neither live nor recorded. WARNING: Don't get ejected from the premises for that dastardly unsociable activity of using any mobile/electronic devices —I wonder if that covers iWatches? Everything sold within the Boar's Head is a Sam Smiths product, from crisps, through spirits and probably down to toilet paper - what a great show of Yorkshire thrift. This has allowed Smiths to offer among the cheapest pint (Wetherspoon excepted) in Stockport, but unfortunately only the one (variety that is, they are not policing your drinking). Smiths have an extensive range of bottled beers available but unfortunately none of these is available in cask.
Crossing back across the Market Place we will be passing the upgraded Produce Hall (right of photo, phone boxes in front). Rather like the Altrincham Market Hall and Smithfield Market in Manchester there are a plethora of good (hipster?) food outlets, but the management have missed a trick. They not only DON'T sell any real ale at all, but also are pricing keg ales around £1 more than it is available next door. Captive market?
Next to the Produce Hall stands Thread which was reviously owned by Cheshire brewer, Mobberley Brewhouse but now taken over by a collaboration between the parties running the nearby Angel and Bakers Vaults. Thread occupies the building with the round-topped facade in the photo above left, circa 1975, compare this with the photo right where the building advertised as Rostrons has been knocked down (when?) to make way for the current building! The beer selection (two handpumps) are chosen to compliment and not clash with the nearby offerings. The name Thread came about as the premises was a tailors shop (Roystons?) in the dim and distant past.
Our shortest walk between pubs now ensues and brings us next door to our 8:30pm meeting place, the Angel Inn. Re-opened in late 2018, some 67 year after being closed as a Bell's Brewery tied house. Now owned and run by local people who care about cask beer and the environment in which it is presented. Originally the Angel only occupied the left-hand portion of this building (see photos above and right - click on any photo for larger version), which explains why the pub's name is so offset on the façade outside. Inside 5 changing real ales are on offer. A sunken seating area with real fire and sofas adds an air of comfort and class to the current establishment and this was so even in 1911 according to this newspaper report, but we mustn't get too comfy as we need to venture forth and complete the stagger.
Our next objective is but a cock-stride away so travelling towards St Petersgate, cross the bridge over Underbank and on the right is the Egerton Arms, or as some may remember it from a few years back, Porky Pigs. Availability of cask ale has been on and off here for a while and real ale has been spotted so we need to check out current availability.
Next door or three we find Enigma. Converted from a shop to a cocktail bar with about the worst timing imaginable, February 2020, just in time for lockdown! The décor is fairly spartan with bare-brick walls on one side of the room complemented by a rustic half-timbered wall on the other. Unfortunately real ale doesn't feature in their drinks offering so — Onward!
Returning to the market place and turning right down the side of the market hall on what is still Market Place (as also is the street on the other side of the market hall) stands the Bulls Head. Built as a pub and owned for many years by Robinsons it used to be a big part of the Stockport music scene. Closed for a few years, but still on the books of Robinsons, who reputedly still wish to re-open the building. One to watch.
Passing the closed Bulls Head we reach who knows! Having closed as Highballer (previously Amp and initially Dr. Feelgoods) it almost instantly reopened as.... Being a simple but inspired conversion of two former shop units to become Dr. Feelgoods in 2015 with its atmospheric steampunk-style bar in the town's Market Place. An in-house brewery and of course real ale featured. The picture left is not the renovation efforts but harks back to when the shops were originally built —the current guise is shown right. Re-opened in April 2023 as Amp, primarily a music venue, only to reopen as Highballer in March 2025 but without real ale. It is open again (June 2026) but this change is so new its provenance is unknown, but there is a rumored connection to Runnaway brewery and thus real ale, so we must investigate.
Around the corner and at the top of Mealhouse Brow are two modern bars. Firstly, at 4 Mealhouse Brow, we find Cherry Jam, which was opened in May 2021 by "Britain's Got Talent" cocktail-mixing finalist Neil Garner. Along with, as would be expected, cocktails beer is on offer, but sadly not of the real kind. Next door Good Rebel at 6 Mealhouse Brow is a surprisingly large cocktail bar, alas cocktails aren't created from real ale, so there is none available here. Before we leave Mealhouse Brow look to the left and note the dungeons - Yes dungeon! The building on the corner left used to be the Court Leet with the dungeon being the small, about one metre square floor level door in the photo left. Further details at https://stockportheritagetrust.co.uk/dungeon/ and even a video is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLw3XuKxFSk (starts at about the 5 minute mark).
Though 'officially' not on this stagger, it would be rude to omit the Cocked Hat. You enter the Cocked Hat via a corridor, with the bar, and a standing drinking area, on your left. To the right is a single large room created out of two former rooms. At one time the rear room was festooned with caving paraphernalia and mineral crystals as it was used by the Derbyshire Caving Club as their meeting room, having moved there in 1988 from their previous base in the Royal Oak on High Street. The licensees describe the Cocked Hat as a real pub for real people, serving real ale. Even the music is real, with "proper musicians" performing every Friday and Saturday.
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To reach our final destination we need to round the southern end of the Market Hall, coming face to face with the stocks and Parish Church. In passing why not indulge in a little film nostalgia and re-create a scene from the 60s film A Taste of Honey. Several locations were used around Stockport but the shots where Brigit Forsyth walks around St Mary's, the Parish Church are the most easily identified by Stopfordians. Follow the link https://www.reelstreets.com/films/taste-of-honey-a/ and scroll through other shots for more Stockport locations - see how many you can identify before reading the captions.
Dropping steeply down Millgate we arrive at the Arden Arms. This pub has seen a varied history, including being used as the towns mortuary - the mortuary slabs are still there in the cellar. A number of rooms inside are available including the challenging to enter snug situated behind the bar. Go on - I challenge you to find the way in!
The inside seating has been complemented by an outside drinking area. You can sit in the sun (what at 10:30pm!) or under the cloister, for that is what the roofed area resembles. A stage, upon which live musicians perform regularly, completes the area.
The view down Millgate in the 70s (left), with the cooling tower dominating the scene (best viewed if you follow the links) and seen in the background of the A Taste of Honey St Mary's scene. In the photo to the left notice the last building on the left side of the street, that with the solitary window and compare to the photo on the right. If not actually the same window, certainly the same building. A glimpse of Stockport's gasometer can also be seen on the right. What a change in view from the Arden Arms' front door - now it is ASDA's multi-story car-park!
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Following THIS LINK will take you to the Transport for Greater Manchester website for current travel information.
Stockport Market Place |
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| Timing | Pub Name | Address | Bus &Rail | Notes |
| 7.30pm Start point: | Bakers Vault | Market Place SK1 1ES |
Map Stockport |
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| Then | Boar's Head | 2 Vernon Street/Market Place SK1 1TY |
Map Stockport |
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| Produce Hall | 22 Market Place SK1 1EU |
Map Stockport |
No Real Ale | |
| Thread | 22 Market Place SK1 1EU |
Map Stockport |
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| 8.30pm Mid point | Angel Inn | 20 Market Place SK1 1EY |
Map Stockport |
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| Then | Enigma | 8 St Petersgate SK1 1HD |
Map Stockport |
No Real Ale |
| Egerton Arms | 2 St Petersgate SK1 1HD |
Map Stockport |
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| {former} Highball | 10-11 Market Place SK1 1EW |
Map Stockport |
Unknown | |
| Cherry Jam | 4 Mealhouse Brow SK1 1JP |
Map Stockport |
No Real Ale | |
| Good Rebel | 6 Mealhouse Brow SK1 1JP |
Map Stockport |
No Real Ale | |
| Cocked Hat | 2 Market Place, Stockport SK1 1EW |
Map Stockport |
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| Finishing at | Arden Arms | 23 Millgate SK1 2LX |
Map Stockport |
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View Stockport Market Place stagger in a larger map.
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