Hub Marketing 2023: The Hartshill Mile

Recognised as being one of the Potteries' premier pubcrawling challenges, the Hartshill Mile is a sequence of around a dozen or so pubs strung out along the A52 between Stoke town centre and Newcastle-under-Lyme. Would the Hub Marketing Board be up to the task? Strap yourselves in, there's a lot to cover...

- Route 25 at Newcastle Bus Station -

It's Friday 28th April 2023 and Chairman D9 is cutting it even finer than usual when catching his tram into Wolverhampton. Secretary WME is counting down the seconds when he sees a distant bald spot sprinting along Railway Drive, and we make it onto the 12:26 train at the very last moment. Stoke railway station sees us switching onto the number 25 bus, a 'Constellation' branded service that links Hanley with Keele University via Stoke town centre, Newcastle and the Royal Stoke University Hospital. We touch down at Newcastle bus station shortly before 2pm so that Mr D9 can test out the on-site toilet facilities. 

- Bus Art Baldness -

We're not planning on doing too much Newcastle sightseeing today because our main Mile mission should have more than enough to keep us entertained. Saying that, we can't resist investigating the Ironmarket roundabout underpasses with their examples of military murals and depictions of mod scooters. The adjacent Queen's Gardens look rather cheerful with their terrific displays of tulips, but our attempts at getting beery business underway are hindered by the apparent closure of the Jolly Potter opposite Newcastle Bus Station. This pub used to effectively mark the start (or end!) of the Hartshill Mile and is currently shut, perhaps forever.

- Rocking the Cask Bar? -

In the Jolly Potter's absence our core quest begins at the Cask Bar, converted from a Tandoori restaurant unit as part of the Andrew Place precinct. Sandstone's Amaretto Stout gets WME's considered thumbs up here - the micropub has collaborated with a Wrexham-based brewery to create it especially - while D9 tests out Oakham's Inferno to equal acclaim. It's not only the ale that's impressive for the place has become a community melting pot with a ladies knitting circle in attendance and coach trips running to Holme Mill. If this sets the standard for the trip we're going to be in for an epic afternoon!  

- The Museum -

At this point in proceedings we're flirting dangerously with the boundary between Newcastle and Stoke-on-Trent. The Greyhound is on the Hartshill side of the divide and registers as a Titanic Brewery taphouse serving a range of Burslem's finest, from which we partake of the very pink Raspberry Pale. Back along George Street, the Museum gets going at 3pm and counts as a Newcastle hostelry, and a very friendly one at that. Draught Bass in the Vaults room is a real treat, chatting to the regulars about home working, Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild and the general state of the country. The Chairman even joins in with Adil Ray's ITV quiz 'Lingo', either that or he just randomly felt like shouting out "thermometer" for no reason.

- Darting Assistance at Hopinn? -

Although we've got a packed agenda, we're never ones to turn down a local recommendation so the Victoria (a.k.a. the Little Vic) earns itself a look for a swift half of Three Tuns Stout; well it was just a brief alleyway walk along a path from the Museum so it would've been rude not to drop by. The Vic also dovetails nicely with us checking out the Hopinn on Albert Street, an establishment which has won CAMRA awards and continues to rank highly each year. We're blown away by the lovely fittings here, from the plush blue bar upholstery to the 1930s glazed panels in the doors. D9 Destroyer discovers a dartboard then promptly wishes he hadn't when WME Whirlwind secures his first victory of 2023 by three legs to one - despite the pictorial evidence, I did not enlist George to help me with any checkouts!

- Sanctuary Ale House -

After that highly productive detour we'd best crack on with the Hartshill Mile proper again, and the candidates stack up in very short order; the Red Lion is slightly off the main road then the Artisan Tap and the Old House at Home are literally next door to each other. We're certainly being spoiled for choice along this particular stretch although the Sanctuary Ale House might just eclipse the others with a full-to-bursting Friday early evening vibe. We'd tried to keep it cask all the way thus far but the sight of Bacchus Kriek means we dabble with a Belgian interlude, the promise of Flemish Brown infused with Morello cherries being hard to ignore!

- Robin Hood -

Aside from all the pubs, the Hartshill Road corridor is interesting in its own right for the variety of terraced shopfronts and amenities. Barkers Dog Grooming, Chantilly Blinds and Checkley Interiors are all duly noted as we close in on Holy Trinity Church, known for its 'Middle Pointed' design by George Gilbert Scott and the copious presence of Minton tiles (Herbert Minton was the church's original benefactor). The watering holes at this end of the crawl would normally include the Noahs - currently closed for refurbishment - but the Robin Hood is ready to claim our custom, supplying Courage Directors in another pleasingly traditional setting.

- Back to the station and don't spare the horses -

It was a quirk of the Hartshill Mile that the outermost pubs at either end had almost identical names. We may have been deprived of Newcastle's Jolly Potter earlier but Hartshill's Jolly Potters - with the extra 's' - is still on hand to round things off in style; there are four separate rooms to choose from plus an enchanting suntrap beer garden, so we settle by the dartboard and drain our final halves: job done! All that remains is the statutory D9 driving demonstration aboard the return 25 bus - ding ding - and the 19:24 train home to Wolverhampton. Cheers!