Wizard

Good Pub Guide Recommended

Bustling pub with interesting food, real ales, a friendly welcome and relaxed atmosphere

Just a few minutes from lovely walks along Alderley Edge (a dramatic red sandstone escarpment with fine views) this is a popular pub with seats and tables in the sizeable back garden that are just right for a relaxing lunch after a hike. The various rooms, connected by open doorways, are cleverly done up in a mix of modern rustic and traditional styles. There are beams and open fires, antique dining chairs (some prettily cushioned) and settles around all sorts of tables, rugs on pale floorboards, prints and paintings on contemporary paintwork and decorative items ranging from a grandfather clock to staffordshire dogs and modern lampshades. A beer named for the pub (from Beartown), Jennings Bitter and Storm Beauforts Ale on handpump, 11 wines by the glass and farm cider; background music and board games. The pub is part of the Ainscoughs group.

Bar food times: 12-2.30, 6-9; 12-9 Sat; 12-7 Sun

Good food includes lunchtime sandwiches, whitebait with lime mayonnaise, ham hock, grain mustard and caper terrine with pickled red onion salad, borlotti bean and quinoa burger with their own sauce and onion rings, cumberland sausage and mash with red onion gravy, beer-battered fish and chips, a pie of the day, sea bass with crushed potatoes and fresh tomato dressing, and puddings such as steamed lemon sponge with lemon curd mascarpone and vanilla crème brûlée; they also offer a two- and three-course set menu.