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Sign in with FacebookLatest Stafford hotel reviews
Pro
Small enough to wander around in a day
Con
none I can think of
In a nutshell
pleasant place,could do with more big shops.
leics Says: Go round the back of St Mary's church and you will see the excavated site of the earliest stone structure on this site. The stones are not in their original postions: they were laid out to mark the outline of the chapel.Bertelin is supposed to have founded Stafford in the...
leics Says: The Colegiate Chruch of St Mary (sorry, I don't understand the complexities of the Church of England and cannot tell you why it is 'collegiate') is in the centre of the town, set within what I think was once a 'close': buildings which were, in the main, owned by the church...
leics Says: The remains of the town mill (for grain) lie near the river Sow (obviously, because Stafford's town mill was a watermill).There has almost certainly been a mill on the site since 1086. The last mill finally stopped working in 1957, and the remains you see now are the remains...
leics Says: I was hugely frustrated by St Chad's not being open when I wanted to visit.But is a church and, sadly, English churches are not open all the time.This is a truly ancient structure, dating back to the 1200s. Inside there are numerous ancient carvings...column capitals in...
leics Says: This rather wonderful (and huge!) timber-framed building lies on Greengate Street. It is the largest such building still standing in England.The house dates from 1594 and was originally built for the Durrington family.It now houses a museum, which has rooms furnished and...
leics Says: Victoria Park lies opposite Stafford railway station, just on the outskirts of the town centre. It was laid out in 1908.It is a really lovely classic-English town park, and clearly very well-maintained. The river Sow runs through it (there's a pretty white bridge erected in...
Gillybob Says: Built in 1596 by John Dorrington, Stafford's ancient high house is the largest remaining timber framed building in England and is well worth a visit.The building houses an extensive collection of furnishings, retaining many of its original architectural features. Inside you...
Museum of the Staffordshire Yeomanry
Gillybob Says: Located on the attic floor of the Stafford Ancient High House, this small independent museum has displays of weapons, uniforms, coins, medals and general wartime paraphernalia.The collection covers the history of the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment from its...
Gillybob Says: St Mary's, formerly a royal free chapel and collegiate, with a dean and twelve canons, is a large, cruciform building of stone. It has a beautiful collection of stained glass windows from various ages.The church, like so many in England, was built and added to over a number...
Gillybob Says: Victoria Park was originally laid out in 1908 and will celebrate its centenary in 2008. Approximately four acres of marshy land was bought and improved to create the original park which was named Victoria Pleasure Grounds. The design included the River Sow and many of the...
zizkov Says: A beautiful little church, fronted by gardens, just of the modern high street. It dates back to the 12th century, based on an earlier Norman church. Visible to the front in the churchyard, are the remains of St Bertelin's chapel from the eighth century. So a sacred site for...
zizkov Says: Perhaps the most remarkable chapter in their history was World War 2. They were involved in two major actions: the North Africa Campaign, where the landed in Palestine and pushed all the way through to the final victory in Tunisia. This must have been an extraordinary trek,...
zizkov Says: Stafford Castle, as is, is a bit of an oddity. It was formerly the largest motte and bailey castle in England, but what is now left are much of the groundworks, and a crumbling reconstruction of a reconstruction. I had expected something a bit more substantial: a lot of...
zizkov Says: This pub is one of the more striking features in the centre and dates back to the seventeenth century. It was built on the site of The Old Black Bear Inn on Greengate St and was a coaching inn. I wonder if anyone then was grumbling about the unsightly redevelopment of the...
132 Opinions
138 Opinions
Redford Bank Carvery: Used to be The Trumpet
uglyscot Says: This Restaurant offers a very reasonably priced Crown Carvery lunch for less than £4 per person. There is a choice of Roated meats and then a self-service assortment of vegetables.The atmosphere is good- people wanting to have a good lunch and enjoy their company.It is not...
Suet Says: Had a decent meal with my mate Poons! Bottle of Sancerre £15.50, I mains course £8.95 and smoked haddock florentine £5.95, gives you an idea of the prices of the place. Total bill £30.40.It was in a pub which is always good value for money.Pics to come. It wasn't bad for a...
The Picture House is Stafford's outpost of the Wetherspoons empire. For those unfamiliar with Wetherspoons (surely only foreigners), it is a Britain-wide chain that specialises in taking large imposing buildings which are no longer used for their original purpose and converting them into large imposing pubs. Specialities include banks, cinemas and churches.
Whilst I would normally rail against the expansion of chain-capitalism crushing local enterprise underfoot, I find it hard to make a case against Wetherspoons. They do what they do very well. The pubs are all different, they sell a wide range of drinks at keen prices. A typical bar may have 10-15 beers on tap, including real ales and local beers (and ciders). They stock interesting foreign beers. They have a wide ranging food menu including vegetarian choices; not haute cuisine, but a reasonable standard and value for money. In short, they generally blow your standard high street boozer or overpriced 'style' bar out of the water, with change for the taxi home.
In Stafford, they have converted an old cinema, retaining (or remodelling) a lot of existing features, and decked it out in movie memorabilia. I had a couple of half of real ale (a lot of their pubs are Cask Marque, the real ale quality scheme), and even mid-afternoon, it was busy. At night they tend to become big drinking barns, and given the more 'straight-through' layout of this one, possibly a bit more barn-like than some Wetherspoons. Another thing - Wetherspoons don't have music, and though they have recently fitted TV screens, the sound is (so far) never on. Which at night can often mean they are paradoxically almost deafening with the hubbub of voices.
Despite this being an ex-cinema, Stafford still has one - a four-screen Odeon about a minute away.
Dress Code: Pretty much anything, though normally no baseball caps, or work clothes in the evening.
Updated Nov 16, 2006
Gillybob Says: Stafford is easily accessible from London via train. The mainline station has services running directly to London, Manchester, Carlisle, Liverpool, Birmingham and Crewe, to name but a few. The station has 6 platforms, a ticket office, information window and various food and...
zizkov Says: Stafford has a large train station, or to be more exact, a train station with a large number of tracks, which cut a large scar through the town to the south-west of the centre. I imagine that, in Victorian times, there was an imposing edifice, thronged with people. Now,...
Helpfulness
Your well dressed and charming models will pose for you in various locations in Stafford....
Please note the tasteful accessories and the borrowing of someone's dog to bring you that perfect catalogue shot.....
Written Jun 13, 2007
Phone: 1-800-POONSSUET
Website: nutters.co.uk
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Stafford offers a great opportunity for a short stop-off if you are travelling cross-country in England. Its also a great place to catch up with the local VTers and those passing through. The town...
Very pleasant little market town
Stafford was number 3 on my list of 'places very near to me which I cannot recall ever visiting' As with Coventry and Northampton, I went by train (cheaper than petrol + parking and quicker as...
Stafford, it is fair to say, is somewhere which I had no intention of visiting. I was on my way to Bath and beyond: however my car had different ideas. And judging by my experiences with Stafford...
Took a drive down to see POONS! we spent a day or so together in lovely Stafford, doing various things, one of which was a fashion shoot using props which had some of the locals somewhat curious.....
Stafford is the capital of Staffordshire and used to have cattlemarkets, these days it is a little market town, but has a lovely park, there is also Stafford Castle where alot of productions take...
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