Top food critic is full of praise for town’s Coopers
...AND THERE AND AROUND
Selected stores. Subject to availability. Online minimum spend will apply. Delivery charge and 40p bag charge may apply. Extra Special Raspberry & Pistachio Wreath 397g (£15.12 per kg). Photography shows serving suggestion. The Grocer 33 is an annual award based on a basket of 33 products that are randomly selected and changed each week. Prices are compared across Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. For verification contact Asda Stores, Southbank, Great Wilson Street, Leeds LS11 5AD. A “HISTORIC and authentic” Burton pub has won warm praise from acclaimed food critic Tom Parker Bowles after making it onto a national list of the 100 cosiest inns in Britain.
Mr Parker Bowles, 43, restaurant critic of the Mail on Sunday, has drawn up an entire century of pubs in which to enjoy a drink, alongside fellow critic Olly Smith.
And 54th on the list, between the Firefly in Hereford and The Cambridge Blue in Cambridge, is Burton’s very own Coopers Tavern.
Mr Smith had enjoyed a pint of Bass – as he says “for the memories” – after previously filming at the pub for a documentary entitled How Beer Changed the World.
In the section on the renowned Burton pub, the list reads: “It’s historic and authentic, and the cosy back bar is irresistible.
“Bass brewers used to come here to taste in this snug pub that was once part of Burton’s mega-brewing history, serving the British Empire. “Today the legacy lives on.”
The Coopers Tavern dates back to the 19th century, set in a quiet location on Cross Street in Burton, off Station Street.
The building was once a sampling house from the nearby Bass brewery.
On site there are five linked rooms with beer and brewery memorabilia decorating the walls.
Limited food is regularly put on, including pork pies and cheese boards, while drinks vary with up to four ciders or perries and a number of changing beers.
The pub has been immensely successful down the years winning several regional “pub of the year” awards from CAMRA.
If Tom Parker Bowles and Olly Smith were to return to the Burton area, there are a whole plethora of pubs they could visit.
It would be impossible to list them all, so we have listed just a few from East Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire that have undergone refurbishment in the past year. Marston’s brewery.
The pub is viewed as a “showroom” for the wide variety of ales created by the brewing giants.
It has recently reopened following a major refurbishment to become a taphouse, meaning that there are 11 different casks on site.
It is Marston’s only tap-house, and will champion “all things beer,” serving goods created less than a mile away.
The building has an industrial feel to it, similar to what would have been seen in a Victorian working brewery.
Exposed pipework can be seen overhead, while some of the furniture is inspired by the Burton Union system, the unique method used by Marston’s during brewing.
The centrepiece of the building lies towards the back, with rows of barrels visible in a feature fridge.