The Buxton Line: Part 1, Disley and Whaley Bridge

Setting out from our Buxton base, the plan was to visit a few towns and drink a few beers in some of the stops on the railway line towards Stockport.
For part one, we made the 29-minute trip to Disley in the Goyt Valley.

At least there's no danger of going the wrong way from Buxton, where the station marks the end of the line.

One smooth but stiflingly hot journey later, we were the sole passengers to alight at Disley.  We'd crossed the county boundary and were making a rare excursion into Cheshire.

My initial impression of Disley was that the main attraction was watching a constant procession of trucks roaring down the A6.
It's not somewhere you want to be crossing from one side to the other and waiting for gaps in traffic to take pictures of pubs (yet of course I did).

Disley is a town which has grown around transport.  It began as a farming community, before growing rapidly in 1805 with the construction of the Peak Forest Canal.  The old road to Buxton was re-routed to make the journey easier, on what would be the future A6.  Then in 1857 the Stockport-Disley-Whaley Bridge railway line opened, built by LNWR to connect with the existing Cromwell and the High Peaks line.
We set off to find a midday opener for a spot of lunch.

The Dandy Cock (15 Markey Street, Disley, SK12 2AA)
This is a 19th century pub on a fork in the road with an ideal patio for lorry spotting.
Inside you'll find a relatively smart pub with hard-wearing checked carpets, framed local black & white photos of Disley, and half a dozen locals coming and going.

Another unusual feature was the display of vases for sale, the bonus over a regular homeware store being you get to stop for a pint of Robinsons 'Unicorn' while you're here.  On good form, the other option being 'Dizzy Blonde'.
The music playlist had started okay with Aretha Franklin, then slipped a bit with Sixpence None the Richer, finally turning to the horrors of Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.  And I was stuck listening to it whilst waiting for our jacket potatoes to cook (very slowly).

Fed and watered, we set about discovering if there was more of touristic interest in the town than the A6.
Two hours until the micro pub opened, so we walked towards the National Trust Lyme Park.  Our route took us past the railway station then down Red Lane, with smart pads behind the gated driveways (sample price £1,495,000), probably the homes of Salford City footballers.
At the end of the lane are pedestrian gates to the Lyme Park estate, with a grassy hill leading steadily upward to The Cage.

Perched atop a small hill, this sandstone building is an unmissable landmark, with grand views across to Manchester and beyond.  There was an older version of the Cage dating to around 1580, which was then reconstructed in 1737.  What it's for nobody quite knows.  The National Trust suggest it was probably a hunting lodge or grounds keepers lodgings, but not the lock-up that Wiki suggest, despite the name.

The gentle path down the other side of the hill took us to the spectacular house in Lyme.  There's a whole lot of history about the Legh family but all I remember is that it was used in the BBCs adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

We turned left before reaching the house itself and followed the Gritstone Trail on a pleasant loop which eventually took us back to Disley.
Perfect timing would have been knocking on the door at 14:59, but reaching the end of our walk at 15:15 wasn't too bad.

Malt Disley (22 Market St, Disley, SK12 2AA)
This is a quality modern micro in a old shop unit, as happy to serve you cocktails, craft gin, or murky keg beers as cask ale.  They've been open since June 2017 and have picked up a fair few awards since then, including being crowned the local CAMRA winter pub of the season this year.
Three of the four hand pumps were in action on our visit...

From which I picked the Nightjar 'Thatch of the Day' - the best World Cup themed beer name and pump clip I've come across (there's not much competition to be fair).
Being a micro, there are lots of high tables and stools, although a couple of booths along one side offer comfy seating for those who prefer their feet to touch the ground.  We may have been the first customers of the day, but a fair few folks followed us in.

 

Leaving the micro we strolled along the main road until we reaching the trad-looking red-brick Albert, a pub which appears in the 2026 Good Beer Guide.

The Albert (75 Buxton Road, Disley, SK12 2HA)
The building we see today was constructed in 1862 and was owned by long-gone Stockport brewery Daniel Clifton & Co.  It's gone through a bit of a sports bar phase in the not-so-distant past but looks to have been rejuvenated as a community local in the last couple of years.
I suspect it would have had three or four separate rooms at one point, before being opened up into one big L-shaped space.  There's still a small back bar and the tiled corridor leading from the front door.

  

Wainwright 'Amber' or 'Gold' were the ales to choose from, the amber pump clip having gone missing.  They've written "yum" on their makeshift replacement, which is all the convincing I needed.
Despite being a beer that sits distinctly in the boring brown bitter category, this was kept on top form and was an enjoyable pint.
We opted to take our drinks into the back yard.  Perhaps there was just a little bit too much world cup flag bunting within for comfort.

Mrs PropUptheBar must have phoned ahead to warn them I was a bit hot and sweaty after walking through Lyme Park, the Lacura Men ready for me in the gents.
Where someone has tried to remove the Stockport County sticker.

  

We headed back to the railway station and caught a late afternoon train back in the direction of Buxton as far as Whaley Bridge.

Just across the border into Derbyshire, this is a handy jumping off place for canal walks, but the main street of the town is another one scarred by a wickedly busy main road.
As with Disley, it expanded in the industrial revolution when cotton mills were built here.  It's now home to around 6,300 folks who have eight pubs and bars and a bowling club to drink in.
The one we were heading to was the Whaley Nook micro pub.
5pm opening said Google and CAMRA.
7pm said the sign on the door.  Doh!

What to do with an unexpected extra 2-hours in town?
Let's start with the Shepherd's Arms...

Shepherd's Arms (7 Old Road, Whaley Bridge, SK23 7HR)
This is a splendid two-star heritage pub - a real rural gem in the middle of a town.
To the right of the front door is a flagstone-floored tap room with two long tables, bench seating and dumpy stools.

My positivity about Wainwright beer was put to the test with exactly the same duo of Amber and Gold available here.  This time I opted for the 'Gold' which isn't going to win beer of the day but was - again - in decent condition.

Most of the customers had veered to a pleasant garden, providing us with sole use of the lounge.

Okay, stone floors and wooden benches have more character, but when I grumble about pubs having modern makeovers, the lounge bar in the picture above is what I'm thinking they should look like.  That's a proper pub carpet, if ever there was one.
What artwork would the gents WC provide?  Newspaper cuttings, mild smut, retro beer posters? 
Nope - British sheep breeds... 

Whaley Bridge's pubs were very much wet-led / shut on a Tuesday / 'kitchen closed - no food today'.  We decided to investigate the recently re-opened Bridge and Barrel with a name and setting which looked like it should be a micro, except it's not.

The Bridge and Barrel (39 Buxton Road, Whaley Bridge, SK23 7HT)
Formerly Ruby's Bar with an intriguing hint of having had a 'bad reputation' this was taken over by new owners in May of this year.  The ground floor is a dimly-lit L-shaped room with servery and a wall of fake wine barrels, whilst there is a basement bar with pool table downstairs.
Footy on a big TV which the fella on the bar stool kept on commenting to me about despite being sat straight in front of me and obscuring my view.

No cask ale, but all lager at £3.50.
A Dortmunder Pils for me, accompanying our table of tapas...

Okay, so the Bridge and Barrel will disappoint anyone looking for a rustic micro selling Derbyshire home brew and picked eggs, but it did the job for us and by the time we'd polished off all those plates the Whaley Nook would be be open (we hoped).

The front door propped ajar and punters outside with glasses in hand was a good sign.

Whaley Nook (20 Old Road, Whaley Bridge, SK23 7HR)
This micro pub was converted from an old shop, originally opening as a tap room for the Whaley Bridge brewery in 2017.  Within a year that brewery had closed leading to the micro changing hands and becoming 'The Nook'.
It's a pleasant little two-roomer with comfy seating, an impressive keg list and a friendly welcome.
Two of the four hand pumps were in action serving Little Critters 'Roar' and the house beer from Abbeydale: 'Wendy's House'.

Okay there's an overkill of decorative signage, but I was impressed by the collection of seaside postcards in the WC - the best I've seen since visiting micros on the Kent coast. 

As befits a pub called the Nook, the back room, which occasionally plays host to musicians, is named 'The Crannie'.

We only stayed for the one in the micro, keeping an eye on train times.
A fine day out, with a good walk and a variety of pubs.  And we were going to do it all over again the following day with a couple of different stops on the same railway line.

Buxton Pub Explorations

Summer 2026 saw us shunning foreign shores and instead spending a week in Derbyshire, beginning with a four night stay in the spa town of Buxton.

After checking into our holiday apartment, we wandered through the Pavilion Gardens, complete with octagonal concert hall, John William's theme tunes played enthusiastically by a band in the bandstand, and a Canada Geese population which threatened to outnumber Buxton's human residents. 

There was a queue of people waiting to fill bottles at the well, so we figured we'd skip the spring water for the time being and drink Red Willow beer instead.

Red Willow Buxton (1 Cavendish Circus, Buxton, SK17 6AT)
I enjoyed the beers from the Macclesfield brewer when they fist began to appear in London, then got the chance to drink them in their own home town bar a few years back.  The Buxton venue (their second) opened in 2017 in a spectacular conversion of what was originally the William & Glynns bank.  The old office in the corner, with mahogany wood and etched glass is the real eye-catcher.

We entered to Wham 'I'm Your Man', just a half dozen or-so folks spread out within the single room with a small mezzanine to one end.
On the bar were Red Willow 'Feckless', 'Wreckless', 'Heartless', 'Headless', and - deviating from naming conventions - 'Citra Luminosa'.
The 'Heartless' for me, a chocolate porter, that was...hmmm...so-so.  It was rather a muddy sludge which I figured was intentional, then began to doubt half way through.
The music shifted to lesser heard territory with the Australian Crawl's 'Reckless' - wow, that's dedication to the 'words ending in 'less'' theme.

Picking the wrong beer was my own fault and I left with every intention of making a return visit to sample something better.  Except Buxton has rather a lot of pubs and I never did make it back to Red Willow.  Next time...

A short uphill walk along the side of The Slopes took us to a cafe/bar which had been expertly identified as an ideal option for tea.

Lubens (8A Hall Bank, Buxton, SK17 6EW)
This is very much a café/bar and very much not a pub.  But it was on the ale trail leaflet we'd picked up, scored well for cask quality on the CAMRA website, and had a menu that appealed to Mrs PropUptheBar.
On the downside: table service, some ghastly flowery wallpaper and some bland music.
On the upside: well-kept local cask, a flower pot Paddington Bear outside, and some very comfy-looking armchairs by a fireplace.

Cask ales on offer were Thornbridge 'Jaipur' and a Cheshire duo of Beartown 'Kodiac' and Wincle 'Sir Philip'.
The Wincle for me, a 4.2% malty premium bitter, brewed in Macclesfield, accompanying a flat bread with beetroot falafel which was far more food than I really needed.

By this point I was keen to get to a proper pub and the Titanic one looked like it would fit the bill.

Cheshire Cheese (37-39 High Street, Buxton, SK17 6HA)
This coaching inn dates back to at least 1787.  The name comes from the practice of traders paying for their overnight stays with blocks of cheese.  Credit cards seem to be preferred these days.
Everards Brewery took over in 2013 and partnered with Titanic to run the pub, so the beer line-up was looking very similar to what we find back in Oxford at the Royal Blenheim.
Five hand pumps dedicated to Titanic, the Plum Porter being pulled through whilst were there...

...Everards, Castle Rock, Little Critters and Tiny Rebel on the second bank of 5.

I picked the Titanic 'Iceberg Grand Crew', released in June 2026 as a limited edition to celebrate the brewery's 40th birthday. This is a 5.9% version of the regular Iceberg - lots crisper and hoppier, tasting as though it's a percentage-or-two higher. 

Hard work.  I was glad I only had a half.

The Cheshire Cheese is a sprawling pub with several rooms: timber frames on the roof, wooden boards on the floor, lots of nooks and crannies, and cheery holidaymakers tucking into evening meals.
Was I lowering the tone in my scruffy attire or is that chap under the beer list over-dressed?

Our first evening finished with a visit to the Buxton Tap House (11-16 The Old Court House, George Street, Buxton, SK17 6AT) - very quiet on a Sunday evening.  With food service having finished and no outdoor seating on a warm evening, the crowds had gone elsewhere.  Not that this affected a great pint of 'Monsall Mild'.

This is somewhere that we did make a return visit to, working though several of the cask and keg options in an endeavour to ensure we'd done the local brewery justice.

Day two in Buxton began with a trip out to the village of Chelmorton and a jacket potato and fine pint of ale in the Church Inn.

Followed by a trek into the fields to visit the Five Wells neolithic tomb.

Back in Buxton, we headed to the first of three pub visits in the Upper Town.
We were making our way to one of the area's first micropubs, located at the far end of the market opposite the Methodist church, a couple of doors down from the unappealing modern Vaults bar.

At least that's where we were going if we were permitted entry...

The Ale Stop (Chapel Street, Buxton, SK17 6HX)
Two rooms have been opened into one, although are distinctly different: regular seating and a splendid brick fireplace to the right, two long wooden benches and the bar counter to the left.
The gaffer shouted at his dog to get out the way and let customers in, then enthusiastically promoted the cask ales he had on offer.

A Brentwood 'Big Brown Bear' for me.  This is the second ever beer that the Essex brewery produced, reviving it to celebrate their 20th anniversary.  I tend to be wary of brown ale, but this was a superb tasty beer served in top condition.
The Ale Stop pub dog received a temporary banning order for leaping into the small space on the bench next to Mrs PropUptheBar, throwing her weight around and 'being a tart' in the words of the boss. 

I felt a bit guilty that we'd spoilt the dogs afternoon in the pub.  She was banished to a flat upstairs somewhere whilst we enjoyed the Ale Stop with its handful of cheery locals, eclectic music, and quality beers.

But we had a heritage pub which was rumoured to serve Bass ahead of us, so onward we went...

The Swan Hotel (40 High Street, Buxton, SK17 6HB)
Now this is what I call a proper pub.
The Swan consists of a large central servery with bar counters looking out into three rooms which surround it, one packed and two empty.  To the rear was the room that all the locals had settled in, making a fair bit of noise and emitting the kind of sweary language that you wouldn't have expected from the gentlefolk of Buxton!  To the left of the front door is the 'Scottish' lounge, provided you're content that tartan carpet and decorations on the wall qualify it as being Scottish.
Great bench seating and dumpy stools...

The beer selection is likely to disappoint anyone committed to local ales and exotic brews, but I was happy...

An excellent pint of Bass.

Drank whilst sat in the front bar which contained more cushioned bench seating, copper-topped tables, dart board, display case of medals, and the distraction of TV and flashing lights on the games machine.

I loved the Swan, even if it we were sat in a room by ourselves.  It  would be a bolder pubman that me who'd insert themselves amongst the locals in the back bar.

Just across the road and a few doors down from the Cheshire Cheese is another old inn which I figured was worth poking our heads into.

The Old Sun Inn (33 High Street, Buxton, SK17 6HA)
The big red gates under the archway hark back to the pub's past as a 17th century coaching inn, still bearing the inscription 'Good Stabling' on the brickwork.
It fails to feel especially historic within, thanks to a 21st century makeover to ensure everything appeals to the tourists looking for a pub to eat in.

The cask line-up was quite an historic one: Youngs 'Original', Brain's 'Rev. James', Brakspear 'Gravity', Wainwright 'Gold', Marston's 'Pedigree'.  None of this new-fangled micro or craft brewery stuff.
The once prolific Pedigree takes a bit of finding these days since those pesky campaigners made Bass popular and it nabbed all the production capacity from the Marston's flagship ale.
So that's what I picked, under £3 on half-price cask Monday, which was nice.

Pedigree on pretty good form, supped on the sunny patio in front of the pub.

Our plan for the remaining days in Buxton was to board the train and hop off at a few stops on the way towards Manchester, seeing what Beer Guide pubs and sights we could see along the way.  And that's what I'll be waffling on about in the next posts.