It's A Banker - Stockton on Tees

More glorious sunshine and blue skies greeted me on Monday morning, when I made the jounrney from my Darlington base to Thornaby station. From there it was a short walk through modern student accommodation and offices, before crossing the Tees on a footbridge.

I was on my way to Stockton.
Uh-oh...on first glance it looked like the town was being demolished...

Significant building works

Stockton-on-Tees is the kind of place that raises a furrowed brow from my mum who tried to bring me up to go on holiday to national parks, walking the fells and visiting country houses.
Why on earth would you want to go to Stockton-on-Tees?!

To see the plinth in the market square.

And the hippopotamus bursting out the side of a house...

And to be able to partake in a pint like this...

The Sun (2 Knowles Street, TS18 6SU - web)
"Bass, please."
"Banker?"
I'm glad that bloggers and Bass aficionados have previously promoted the banked Bass at the Sun, otherwise I'd have had no idea what the fella at the bar meant. 
Or I'd have misheard.

Bass is the sole cask on offer at the Sun and once sold so quickly that half pints were poured at quieter times and 'banked' in the fridge, ready to be quickly topped up, creating the frothy heads.

The Sun Inn looks every bit the proper boozer: open early, hanging baskets and planters braving the chilly April nights, and posters advertising karaoke, disco, and £2.30 pints of John Smith's Smoothflow.
For pre-noon drinking, there was a fair number of regulars settled in their favourite seats, attention divided between horse racing on numerous TVs and wondering why the weird chap a few tables down was taking pictures of his Bass with a big grin on his face.

There's a chap wondering why I'm photographing my pint.
Whilst I'm wondering why he's got a bottle of Fairy detergent on his table.

There is a bit of a problem visiting on a Monday and that's that many micropubs have an aversion to opening at the beginning of the week.
Of the seven current Good Beer Guide entries, three were shut on a Monday.  A fourth, The Wasps Nest, usually opens but had decided to go on holiday when I was there.

Best head to the small shopping arcade to one that was open.
And make a pigs ear of the picture...

Tipsy Turtle (5 Regency West Mall, West Row, TS18 1EF - web)
It was far too quiet, perhaps justifying those that took the day off.
Just two blokes sat in the window seat, which is why I sat quietly in the corner, took no pictures and sipped my Campervan 'Nomad Pale'.

I'm sure I'd have enjoyed this a lot more at a busier time.  Alongside the three cask ales was a good selection of draft German and Belgian beers and some highly tempting, high-ABV, colourful cans in the fridge.

Checking the time, I drank up and headed back to the market square plinth which promised to do something at 1pm.  It kicks into life a minute or so late, just to give me time to think I could be loitering for no reason.  Then the top slowly opened and a steampunk contraption rose slowly in commemoration of the George Stephenson's first railway which ran from Stockton to Darlington.

It moves, hoots loudly, blows steam smoke rings and is absolutely fantastic.

When the Flyer sunk back into the plinth for another day, the dozen or so folk who'd been watching it drifted off in different directions.  In my case, down the road to the Wetherspoon's for a bite to eat.

The Thomas Sheraton (4 Bridge Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3BW - web)
The town 'Spoons has been a fixture in the Good Beer Guide for fifteen years, holding back the rise of the side-street micros to keep its place.

Thomas Sheraton was a famed 18th century furniture maker who was born in the town and published 'The Cabinet Maker, Upholsterer and General Artist's Encyclopaedia' in 1805.   I suspect he never envisaged having a pub named after him a couple of hundred years in the future.

It's an impressive grade II listed building which used to the county court house.  There's lots of nooks and crannies downstairs, a mezzanine level with rooftop courtyard, and a great coloured glass skylight.

I ordered some food and a pint of Titanic 'E.B.A' brown ale, before moving on in the search of my final micropub of the afternoon.

This was located somewhere down this colourful alley (or is it a ginnel?)

Golden Smog (1 Hambledon Yard, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1DS)
The Golden Smog was the first of the town's micros, opened in August 2014.
It's a narrow single room with the bar at the far end, pump clips adorning the ceiling and a fine collection of German steins on a high shelf. 

From the five real ales I picked the Harrogate ‘Nid Mild’ and took it to the last remaining table.  Small tables, benches and proper pub stools lined each wall, with patrons facing the centre of the room and chatting to one another in compliance with Herne Bay micropub rules.

I don't know what I missed with all the closed places on a Monday, but I'm glad the Golden Smog was open and will make a beeline for a return visit next time I'm in this neck of the woods.
A lovely crowd of folk drinking everything from Sam Smith's in a bottle to Belgian ales served in their proper glassware.  

Stockton-on-Tees had provided me with a great afternoon out and should be on the bucket-list of anyone who likes Bass, micropubs, and brilliant steampunk sculptures.
And I got a great value haircut.
Cheers!🍺