CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

STAFFORDSHIRE - Burton Upon Trent, Coopers Tavern

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part Two

43 Cross Street, Burton Upon Trent, DE14 1EG

Tel: 01283 523551

Draught Beer & Cider: Range of real ales sold from the casks; also up to 4 draught ciders or perries

Public Transport: BR: Burton upon Trent

Listed Status: Not listed

View this pub on a local map

Being one of the last remaining pubs in the country without a bar counter and having a tap room where you can sit with casks of beer stillaged alongside you makes the Coopers Tavern one of the most precious surviving pubs in the whole of the UK. A small detached property within 19th-century terraced housing, it is said to have been created from the cooperage of the former Eadie's Brewery (closed c.1934) which accounts for the large door in the bar/servery which is now blocked off by one of three loose benches. Access is via a Staffordshire blue brick passage between Cross Street and Milton Street, which has outside gents' and ladies accessed off it. The tap room has a door with the figure '4' on it indicating there were three other rooms in the past but it is difficult to see where a fourth room would hve been situated. You stand just inside the tap room to order your drinks including a large range of real ales served straight from the cask on a concrete thrall in one wing of the L shaped bar. There is a tiny shelf constructed from coopered staves to place the drinks as they are served. Then, if not already occupied, you can sit around wooden casks used as tables on either the basic seating, slightly raised, attached to the dado panelling of the room all painted a bright red colour, or on a modern bench which crosses in front of a large exterior door (no longer in use).

This became a pub in the 19th century and much of what we see now is virtually the same to this day. Prior to the mid 20th century the current bar/servery was an inner private bar and all but the chosen few were served from a (now removed) hatch door between the cellar and the passageway. The brick thralls, that hold a row of casks, were replaced sometime mid 20th century with the similar arrangements now seen. In recent years it has been topped off by stainless steel. There are some old bar back shelving near the small counter but the shelving above the stillage was added in 2002/3. The large Salt's mirror was added in 2005. The gas heater hanging from the ceiling still works but is no longer used.

Alternatively step back into the lounge, on the Cross Street end of the building, with two fireplaces implying it was two small rooms at one time, but may only one since it became a pub room. This small room with two types of quarry tiled on the floor contains a series of old benches still with their original makers labels "B Goodall House Furnisher Upholsterer & Removal Contractor 12 & 13 Uxbridge Street, Burton-on-Trent', a small cast-iron fireplace, the odd bell push and two more 'Salt's' mirrors. Off the lounge is a further small room which was a private living room until c.1990 when it became the third room.