Three Stags' Heads, Wardlow Mires

A marvellous, rural country pub, sited to serve a road junction and which used to double as a farm. The oldest buildings date from the seventeenth- or eighteenth-century and the higher, right-hand part was added in the nineteenth. The entrance lobby has a door with a figure ‘2’ on it in front of you which leads to the basic main bar with its stone-flagged floor (returned by the licensees as a result of removing a red screeded one) and huge stone fire-surround with the massive stone mantelshelf almost reaching the ceiling and a range fire. There was no counter until the present one was installed in the 1940s (the bar front dates from the 1980s) and the bar back is a number of brown painted shelves on a mirrored backing. The music room on the right has only been brought into use quite recently and the way the work has been done is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the old pub. It has a panelled dado with bare benches attached, a stone surround bucket-style fireplace and a modern hatch to the bar.

The door on the left of the lobby with a figure ‘3’ on it was the original second public room. Nowadays it is normally closed but can be pressed into service if the pub is busy or for a group. It also has a flagstone floor, another old fireplace with a stone surround, a basic bench and a display of pottery. The pub has only limited opening hours as owners Geoff and Pat Fuller are potters – a lot of their work is on show in the pub and may be purchased. The pottery is situated in the old range further to the left which was in the past used for animals. The pub sells beers from Abbeydale Brewery including one called ‘Lurcher’ at 8% only brewed for this pub.