The Crown Abbots Bromley — Restaurant in East Staffordshire

The Crown in Abbots Bromley is a charming and well-established village pub, offering the warmth and character you’d expect from a proper English local. That said, my recent visit raised a concern that deserves to be addressed—namely, the beer and lager selection available on tap.

Currently, The Crown pours familiar names like Stella Artois, Madri. While these brands are undeniably popular, they all share two key issues: They are owned by global conglomerates—AB InBev (Stella, Madri) and Heineken (Moretti). They contain glucose syrup, an artificial sugar additive used to cut costs and increase fermentable sugars, at the expense of brewing purity and taste.

It feels like a missed opportunity for such a respected and traditional pub to offer nothing but mass-market lagers filled with sweeteners, when far better options are available—especially at a time when more drinkers are seeking transparency in ingredients.

There are several UK-based brewers offering high-quality, additive-free lagers that could elevate the bar here. Examples include: • Freedom Lager (Staffordshire) – Clean, crisp, and brewed without additives. • Camden Hells Lager (London) – A balanced, unadulterated lager made with integrity. • Lost and Grounded Keller Pils (Bristol) – An exceptional, naturally brewed unfiltered lager. • Donzoko Northern Helles – A small-batch, premium craft lager with no syrup or shortcuts. • Thornbridge Lukas Helles Lager – Smooth, malt-forward, and brewed traditionally.

A pub with The Crown’s reputation should reflect that same commitment to quality in its drink offering. Adding even just one or two clean, syrup-free lagers to the lineup would show leadership and respect for the discerning customer.

Here’s hoping the team takes this on board. With a heritage like The Crown’s, the beer should live up to...

We went to this lovely pub for a family Sunday lunch on Mothers Day and all 8 of our party loved everything about the whole experience. The staff were fantastic and even though it was very busy they took time to look after everyone be it discussing the menu, taking drinks orders etc. The food is of a very high standard and really well presented, plenty of veg and all cooked to perfection. We all had a great Mother's Day celebration and would like to say a big Thank You to everyone at the Crown for making it special. We loved it so much we went back 4 days later for an evening meal and had another fantastic time....

A nice cosy pub which we stopped off at for a quick bite mid trip. Set in a pretty village this is a quintessential English country pub. Staff were friendly and bar service was speedy. We opted for a bar snack but were allowed to sit in the restaurant. There was a slightly protracted wait for the food hence four stars. However this may have been for two reasons We were starving The chips appeared to be home cooked. They were without a doubt the best chips we have ever been served as part of a meal. I would go back if all they had on the menu were...