The good news is Chester can be an excellent day out, providing fantastic opportunities for a crawl round a mixture of traditional and modern bars. However, the bad news is that there isn’t a pub within 20 minutes walk of the ground, and the club bar has ceased to admit away fans after problems a couple of seasons ago.

Of course the game being on a Friday makes thing even more awkward for those travelling after work. Train travellers are also dumped at the rather grotty station on the outskirts of the city and miles from the ground although there is a “hopper” bus service that takes you into the city centre.

Near the station there are a couple of places worth mentioning. There is a public bar in the Westminster Hotel on the main City Road that is very welcoming to non-residents, although the beer is a bit pricey. If real ale and some food are the priority, then hang a right off City Road towards the City and take in the Union Vaults on Egerton Road followed by the adjacent Mill Hotel around the corner on the canal-side. This is a converted Corn Mill boasting four bars and a barge restaurant, and is welcoming to a wide variety of clientele including families with children.

Anyone suitably amused by miserable, eccentric landlords (similar to old Bill who used to have The Fox, now the Wanderer, next to Molineux) should take themselves to The Albion next to the shopping centre. It’ll probably be shut, as the landlord basically opens when he likes which I find very endearing. On my last visit on a steaming hot June day I was confronted with “button up your shirt please young man” whilst awaiting my pint. Fabulous! Years since I’ve been called a “young man” in any sort of context, so I humbly accepted the 1950’s standards!

For those who like me enjoy living in the slightly more recent past, the pick of the City Centre pubs is the Shropshire Arms on Northgate near the Cathedral. Enjoy real ale and old fashioned table top Galaxians in a 1980’s style.

The City boasts the usual charmless chains, and some of the bar staff and managers can be particularly rude to anyone resembling a football fan, particularly a Walsall fan I find! We tend to be quite unpopular in this neck of the woods for some reason, I always remember school trips to Chester Zoo degenerating into a scene from Quadrophenia when the local school kids realised we were from Walsall, and now 25 years on it would seem most of those kids work for either Wetherspoons or Ultimate Leisure.

Either way if you make it into the City Centre for a drink, or try any of the bars around the station I would definitely recommend a taxi to the ground useful numbers being (01244) 346464 for anyone at the station heading towards the city, i.e. Mill Hotel end. Or (01244) 372372 for anyone in the city centre.

Don’t forget by the way, when standing on the away terrace you are actually in Wales.

The Red Prince’s Addendum

The Red Prince, being currently native to the city, has added the following:-

Further to Geordie’s excellent guide I have one or two other place’s of interest I would like to add. Firstly, if you are coming up through town there are two places to avoid (unless you are wfc_2uk, if you catch my drift) and they are Bar 69, which is just off the A51 entering Chester City Centre, and the other is the very misleading Liverpool Arms on Northgate Street, next to the walls.

Places I can recommend, however, are; The Old Queen’s Head opposite Weatherspoons on Foregate Street, although this may be a little too ‘young’ for the older generation.

If you fancy a bit of quaintness (and some German lager no one has ever heard of), then try the Old Boot Inn on Eastgate Street in the city centre, set back in the Row’s just above Hallmark, it must have the lowest ceiling of any pub in Chester, and dates back several hundred years. It is a haunt for home fans, but usually of the flat cap variety, and I have not heard of trouble there.

Next up, and the closest pub you can get to the ground, is Telford’s Warehouse, just off Raymond Street. Set in a converted warehouse, built by Thomas Telford funnily enough, on the site of the old Shropshire Canal basin, it overhangs the canal and boasts live music on a Friday night, and a good (if a little expensive) selection of food and beverages, however, be warned that the students are back and it may get a little crowded.

If anyone is planning on stopping on after the match, the are only three real nightclubs in Chester namely; RB’s, on the corner of Eastgate and Northgate Street, Brannigans, on the corner of St. John’s Street and Foregate Street, and Revolution, on Foregate Street, just past Weatherspoon’s, none of which I would enthusiastically recommend, for those with exotic tastes, there is the Platinum Lounge, set on the Row’s on Bridge Street.