The Altrincham line consists of 9 stops Trafford Bar, Old Trafford, Stretford, Dane Road, Sale, Brooklands, Timperley, Navigation Road and finally Altrincham.
The first stop on the Altrincham line is Trafford Bar, seen above, below shows the station from outside.
The pub at Trafford Bar is 'The Tollgate' seen below
'The Tollgate' is directly opposite the main station entrance and is about 2 minutes walk from the platforms.
'The Tollgate' serves the following draft lagers and bitters (well it did in February 2003), Fosters - £1.09 for half a pint, Stella, Harp Larger, Guinness, Banks Bitter, Pedigree and Strongbow, the pub also has a good menu that serves good food cheaply. A word of warning, if United are playing at home on the day you are doing the pub crawl, this pub maybe very busy.
The Old Trafford stop is the close to Old Trafford cricket ground and football ground, due to this the station is exceedingly busy on match days, and has a steady stream of tourists (mostly from the far east) during non match days.
The station retains some 'security' for use during match days, the police use this to control the flow of fans onto the station.
To get to 'The Trafford', turn right from the south bound platform, and walk under the tram lines, head passed Old Trafford cricket ground and towards the football ground. Cross Talbot Road, where Trafford town hall is and continue towards the football ground, the pub is about 8 minutes walk from the station on the right as you reach Chester Road.
Not surprisingly, this is a strongly 'United pub', do not go in wearing a Liverpool shirt not expecting trouble. Also the inside has seen better times, although this is again due to the huge numbers of people who squeeze in on match days.
'The Trafford' sells the following draught beers and lagers are sold here - Fosters (£1 per half pint), Becks, Kronenburg, Strongbow and Guinness. The pub sells many bottled beers.
Again, being very close to Old Trafford the pub gets exceedingly busy on match days.
Stretford is a busy stop due to the connecting Trafford Centre shuttle bus service.
Outside the station, signs telling passers by about the shuttle bus service.
To get to 'The Moulin' - probably the 'roughest' pub on the Altrincham line climb the steps off the southbound platform and turn right, from the top of the bridge you can see the Stretford Arndale centre in front of you on the left, you need to head towards that, to cross Chester Road use the sub ways at the junction. Turn left when you get to the outside of the Arndale and walk along Chester Road, 'The Moulin' is about 100 metres on the right.
My 'local' station, I live less than 5 minutes walk from the station.
Above is the outside of Dane Road tram station.
The closet pub to 'Dane Road' is 'The Bridge', to get to the bridge exit the tram station through the main entrance, turn right onto Dane Road, and the pub is on your right after about 100meters.
Sale is again a very busy station situated in the middle of suburbia.
Above is the outside of Sale tram station.
The closest pub to Sale tram station is 'The Met', during the evening hours this pub has a strict dress code, and can be a little on the 'rough' side, to get to 'The Met' from the south bound platform exit through the side exit, you cannot miss the pub, it is right in front of you.
Should you not be allowed entry into 'The Met' walk along side the pub to the left hand side of the pub, until you get to a road, Hope Road, cross that road and a Weatherspoons pub called 'J P Joule' is about 100 metres on your right.
The next stop Brooklands.
Brooklands from outside.
The closed bar to Brooklands tram station is 'The Brook', from the southbound platform leave through the side exit the pub is on your right. However, the beer in there is terrible, (in my opinion), so to get half decent beer, leave through the main exit and turn right. At the set of traffic lights turn left, down hope road, the pub is about 200 metres on the right, about 5 minutes from the tram station. The pub is pictured below, it is called 'The Brooklands' but locals know it as 'The Tap'.
Inside Timperley station.
Outside Timperley station.
It is a fair walk from timperley station to the closest pub - 'The Gardners Arms'. To get to 'The Gardeners Arms' leave the station on top of the bridge. Opposite the station is a road called 'Canal Road' across the road and walk along 'Canal Road' passed several industrial units, and along the canal. After about 5 minutes walk the road bears to the left and away from the canal, you cross a level crossing (picture above). Just passed the level crossing is the Gardeners Arms - picture below.
This is a very hard pub, and has, on several occasions been the down fall when I have attempted the pub crawl. At this point you have had about 12 pints of beer, and walked a very long way. To complete the pub crawl 'officially' you have to walk back to Timperley to get another tram to Navigation Road, however, at this point you are actually very close to Navigation Road and require plenty of will-power.
To penultimate stop is Navigation Road, this stop only has one platform (there is only 1line at this point on the system).
Walk out of the station, and turn right onto 'Navigation Road', walk the entire length of the road (about 5 minutes walk) and you get to two pubs, one on the right (below) is called 'The Packet Horse', the other is 'The Navigation' (picture two below).
The Packet Horse (good quiz on a Monday night) is more expensive than the Navigation, but it is worth the extra couple of pence as the Navigation can be a little rough, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Inside Altrincham station.
Outside Altrincham station.
If you make it this far you have done very well. The end of the line. Walk out of Altrincham station (straight into a bus station), and head towards the left end of the bus station, opposite the clock tower (very easily visible) is the final pub 'The Porterhouse' about 2 minutes walk from the station.