Mild Magic – divers excursions

This is the fifth in a series of five posts about 2026’s Mild Magic, Stockport and South Manchester CAMRA‘s annual celebration of mild, covering a few separate trips out: Macclesfield, Urmston, Burnage and, er, Fallowfield. (My MM trips out have not been the most ambitious this year, it’s fair to say.) A pleasant (as in, fine and sunny, but not this damn fine and sunny) Saturday took us out to Macclesfield. This was my second visit to the Castle, and it followed much the same pattern as the first: navigate the pub’s multiple different rooms on multiple different levels, fitted out with old, mismatched but comfortable furniture; look at the food menu and think about having lunch there another time; hear “God Only Knows” on the PA and get a bit choked up (even on a half of mild); wonder about having another, then remember all the other pubs we were visiting and move on. Another time we’ll have to do the route the other way round and get there last. Thornbridge Present (a ‘coffee mild’)…