A POPULAR south Cheshire village inn is today (Thursday, September 26) celebrating seven consecutive years in the highly prestigious CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
The Carden Arms in Tilston, near Malpas, is hailed in the 2025 edition (published September 26) as an “impressive rural free house” with a cask ale range from independent breweries.
The revered national guide – which this year features iconic soap local’s the Rovers Return Inn and the Woolpack – praises the “stylish” Carden, saying:
“The interior has rug covered wood and tiled floors, traditional furniture and attractive framed pictures on the plain white walls. High quality food is served in the bar area and stylish dining room.”
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General manager Trish MacKay said: “It means a lot to have our efforts recognised by the Good Beer Guide for the seventh year. As a village pub we try very hard to source a variety of quality guest cask ales working with independent breweries in Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales. In these last few days of Cask Ale Week we invite beer lovers to come and try them.”
The Carden Arms was reborn in 2016 by local lady farmer, Didy Morgan, who saved the former 18th century coaching inn from closure and invested in extensive renovations. Now there is a nostalgic bar, with real fires, two dining areas brimming with antiques and five luxury guest bedrooms.
The five hand-pull bar currently features Peerless Triple Blond (sic) from Birkenhead and Yorkshire’s Timothy Taylors Landlord along with ‘guests’ from Three Tuns Brewery of Bishops Castle, Big Hand of Wrexham and Chester’s Spitting Feathers and Weetwood Ales, all at terrific prices.
The pub is linked to its own old-fashioned farm, just a mile down the road, where all it’s rare breed beef, lamb and pork is raised. This features heavily on the menu.
Mrs Morgan said: “We are delighted to be one of only two pubs a few miles south of Chester to be included in the much-respected Good Beer Guide. It is a real tribute to the determination of Trish and the team in making the Carden a welcoming village pub with good beer and food. Local pubs have to work very hard to succeed and this listing for our seventh consecutive year is a real boost.”
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