A popular south Cheshire village inn is celebrating seven consecutive years’ entry in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide (GBG).
Savannah Gibson serves a pint at the Carden Arms, Cheshire
The Carden Arms, in Tilston, near Malpas, is hailed in the 2025 edition, published today, as an “impressive rural free house” with a cask ale range from independent breweries.
The guide says: “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.”
“It means a lot to have our efforts recognised by the Good Beer Guide for the seventh year,” said general manager Trish MacKay.
“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 when local farmer, Didy Morgan, saved the 18th century former 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-handpump bar currently features Peerless Triple Blond, from Birkenhead, and Yorkshire’s Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, along with guests from Three Tuns Brewery, of Bishops Castle, Big Hand, out of Wrexham, and Chester’s Spitting Feathers and Weetwood Ales. The pub is linked to its own old-fashioned farm, just a mile down the road, where all its rare breed beef, lamb, and pork is raised at one with nature. This features heavily on the menu.
Didy 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.”
