Good ale, proper scran and a warm Burslem welcome.
Christmas Day gets the fuss, the timings and the good plates. Boxing Day gets the real Burslem welcome: a gentle pint, a proper pick at the leftovers and nowhere in particular to be. Here is why 26 December might just be the most pub-shaped day of the year.
A brass clock stuck at ten past nine, a cracked tile rescued from a skip, a photograph nobody can date. A wander round The Leopard's walls, and the regulars who keep the stories attached to them.
A proper pub is judged by its bar top, not its laminated starters. Nine things we think belong beside a pint in Burslem — and exactly which Staffordshire ale to put with each of them.
Every pub has a geography, and The Leopard's is more opinionated than most. From the window bench to the back snug, here's how to pick the right corner for the weather, the company and the pint in front of you.
The festive menu doesn't start in the kitchen. It starts at the market stall, with a list, a chat and a box of sprouts. Here's how The Leopard builds a Christmas dinner that keeps Burslem on the plate.
A stranger walks into a Burslem pub and the room makes a decision in ten seconds. The nod, the banter, the pint already being pulled — these are not accidents. They are a local skill, passed down quietly, and The Leopard is as good a place as any to watch it work.
A pub menu can chase every trend going and still leave you cold. At The Leopard, proper scran starts with the dishes Burslem already knows by heart — oatcakes, lobby, faggots and the rest. This is a defence of the plates that belong on a local menu, not just in a food writer's memory.
Burslem’s lost pubs are not just footnotes in a guidebook. They are part of the town’s memory — and they still have something to teach The Leopard about ale, scran and the sort of welcome that keeps a door swinging in 2026.
A practical, opinionated guide to six dark and winter ales that would sit beautifully on The Leopard’s casks in 2026 — and the proper pub scran to go with each one. No scoring, no snobbery, just good beer and a shorter walk home.