The ale-obsessed town where pubs outnumber betting shops by 10 to one
The betting shop – that ubiquitous sign of an ailing high street; an ill augury for the health and wealth of a community. In the Cheshire market town of Sandbach, though, it’s a full tankard of ale that keeps the locals’ glasses half full, and their pockets half empty.
Boozers outnumber betting shops by 10 to one, radiating out from the town square where the Anglo-Saxon Sandbach Crosses stand. During the 17th century, the town was famous for its ale. Now they prefer to drink it than to make it.
Even the imposing Grade I listed Old Hall, believed to date from 1656 and once the residence of the Lords of the Manor of Sandbach, has been turned into a pub, complete with open fires and dozing dogs.
The nearest thing to a lady of this particular manor nowadays is Denise Coates CBE, who has opted to build her own mansion on the outskirts of town. Sandbach’s wealthiest resident also happens to be the best-paid woman in the world; her take-home pay was ￡265 million last year. Coates founded her gambling behemoth, Bet365, in a Portakabin after remortgaging her father’s high-street betting shops to fund the move online.
Like Richard de Sandbach (high sheriff of Cheshire in the reign of taxing King John) before her, Coates has been buying up houses and land around the site of her “modern country estate”. Reports say some locals are happy to accept her generous offers; others are making like Sandbach’s immovable Crosses.
The new 52-acre estate, estimated to be costing ￡90 million, has been designed by Foster + Partners, the architect of the Gherkin and City Hall in London. It will include an enormous glass “statement house”, a lake and boat house, sunken tennis court, summer house, estate keeper’s cottage, gate house, stables and manège, and landscaped parkland.
Sandbachians like a fine building. Opposite the Old Hall is St Mary’s Church, dating from Tudor times, but restored by George Gilbert Scott. The architect was responsible for many of the town’s buildings, including Sandbach Literary Institution, Sandbach School, St John the Evangelist’s church at nearby Sandbach Heath and a fine row of almshouses, reflecting its wealth as an industrial town.
With manufacturing businesses such as Foden and ERF lorries no longer based in Sandbach, it’s out with the conveyor belt and up with the commuter belt. Housing developments are popping up, providing young families with handy access to the A6, joining the queue to Stoke and beyond behind Coates in her personalised-number-plated Aston Martin.
This all gives the town a sleepy feel on your average non-market weekday. Perhaps that’s why it’s hard to find a critical voice of Coates strolling the high street. “She’s perfectly nice and friendly,” says one shopkeeper.
There’s a sense of gentle gentrification around here. Some use the nickname Salderly Edge, in honour of Sandbach’s more northerly Cheshire neighbour, noted for its wealthy footballers and their wives.
The monthly Makers Market is more in step with the times than the Thursday Marks and Sparks seconds knicker stalls.
Every second Saturday is when Chris Baldwin gets his mum to visit. Chris came to Sandbach two years ago to breathe new life into the Wheatsheaf pub. Having lived all over the world, and latterly in Manchester city centre, he thought he was coming to the back of beyond. But he then discovered that one can quite easily find oneself rolling out of the Wheatsheaf and into the marquee outside the nearby Tav for a boogie until 5am. “Everyone knows each other,” he says, “which isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
It’s also possibly why it’s rumoured that Coates plans for her estate to be ringed with woodland and a 6ft-high fence, and watched over by security guards 24 hours a day.
For now she’s safe. But odds are that in 500 years’ time it will make a mighty fine pub.
Five fine reasons to visit Sandbach
The monument
The Sandbach Crosses are scheduled ancient monuments, dating from around the ninth century. A plaque asserts they were built to commemorate the advent of Christianity into Mercia, although English Heritage views this to be unlikely. They were broken up in the 17th century but reassembled and re-erected in 1816.
The market
Sandbach has hosted markets since it was granted a royal charter in 1579 by Elizabeth I. The monthly Makers Market happens outdoors in summer.
The pub
The Wheatsheaf is an independently owned and recently renovated pub and hotel, and offers cracking food according to the locals. Doing a brisk trade in business people during the week, it’s proving popular with architecture lovers from abroad too, looking for their fill of cobbled, market-town charm.
The shop
Godfrey C Williams & Son cheese shop has been open since 1875, with the fifth generation currently manning the counter. From its central location on the market square, Daniel Williams is known by everyone in town. This is definitely the best place to get a hunk of Nantwich Blue and to have a natter.
The church
People have worshipped on the site of St Mary’s Church for more than 1,000 years. The architecture of this National Heritage List for England church and Grade II listed building reflects its rich history.