'It used to be rammed' - Memories of pub and Wacky Warehouse on A34 roundabout

Former customers have bemoaned the demolition of a 'popular' pub and Wacky Warehouse - to make way for a petrol station. Bulldozers have this week started knocking down The Darlaston Inn - on the A34 between Stafford and Stone - after it closed in 2018 due to a lack of trade.

The site is to be transformed into a petrol station after a previous plan for a KFC were thrown out by councillors. But StokeonTrentLive readers are still puzzled about why the venue ever shut.

Julie Jackson said: "It is such a waste of a fantastic pub. They should have done it up because it is a great location for passing trade. It used to be rammed with families with the Wacky and the beer garden."

Julie Carlin-Cartlidge said: "It was always so popular - I never saw it empty."

Lesley Anderson said: "My daughter won a baby competition there years ago and one of the Stoke City players was the judge. Our girls loved going to the Wacky."

Amanda Carr said: "I worked at the Wacky back in 1996/97. It was a great place with lots of fun memories."

But Myshall Kent does not have the greatest memory of her last visit to The Darlaston Inn.

She said: "I hadn’t been there for about 15 years but I still remember their mash was awful."

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