The vibrant pub that's grown from a small home brew and run by a woman enjoying a new career

The Star & Garter sits on the edge of Stafford town centre on the busy Wolverhampton Road and serves as both a locals' pub for people in the housing all around it, and as a gateway pub to people heading into Stafford on a night out.

It dates back to the 1820s and has undergone an evolution over time, developing into a pub from a doctor's surgery, while also being recorded as a home brew pub in the Royal Commission Report on Arsenic in Beer in 1901.

Another interesting titbit from its history, according to pub database WhatPub, is that the Star & Garter was the last pub in Stafford to admit women, a revelation which would cause surprise nowadays with the women running the pub and working in it.

The current incarnation of the pub was refurbished and reopened by the Dobiere group in 2011 and has become a popular place with a wide range of drinks, including 30 different gins, weekly quiz nights and a warm feeling.

Currently run by landlady Morgan Lodge, the pub has an attractive bar and traditional features throughout alongside modern touches like big screens for Sky and TNT Sports, as well as a dartboard and a pool table.

Jules Cartwright has been a member of staff for 12 years, as well as a patron of the pub for eight years before that, and says the pub had changed a fair bit in her time, including a story that she said might be apocryphal.

She explains: "I used to drink in here before I worked here and I know there's been an extension added at the back where the games area has been set up with a pool table and other things like that.

"There used to be an outside toilet for men, believe it or not, so that's definitely changed in the time I've been here.

"I also heard that there used to a tunnel underneath the pub from the cellar to the nearby church where they used to take the dead, although I really don't know how true that one is.

"I remember even before I started working here that this was a pub where you could just pop in for a pint as it was really low cost and everybody just knew each other, while any newcomers would be welcomed in straight away."

Ms Cartwright says the welcoming nature of the pub appealed to her when she was looking for a career change from working in a care home.

She recalls: "I'd looked after some residents for quite a few years and two of them passed away, then my own mum died and when I went back to work after a break, I just couldn't do it, then when I was in the pub, the landlord at the time offered me a job, so I took it.

"It was really handy for me as I only lived over the road and I absolutely love it as the people make it feel like a home away from home for me.

"We've got younger people coming into the pub now and they just fit in here, so the pub is just a warm and welcoming place."

The Star & Garter is very much a wet-led pub, with usually one cask ale on, rotating between Doom Bar and Marstons Pedigree, as well as four lagers, of which Carling and Fosters are the most popular, a stout and at least one cider, as well as the 30 different gins and other spirits on offer.

It also provides bar snacks such as sausage rolls and snacks and also has a very popular quiz night every Thursday which brings a lot of the locals in.

For Jules Cartwright, the Star & Garter is very much a pub with a friendly atmosphere and locals who would do anything to help each other.

"What makes it special is the atmosphere as everyone helps everyone out, with one example being how someone had passed away recently and we can't get hold of his brother, so we're doing a bucket collection to raise enough money to give him a proper burial.

"It's very much like that as everyone looks out for everyone and it's very much a pub with a community feel to it."