Saturday 27 January 2018

Rochdale Crawl 20th March 1999

This was one of a few pub crawls i did round Rochdale,while trying and failing to do all pubs in the town.
I found it harder to do my pub crawls in Rochdale than i did in towns like Oldham and Middleton.
No buses were used while on my pub crawl just a train from Manchester after a Trans peak bus up from Nottingham.
The pub crawl i planned was to the South of the town centre heading down Oldham Road.
I did have an A4 list of pubs in the town from the A2C2 series,which helped a bit.

1: White Lion
Photo taken by Alan Winfield

My first pub on this crawl and situated on the corner of Oldham Road and Kingsway.
A stone built pub and a Tetley tied house,the pub was decent enough inside,but there were no real ales on the bar,the keg Tetley Bitter was a poor drink which was £1.25 a pint,i just had a half though.

2: Bay Horse
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A typical looking town pub situated on Oldham Road to the South of Rochdale town centre.
I was well pleased because it was a Samuel Smiths tied house,note the Samuel Smiths signage outside the pub.
The pub was comfortable inside,there were no real ales but this did not bother me because i like Samuel Smiths keg beers,i had a drink of keg Old Brewery Bitter which was £1.14 a pint,my half went down well.

3: The Plough
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A stone built pub that is very close to the Bay Horse.
The pub was a Websters tied house when i did it,the pub was decent enough inside.
There were no real ales on the bar,i had a drink of keg Websters Yorkshire Bitter,which was a pretty poor drink.

4: Lord Howard
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
I thought this was a decent looking pub that is situated on an estate off Oldham Road.
Once inside there was a large bar and lounge,the pub was a Bass tied house,but there were no real ales on the bar,i had a half of Bass Special,that was a pretty poor drink.
The pub seemed a bit sad inside as it was empty on my Saturday dinner visit.

5: Dog & Partridge
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A smart looking pub that was situated on Oldham Road well to the South of Rochdale town centre.
The pub was a Vaux tied house and quite smart and comfortable inside.
There were real ales on the bar,i had a half of Bramwell Bitter,which was a decent enough drink.

6: Royal Hotel
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A basic looking pub set in a terrace on Oldham Road,it was situated well to the South of Rochdale town centre.
The pub was a Thwaites tied house,so i was well pleased.
The pub was quite basic inside with a couple of rooms.
I had a half of Thwaites Bitter,which went down well,it was £1.40 a pint.

I walked further South and under the M62.

7: Yew Tree Inn
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A smart looking roadside pub which is set back from Oldham Road.
Once inside the pub was quite smart and comfortable.
A Samuel Smiths tied house,which pleased me,there were no real ales on the bar,i had a half of keg Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Bitter,which went down very well and was £1.22 a pint.

I had walked as far South as i wanted to so decided to walk back North towards Rochdale picking up pubs along the way.

8: Craven Heifer
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A smart looking pub situated off Oldham Road on Broad Lane.
Once inside the pub was decent enough and fairly busy on my Saturday dinner visit.
There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Theakston Best which was £1.44 a pint.

I did a bit of a walk from the Craven Heifer going South and under the M62 again to get to my next pub,but there was another pub to do on the way back to Oldham Road.

9: The Fairview
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A smart pub set in Countryside on the border between Rochdale and Oldham.
Once inside the pub was smart and comfortable and also busy on my Saturday afternoon visit.
The pub was a Greenhalls tied house when i did it,i had a half of Boddingtons Bitter,which was decent enough.

I walked back North and under the M62 again.

10: Spring Inn
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A stone built pub that was quite nice inside,my first Lees tied house of the day,there were a few different Lees real ales on the bar,i had a half of Lees Bitter,which was a decent enough drink,a pint cost £1.32.


11: Dicken Green
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
An estate type pub but not on an estate,situated on Queensway.
This was my second Lees tied house of the day which had a smart lounge and a busy bar.
Lees Bitter and Mild on the bar,i had a half of Lees Bitter.

I walked back up Queensway to the junction with Oldham Road.

12: Bridge Inn
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A sturdy looking stone built pub situated on a back street between Oldham Road and Queensway.
A Samuel Smiths tied house,so i was well pleased,there were a few different rooms inside.
There were no real ales on the bar,i had a half of keg Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Bitter,which went down well.

A short walk from the Bridge Inn and up Well I The Lane and i was outside my next pub.

13: Horse & Jockey
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
Another Samuel Smiths tied house,which i was well pleased to do.
There were a couple of rooms inside and no real ales on the bar.
I had a half of keg Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Bitter,which went down well.

I carried on walking up Oldham Road getting closer to Rochdale town centre.

14: The Wellfield
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
Situated on Wellfield Street off Oldham Road
I thought this pub would be closed by the look of it as i walked towards it,but it was open.
A Lees tied house,so i was pleased,once inside there were a few small basic rooms.
There were two real ales on the bar,i had a half of Lees Bitter,which was a decent enough drink.
I was well pleased in doing this pub as it looked in such a state from the outside.

15: Prince Albert
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
A town pub situated on Oldham Road.
The Prince Albert was a Robinsons tied house,which pleased me.
Once inside there were a couple of rooms which were basic but comfy enough.
There was two real ales on the bar,i had a half of Robinsons Bitter,which went down well,a pint cost £1.32.

16: Crawford Arms
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
Situated on Crawford Street off Oldham Road.
Another Lees tied house which pleased me,once inside the pub was smart and comfortable,there were two Lees real ales on the bar,i had a half of Lees Bitter which was a decent drink,a pint cost £1.26

17: Bonnie Dundee
Photo taken by Alan Winfield
 
Situated in a light industrial area off Oldham Road,i think on Fishwick Street,correct me if i am wrong.
The pub looked smart and well kept from the outside and it was a Vaux tied house.
Once inside there were a couple of rooms that were comfy,there were no real ales on the bar,i had half of keg Vaux Samson Bitter,which was not that good,a pint cost £1.50.

It was a short walk back to Rochdale train station for my train back to Manchester and then to Chorlton Street for the Trans Peak bus to Nottingham.
A good day out in Rochdale where i had already done quite a few pubs on different pub crawls in the past.


 

11 comments:

  1. Good read, Alan. It would be fascinating to see how many of those are still going. Interesting price comparisons too !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading, Martin.
      I think a lot have gone,but i do not want to make my blog look too negative in saying all of these pubs have now gone.i was happy enough doing them when they were open and have the photos which is a good memory of the day and the pubs i did.

      Delete
  2. Good to see you back blogging, Alan. Even in those days, a lot of the Sam's pubs in Rochdale were keg.

    It's gone now, and might have been gone in 1999, but the Yew Tree used to have a carriage from the Brighton Belle train parked next to it and used as a dining room.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your kind comments, Peter.
      It is had doing a blog about pubs when i can not have a drink of home brew,but i though i better get on with it.
      Most Samuel Smiths pubs in Rochdale i did were keg and i am sure i only missed one in the town,it was up a big hill from the Brownhills Samuel Smiths pub.
      I did 14 in the town.

      Delete
  3. How many of those are left Alan? Good variety of drinks back in the day...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading my blog, Ian.
      Quite a few would have gone by now i would have thought.
      I have read a few of your more recent blogs,but i was in hospital for so long i am finding it hard to catch up with the blogs i read.

      Delete
  4. The Fairview was a Groves and Whitnalls pub in the 60's/70's and sold a wonderful beer called 'C' Ale. Anyone remember it?

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  5. Great to see you still writing Alan. Your Manchester pub crawls have been shared a lot on twitter this week. Best wishes mate.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dan,
      Which Manchester pub crawls have been on twitter Dan.
      I will try and do some more posts,but i feel a bit up and down at the moment,going through a bad patch this week.
      Cheers Alan

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  6. Good to have you back blogging Alan.

    From the picture, pub one was the now demolished White Lion at the corner of Oldham Road and Kingsway, not the still open White Lion on Yorkshire Street.

    Seven of these pubs are still open, the other ten are all either converted or demolished. The open ones are the four Sam Smiths pubs, The Plough, The Fairview and the Spring Inn.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Luke,

    Thanks for your comments about me getting the wrong White Lion and the pubs that have closed.
    I have altered my post with the correct information you gave me.

    Cheers Alan

    ReplyDelete