The Squire, Blackburn

Irish themed pub with 3 handpumps serving Black Sheep, Hobgob and Pedigree. Sadly by the time I got here I'd had enough of Blackburn town centre pubs.

As soon as you walk into this city centre Irish Bar, you'll be wondering if you missed the O'Neill's branding outside, so it's no surprise to learn that this was in fact part of that particular chain until a few years ago. It has now made the radical transition to Molloy's - an Irish themed pub that seems popular with the local youth and no one else. The large interior has a few signs of a former multiple room format, but it's all pretty open plan now. The room is mostly bare boarded, apart from one particularly hectic looking patterned floor-tile section. The servery runs down the left hand wall and boasts some rather 'bling' lampshades and chandeliers which look a little out of place. In the front left corner there is a snug of sorts, with limited bench seating, a neat fireplace and a TV screen which was out of action on a Monday evening. The front right sees three tables with a mix of standard and padded bench seating, whilst further back, high tables and stools fill the mid section before an arch shaped open window and a shallow ramp lead you into the rear section of the room where lots of standard tables and chairs are arranged. There's a fairly large Molloy's mirror on one of the walls and the space has been decorated with some floral wallpaper. Several other TV screens are dotted throughout the pub, most showing muted news coverage whilst music played over the top. I had a quick glance at the typical processed pub grub menu and was about to dismiss it when I spotted a 'Man vs. Food' challenge, whereby you can eat for free if you can demolish a 20oz burger with fries and all the trimmings in 22 minutes, or get through 50 chicken wings in half an hour. I didn't notice anyone giving it a try. There are two hand pumps, one of which was out of use, but the other did present a passable pint of Thwaites Wainwright, for which I was very grateful. The barman seemed friendly enough, but there wasn't much of an atmosphere on a quiet Monday evening, with a few lads sat at the bar, a young couple in the snug and some local workmen in the front window seats. There's not a lot to get excited about pub-wise in the centre of Blackburn, with the Wetherspoons being about as good as it gets, but this fairly formulaic Irish theme bar seemed like a relaxed enough place to enjoy a pint. I'm sure you could do much worse, but unless you haven't eaten for a week, there's no real pull factor and nothing you won't have seen before.