The Arden Inn, Accrington

Advertised as a live music pub and at half six on a Saturday was a band belting out early rock and roll classics to an appreciative audience. Some dunce has got the grey paintbrush out in the interior but the semi-octagonal bar with stained glass leaded uppers still looks decent. Papers on a rack, always good to see. GBG listed, three cask ales and a Lilleys cider; I plumped for the Acorn Raspberry Porter which lacked a little bit of turnover but was in fair nick (NBSS 3). 6.5

A neat Victorian building sparingly greyed on the outside. Inside has been almost completely opened out apart from a bit to the left which retains some 19th century charm, to right is the counter, a short L shape with a bit more relatively untouched oldness beside it. Four pulls on the corner, dodging the bar blockers I saw the beers were Hobgoblin, Bradfield Farmers whatsit and unexpectedly two from Wye Valley, HPA and a rather good Butty Bach. Taylor’s beer mats suggested they were at least one of the guest beers. Two horseshoes serve a range of mostly ordinary kegs. How can two people take up eight linear feet or more of counter? Further back there’s a pool table and to the left the remnants of a back side room which was fairly bare but evidently used for live music. A bit of the nice old pub remains above head height with acanthus leaf architraves and possibly the Lincrusta, there are touches of modern repro here and there too.

On the edge of the town centre is this friendly locals pub with four hand pumps on the bar. The beers available at the time of my visit were Camerons Shotgun Wedding APA, Otter Bitter, Sharps Doom Bar and Thwaites Wainwright, not a bad beer selection for a pub of this type. I went for the Wainwright, as the nearest thing to a local ale, and it was ok. This would be on my list for a repeat visit if I find myself in Accrington again. Date of visit: 8th August 2015