The Swan & Railway Hotel, Wigan

Official site of The Swan & Railway Hotel - swanandrailwayhotelwigan.co.uk

Official site of The Swan & Railway Hotel - swanandrailwayhotelwigan.co.uk

I'd hoped to get back to the Swan & Railway on my last visit in February, but we ran out of time. With a little time to kill on a more recent April visit, we made sure to head here first. The last time I had a drink in this pub was in 2011 when it was still run by Marston's. These days, it is independently owned and has a much better range of cask ales. I seem to recall the pub being closed for a few years. But it has now re-opened and the impressive interior has been refurbished to a high standard. There is a tiled entrance corridor with the bar itself on the right-hand side and the main room is the other side of the bar to the right. On the left is a decent-sized room with the corridor eventually leading to another large room at the rear. Sports news was showing on the TV and background music was playing. There was a good local crowd in, especially in the front two rooms. We retreated to the rear with our pints, where we had the room to ourselves. Regular ales are Draught Bass & Bank Top Dark Mild. Guest beers for our visit were Blackedge Shake Tropical Pale Ale, Bootleg Fool's Gold, Bradfield Yorkshire Farmer, Moorhouse's Straw Dog & Rudgate York Chocolate Stout. Ciders were Farmer Jim's Apple Red, Thistly Cross Whisky Cask, Snail's Bank Fruit Bat & Lilley's Strawberry Cider. Certainly one of Wigan's best pubs and really handy for either railway station.