The Anvil, Wigan

This town centre pub, close to Wigan bus station and the Allgates Brewery, is one of the town’s finest ale houses. The pub has a three room interior with the servery on the rear wall of the middle room. There are limited seating options here, with a few tables opposite the bar and a TV screen showing the day’s early FA Cup fixture. To the right there is a nice lounge with bench and standard seating in a well lit room which was packed with football fans watching the match on a second screen in readiness for Wigan Athletic’s own Cup tie later that afternoon. To the left of the bar there is a quiet room with three tables along a single banquette. Posters for the Phoenix brewery and pump clip displays from Hyde’s hang alongside a fine collection of CAMRA and Cask Marque certificates, confirming the pub’s commitment to quality ale. The décor is a bit odd, with the floor partly carpeted and partly laminate wood and the walls are an odd grey/green combination which doesn’t look that great. A door at the back of the lounge area leads out to a compact, decked outdoor seating area. I believe the pub is now run by Allgates and two of their beers – Milk Stout (£2.35) and All Black – were available alongside Ossett Yorkshire Blonde, Hyde’s Original. Crouch Vale Brewers Gold and George Wright Pipe Dream, plus a single real cider. I gave the Milk Stout a try, which was in good condition, if not my favourite example of this style. The bar staff were working hard to keep up with the demand from the football crowd and seemed like a friendly bunch. This is a stand out pub for Wigan and the beer range alone should be enough to mark it out as an essential part of any town centre crawl. I’d like to return here when it’s a little less manic as I got the impression it would be a nice pub to unwind in for a few hours.

A great pub in wigan which used to be Hydes of Manchester but is now run by Algates who have there own brews on the bar plus a good choice of guests.The drinks we had were in good condition and were at very reasonal prices.