The Cheetham Arms, Astley Bridge, Bolton

Facebook page of The Cheetham Arms - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Cheetham Arms - www.facebook.com

I believe this pub has now reverted to being called to Cheetham Arms. It is another Bolton pub of which I have a sketchy memory. I know that Moorhouse's White Witch was supplemented by Lancaster Blonde & Timothy Taylor Boltmaker. I also recall that I didn't fancy any of these and instead shared a bottle of Blood Orange Rekorderlig with Mrs Scrumpy. There weren't many other customers in and those that were looked as if they had been there for a meal. So, I detected an emphasis on food.

Formerly the Cheetham Arms, the pub underwent a major investment in July 2009 when it was fully refurbished and modernised and an in-pub micro brewery was added and the name changed to The BrewHouse. The original copper is still visible behind glass from the main bar area but is only used for test brews nowadays as, due to successful volume growth according to the barman, the Dunscar Bridge Brewery has moved to a larger set up in an industrial park just up the road. The internal decor is well done and, if this makes sense, is modern but has a traditional style feel to it. The main bar area acts as a focal point for drinkers with a decent sized standing area with some seating around the wall. And then there are two additional rooms with seating off the main lounge area to the left, both with open fires. A decent food menu is available with a good choice of mains pertaining to use local ingredients but we ate off the bar menu and the clun sandwiches were very good. But the main attraction here is the beers and there were five on from the Dunscar Bridge Brewery. We tried the Bombay IPA (abv 4.0%), Clockin’off (abv 4.2%), and the award winning Rialto 47 at 3.9%. Nice that they were, they were all a bit samey being light and golden and with snow lying all around we could have done with something a bit darker. Despite that I really liked this place and as I found out they also have three rooms for bed and breakfast, and a subsequent check of trip advisor looks encouraging, when I next have to have an overnight in this part of the country, the local Holiday Inn will be given a miss.