ReviewTucked away in an inauspicious back street location, the Springfield Hotel is a wonderfully preserved example of Victorian pub architecture. The exterior alone is an impressive sight with its turrets and pediments in red brick and terracotta, although it was dark on my visit, so I got an even better idea of the grandeur when I got home and Googled it! You enter into a lobby area with wooden flooring and some very impressive green tiling. This leads you to the real star of the pub – the massive central servery with carved mahogany features and spaces where sash screens once operated. There are several rooms leading off this lobby and bar area. The largest of these is to the front left - The Darby Lounge - with a lot of open space and some banquette and low stool seating around the edges, with bell pushes still apparent. There are a couple of small Victorian tiled fireplaces with wooden mantelpieces at each end and a large TV screen was showing a late kick off in the FA Cup. The room to the front right is a much smaller lounge (The Commercial Room), with etched glass in the windows and more bell pushes behind the comfortable looking seating. Behind the servery is the Vault, a public bar with lots of Wigan rugby league items on display, including signed shirts. This room has a tiled floor and more examples of etched glass. A final room to the rear left houses a pool table and has some stained glass in the windows. Most of the rooms have signage in the form of etched glass which I took to be original.
The pub has recently started serving real ale again and I was pleased to find a choice of Holt’s Biter and Bah Humbrew and Tetley’s Cask. I gave the Bitter a try and enjoyed a well kept pint in wonderful surroundings. The staff were welcoming to a new face and there seemed like there was a good community vibe to the place.
This was one of the highlights of my crawl around Wigan and is well worth making a bit of effort to get out to in order to appreciate the excellent interior. It’s a 20 minute or so walk from the town centre and easily reached from the DW Stadium if you fancy a pre or post match pint.
