The Open Arms, Swinley, Wigan

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

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

After a period where it was known as Ste & Wendy's, this place is now called the Open Arms. On our Saturday visit to Wigan, it was due to be the final port of call on a charity pub walk. We saw plenty of people doing the walk in purple t-shirts, but only one or two in the Open Arms. In Real Crafty alone, there must have been 20-30 people who had been part of the walk. It didn't take long to work out why people had somehow skipped this venue. It is just a single, small room with a limited and average beer selection. The beers themselves (Marston's Wainwright Gold & Wadworth 6X & Henry's IPA) were in a poor condition. I thought we'd walked into a private party at first, but I think it was just set up to welcome the drinkers who hadn't seemed to have turned up. The owner/barmaid appeared to be friendly enough, but she obviously didn't serve many of the cask ales, as she had to turn the clips round towards her to see which one was which. Perhaps the Beavertown Neck Oil on keg would have been the better option. My Somersby Blackberry was ok though. There seems to be very little to get drinkers over to the Wigan Lane area these days. It's unlikely that I'll be back to this area for a while.

now called Ste & Wendys, it now has some decor and real ale has returned over two handpumps though the remaining offering is still quite basic. I prefer a proper pub rather than these tiny pop-up bars but good luck to the owners as Wigan Lane is mostly awful now.

A disappointing visit this one as I found the interior to be hot and stuffy, even though it wasn't such a particularly hot day on our visit. This also coincided with their beer temperature as it was too warm and not in great condition, so the mutual decision to leave was the right one. The barmaid was friendly and chatty and tipped us off to visit another bar when visiting Standish. I found the interior with a formica counter, black plastic wall and bar front cladding and choice of music to be off putting. Maybe we caught it on a bad day.