Real Crafty, Wigan

Tucked away in a residential backstreet, the Real Crafty is well worth seeking out. There is an open-plan room with the bar to the rear right-hand side. Whilst there are a number of handpulls, there are also a huge number of craft beer pumps at the rear of the bar. Ales are listed on Untappd screens. However, these hadn't updated and the barman referred us to their website for a more up-to-date list of beers. Ossett White Rat is the regular ale. Guests were Saltaire Triple Choc, Rivington Beach House & Wigan Brewhouse Hop Dancer. Ciders were Hogan's Hazy Rays & Seacider Winter Spiced, Rhubarb & Blueberry. The extensive craft beer selection was Pomona Island Phaedra & Some Other Chicken Coop, Deya Magazine Cover & Hoppipolla, Huyghe Fruli, Saltaire Motueka, Howling Hops Almost A Joker, Gravity Well Liquid Plumbus, Overtone Auto Rock, Duration Turtles All The Way Down, Neon Raptor Very Naughty Luggage, Amundsen Barrel Aged Dessert In A Can - Salted Toffee Popcorn, Ampersand Cowella, Goodness No .... Not The Buttons, Wilde Child Clique Fiesta, Cloudwater Blackcurrant & Raspberry Breeze, Yonder Pink Lemonade & Vault City Strawberry Sundae. There were just 4 or 5 customers in for our Monday afternoon visit, alongside a couple of well-behaved dogs. CAMRA discounts are offered on pints only. So, a massive 10p off for me, as most of us were drinking halves. There are some excellent pubs in Wigan and the town makes for an excellent day out. This was my first visit to this particular pub and I'd have to rate it as the best I've been to in the town.

With a name like Real Crafty, this establishment is much more pubby than I was expecting. At the time of my visit in October all five of the hand pulls were in operation with a good selection. There was also a selection of pies for sale in the warmer behind the bar - well we are in Wigan after all. Various keg options but I didn't notice the taps at the bar. Busy on Saturday night. The kind of place that will appeal to many, and I would be happy to return.

Modern bar that feels like a shop or office conversion, replete with office style carpet and office ceiling tiles (which makes it intriguing to discover that’s it’s an old RBL). Fake plastic ivy hanging down the walls for that fully corporate feel and despite some carefully-placed breweriana it feels a bit sparse and clinical. Five pumps with four on plus a plethora of craftykeg. My Wilde Child Darkness Cometh was in decent shape (NBSS 3.5) and I also tried a Lakes brew from the wall. Pies and ciders available. As a venue alone it’s awkward and unexciting but you’ll come to have a pint anyway. GBG’23 listed and county POTY. 6.5

fairly new but firmly CAMRA-approved in the old royal legion, located just north of the town centre. The interior is well described below, I found it a bit mismatched and indeed bland in places, but the booths are nice. Mostly middle aged clientele in groups on a Saturday night, for some reason I just couldn’t really warm to the place but it is a well-run venue that clearly cares about its beer. Greater Manchester pub of the year apparently - not sure about that although it’s a decent place.

Real Crafty has some seating at the front, including pew seating booths up the left wall and a bar on the right rear wall that faces a few tables and chairs. This is a large space so the furniture felt a bit sparce and the décor bland. I counted five handpumps on the bar, one of which was unused leaving Wily Fox Brewery’s Dark Flagon, Abbeydale Brewery’s Fresh Start, Red Willow Brewery’s Ekuanot and Ossett’s White Rat as the cask options. The back bar supports around 30 fonts for the craft keg that is listed on a couple of televisions up on the wall. There was some background music playing, but that was the only distraction. I found the service to be polite. This is a beer drinkers pub so should be included on any crawl of Wigan.

Housed in the former Royal British Legion building, this craft beer bar is rather larger inside than one might expect. It features a mix of furniture (including some pew-like booths on the left-hand side) but the layout is quite spacious. If I counted correctly from the TV screens, there are 30 craft keg beers and ciders, plus five handpumps on the counter. With four of these working, I went for the Prospect Resurrection White Stout (£3.40), but with such a wide range of styles, I would challenge anybody to complain about the choice! An excellent addition to the town.

Official site of Real Crafty - realcraftywigan.co.uk

Official site of Real Crafty - realcraftywigan.co.uk