The Medicine Tap, Rochdale

Facebook page of The Medicine Tap - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Medicine Tap - www.facebook.com

Mighty Medicine tap housed in the very grand main post office, with quite an attractive, light, semi-traditional in the main bar area and partitioned side Dining Lounge. Big display of craft keg taps on an elongated hooped fount in the centre of the counter, and a bank of eight handpumps on each side of this. However, only five of the latter proved to be operational, and only one of these dispensed a beer from the owning brewery. Furthermore, the Madchester Cream (£3.80) proved indifferent, and although trade was very limited on a Monday evening, you would think they would still look after their products better?

A huge place situated in an old Post Office and looks the part from outside. Opened-out and a bit of a barn inside but the wood panelling, original fanned windows and carefully painted moulds salvage it somewhat. 16 pumps(!!) with a more sensible five operational (mainly from Mighty Medicine who run the place) and a plethora of keg on a huge gantry. My Mighty Medicine Madchester was in decent shape (NBSS 3) but not a particularly good brew. Some incongruous music choices and the lack of custom made things a bit flat, though I did visit early afternoon on a Friday I suppose. I’d give it another go.

The Medicine Tap feels more like a bar/restaurant than a pub but has 8 hand pulls to the left hand side of the bar (of which 6 were in active service) plus a further 7 unclipped over to the right hand side. Two of the available ales were from the Mighty Medicine brewery, which I assume has a connection to this establishment. There are aso at least 20 keg taps though I didn't take much notice of those, but a cursory glance as I was leaving allowed me to observe a mix of premium lagers, some crafty type stuff and Leffe - so probably fair to say there is something for everyone here. This is a former Post Office which has been nicely converted. There is a separate caged off area for dining though it appeared that dining is also permitted in the main bar area. There was only one person working the bar and she was also dealing with diners, so there was a small delay in being acknowledged and served, but certainly not unbearable. Probably worth an 8/10 from me just for the beer selection alone, and I daresay it gets a bit more atmosphere of an evening or at weekend. My half of Madchester Cream Ale set me back £1.90 which isn't unreasonable.

A very fine and large former post office in a prime location in Rochdale town centre it has a significant interior with a double height ceiling,wood panelling,some plasma screens but not for sport and a bar running most of the length of the building.In addition to a large array of handpumps with 8 choices on my visit,there is the longest keg beer gantry I've ever seen. On the ale front expect some house Mighty Medicine brews and/or Strata brews who cuckoo brew at MM.My Strata Strike was decent (NBSS 3.5).My visit was brief ,breaking a journey from The Flyer to The Baum so I failed to note the full ale range.A revisit will be on the cards when next in town,it's a worthy real ale crawl venue and features in the GBG.