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The Swan & Railway Hotel, Wigan
Wigan
WN1 1BA
Pub Type
Local Pub (Marstons)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Will Larter left this review about The Swan & Railway Hotel
It's not my fault that this is my first visit to this gorgeous pub since before Covid - a cancelled train in September 2022 on my way to watch Leeds Rhinos win a semifinal against Wigan Warriors meant that I didn't have time for a drink here before the match - so my last time here was March 2020 when Luton Town's goalkeeper pulled off a stunning save in the final minute to gain a valuable point against Wigan Athletic. Clearly my motivation for visiting Wigan's pubs depends on sporting fixture lists, but luckily my cycle ride with my aunt along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal this week gave me an unexpected opportunity before my train back to Sheffield via Manchester. It's more than five years, but the seven hand pumps were much as before, with Bass in the middle, but only five other beers rather than six (one just being changed or cleaned, I think). Bank Top Dark Mild was on (as in the previous reviewer's visit a year ago) and I had a half of that accompanied by Karma Citra (groan!) from Wily Fox (NBSS 3.5 to 4, total price £3.85). I took my drinks to a delightful room on the left of the corridor towards the rear which seems to be a sort of shrine to former Wigan rugby league players. I didn't have long enough to get a good idea of who they were and what eras they played in, but this is clearly a room that means a lot to the people who created it and the RL fans of Wigan, and worth a visit. The pub itself deserves a longer and more leisurely visit, which I hope to get around to before long, fixture lists permitting.
On 26th July 2025
- rating: 9
[User has posted 4391 recommendations about 4036 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Swan & Railway Hotel
A lingering stop this time and was rewarded with excellent pints of Bass (NBSS 4) and Bank Top Dark Mild (4.5). This is a super pub and fast becoming one of my national favourites. Oh, and there's a jumbo Falklands flag in the beer garden. 9.5
March 2023
A lovely heritage pub. Enter to a central tiled lobby corridor with a large (albeit narrow) bar to the right and a couple of lounge rooms, one off left and the other at the end. The main bar has a rather wonderful tall wooden servery with jumbo stained glass windows on the upper back with a large swan motif as the centrepiece. A number of cask on, I went straight for the Bass (NBSS 3.5) whilst the other half had a good drop of Portersque Milkshake Porter by Hophurst Brewery (3.5). Got chatting to the older guy next to me who was between trains about the virtues of Bass and was joined by the owner, a jovial chap who is also a massive Bass fan and who then gave us an impromptu tour of the building and talked us through the restoration he undertook a few years ago (so good it won a Historic England Conservation Award in 2021). It is now free of tie so ignore the older reviews stating Marstons range. Really enjoyed my supping here and would make a point of stopping off especially to do this one again. GBG’23 listed. Rated 9
On 11th July 2024
- rating: 10
[User has posted 5657 recommendations about 5638 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Swan & Railway Hotel
I'd hoped to get back to the Swan & Railway on my last visit in February, but we ran out of time. With a little time to kill on a more recent April visit, we made sure to head here first.
The last time I had a drink in this pub was in 2011 when it was still run by Marston's. These days, it is independently owned and has a much better range of cask ales. I seem to recall the pub being closed for a few years. But it has now re-opened and the impressive interior has been refurbished to a high standard.
There is a tiled entrance corridor with the bar itself on the right-hand side and the main room is the other side of the bar to the right. On the left is a decent-sized room with the corridor eventually leading to another large room at the rear.
Sports news was showing on the TV and background music was playing. There was a good local crowd in, especially in the front two rooms. We retreated to the rear with our pints, where we had the room to ourselves.
Regular ales are Draught Bass & Bank Top Dark Mild. Guest beers for our visit were Blackedge Shake Tropical Pale Ale, Bootleg Fool's Gold, Bradfield Yorkshire Farmer, Moorhouse's Straw Dog & Rudgate York Chocolate Stout. Ciders were Farmer Jim's Apple Red, Thistly Cross Whisky Cask, Snail's Bank Fruit Bat & Lilley's Strawberry Cider.
Certainly one of Wigan's best pubs and really handy for either railway station.
On 2nd May 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3204 recommendations about 3202 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Strongers . left this review about The Swan & Railway
The Swan and Railway has a central corridor off which there is a bar to the right with serving hatch and a room to the left with banquette seating. Further up the corridor there is a much longer room to the left, which looks like it may have been three smaller rooms in the past. Opposite are the toilets. The bar area has an L-shaped serving counter that faces banquettes down the right wall and a beer shelf with stools along the front window. There’s a large stained glass window on the back bar that sits around the aforementioned serving hatch to the central corridor. An old style jukebox sits against the rear wall of the bar area and a large TV was playing muted Racing TV, thankfully the sound was from the Jukebox.
The bar supports eight fonts for standard and premium keg and I counted seven handpumps. The Titanic Plum Porter was off (FFS), but Daleside Bitter, Revolution Brewing’s Spanish Bombs, Bank Top’s Dark Mild, Bass, Tatton’s Lemon Grab and something from Moorhouses were available.
On 14th September 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 6168 recommendations about 6131 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rob Hunter left this review about The Swan & Railway
A pleasant, traditional feeling pub, with a compact narrow bar room to the right which has the hand pulls, a room to the left which was more square and felt more spacious, and possibly more space to the rear that I did not investigate (there was, at the very least, a drinking shelf, and possibly another room). Food is served - menus are on the tables - nothing pretentious, just pies, burgers, jacket potatoes etc.
Several hand pulls with a couple off at the time of my visit. I had the Bank Top Dark Mild and that was pretty good, as well as being a very reasonable £1.50 for a half. The room to the left was comfortable with banquette seating, a fire and a large TV.
On 15th February 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 843 recommendations about 668 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Swan & Railway
Nicely restored pub, right opposite the North Western station, with numerous heritage features in the bar, corridor and side room. Seven real ales on handpump, which might be several too many in the current circumstances since my pint of Prospect Dark Mild (£2.90) seemed to have sat around in the pipes rather too long...
On 10th October 2020
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8813 recommendations about 8813 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Swan & Railway
Having swerved this one on previous visits to Wigan, I was very pleased to hear that it had been restored to its former glory and reopened with a focus on real ale. This is one of Camra's heritage pubs (see detailed description on their website), with some beautiful interior features, notably the tiles in the lobby. The hand pumps (seven of them - see photo) are in the bar on the right, though the beers are also listed on the hatch from which corridor drinkers can be served. Only one of the seven was a new beer to me (Wily Fox Blonde Vixen), so a fairly mainstream offering, but the Bass was in very good shape. This pub would be worth a longer visit than we had time for before the football, but I did have a peek into a couple of other rooms, and the corridor to the toilets is lined with some very good quality black & white photos of old pubs and sports teams.
Date of visit: 7th March 2020
On 25th March 2020
- rating: 9
[User has posted 4391 recommendations about 4036 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about The Swan & Railway
now open again after a pain staking restoration. the pub is unrecognisable from the scruffy mess it was before. yet it looks exactly as it should. the main bar is beautiful again with its famous swan motif. great old school jukebox and good selection of ales, mostly of the classic bitter variety - bass is a permanent fixture! offers something very different to the Central , it’s going to be hard to choose where to go for a pint during connections now!
On 21st September 2019
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1174 recommendations about 1136 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about Swan & Railway Hotel
As you enter there's a small pool room to the right and an island bar serving two very tatty rooms. This was a smart pub when I used to call in after the Wigan beer festival at the pier, sadly it's a shabby mess now. 6 handpumps on the bar, but only 2 on which were Hobgoblin and a Marstons Revisionist special beer which tasted crap, although it was well kept enough. Needs a lot of money spending on it to make is good again.
On 12th October 2016
- rating: 4
[User has posted 3308 recommendations about 3218 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about Swan & Railway Hotel
A pretty nice looking pub from the outside and inside is a very traditional old style pub with lots of stained glass windows. Multi-roomed with, at this time, the pool room to the left being seemingly redecorated. Hopefully that will extend to the rest of the place, especially the banquettes that seem to be held together by various shades of duct tape. It looks like its home to tattooed metal fans which isn't too bad cos the background music was mostly guitar solo wankery nonsense. But that maybe just today's visit.
On 20th April 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]