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Pub Of The Month - October 2025 with ROBCamra
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Holly Bush, Macclesfield
Bollington
Postal town: Macclesfield
SK10 5PW
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Strongers . left this review about The Holly Bush
The Holly Bush is a Robinsons pub that I assume was once like the Dog & Partridge up the road with a small bar area that was surrounded by small rooms, but at some point the pub has been sledgehammered to create a larger central bar area. Harringbone flooring and wood panelled walls are found throughout, and a small room in the front right corner with a fireplace has been retained, the walls have been covered in dark paint and the chairs have floral upholstery. There’s more seating in the front left corner where the floral theme is found on the wallpaper above some green banquettes that run around the walls faced by a coal fireplace. The rear wall has been removed so this area is adjacent to the serving counter that is found centrally placed on the left-hand wall. Opposite the serving counter to the right is a large U-shaped seating area with banquettes that floral upholster backs, an interior designer was certainly employed to furbish this pub. At the rear is a dartboard and on the rear wall are a couple of booths. In the right rear, adjacent to the toilets, is a room with banquette seating under a long skylight in the ceiling. Standard and premium keg offerings were available, and three of the five hand pumps were in use drawing Unicorn, Big Sur and Trooper. I thought this was a decent pub and I’d pop back in if passing.
On 1st November 2025
- rating: 7
[User has posted 6277 recommendations about 6240 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Holly Bush
This Robinsons pub was largely rebuilt in 1935 and is Grade II listed, though it is no longer on CAMRA's National Inventory of Unspoilt Interiors, as its interior has been deemed to have been spoilt. The licensee was enthusiastic in his description of the work that had been carried out, with the dark-stained wood panelling being photographed in situ before being taken down to be de-stained while other work was carried out. This seems to have included moving the bar and opening up an archway, though there are still several distinct rooms. The panelling was then restored, and it does look good, as do the windows and the fireplace, but it's apparently not authentic enough for the heritage committee at Camra.
We made this our lunch stop on a cycle ride on the Middlewood Way and the Macclesfield Canal, but my request for vegan options totally threw the licensee who went to consult the cook, and came back with a suggestion of baked potato with tuna. Erm, that's a fish, I said quite reasonably. I settled for a bowl of chips once I'd established they were cooked in oil, not beef dripping! No such problems with the beer, as my pint of Robinsons Unicorn was the best I can recall.
On 21st June 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 4491 recommendations about 4122 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The Holly Bush
Visited in May 2010
Fine traditional Robinsons pub situated on the main road through Bollington village.
An attractive looking mock-Tudor exterior features leaded, frosted windows - some hearing a holly bush motif.
It's a three roomed pub with one small room to the left and right before you reach the main bar, which is a cosy wood panelled and carpeted bar with some fixed banquette seating round the walls. Note also the drop down screens above the bar counter. The walls are decorated with plates, old photos etc. The room on the right has oak beams and each room retains an old fireplace. There's evidence of bell pushes being present in earlier days. The pub is listed in CAMRA's National Inventory of Unspoilt Interiors. Rather incongruously for a pub of this style, live entertainment was being advertised.
On my recent Thursday afternoon visit at around 3pm, the pub was completely empty and a young girl with tattoos and a big dog sitting outside on a bench seat, and who really looked as though she should have been at school, rather begrudgingly stubbed out her cigarette and followed me in to the pub to serve me what turned out to be an excellent pint of Dizzy Blonde - £ 2.30p. Other beers on were Hatters and Unicorn.
This is an attractive looking pub, both inside and out, but I was distinctly underwhelmed by the experience as a whole and I'd be inclined to try one of the other pubs in the village instead. There's no shortage of choice.
On 21st October 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]