Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

if Wetherspoons is a bit too high-end for you, go here. big shiny and tacky. rubbish beer and full of idiots.

Now rather overtly an Irish bar - a blackboard as you enter proclaims that "Live Sport Shown Here Weekly" comprises Soccer, Football, Horse Racing and GAA. Several screens dotted around a room already well-described below (some on, some off), with the addition of a pool table at the far rear right plus dartboard. No real ale - a single stump was unclipped: a 500ml bottle of Fuller's London Pride was £3.60. My weeknight visit found raised and colourful Irish accents, which may have accounted for the on-the-ball barmaid's decision to turn up Heart FM to a slightly uncomfortable level (although, ashamedly, I did find myself tapping a foot along to a Rihanna song whilst scribing this). As Al mentions, it's there as you exit Turnpike Lane Tube - up to you whether you choose to venture inside or not.

Owned by Spitting Feathers Brewery from Chester, so you will always find one or two of their beers on. The pub always has seven hand pulled ales and one cider to choose from, I went for their regular, which was Spitting Feathers Thirstquencher. The other beers on my Thursday afternoon visit were, Spitting Feathers Session, Great Heck Sleck Dust, Black Lodge Extended Universe, Brass Castle Sunshine, Tiny Rebel Loki and Peerless Triple Blonde. The cider that was on was Oliver's Shezam, and there was also 4 keg lines, 2 continental lagers and a good range of canned and bottled beers.
The space consisted of one large high vaulted timber trussed lounge area and bar, with a smaller room leading off this at the front. The bar had an oak counter top with the front of the bar painted in dark green, a distressed timber wall on the opposite wall made a good feature.
Staff were friendly and informative, and the fellow drinkers were also friendly and chatty. Monday has a Hoppy Hour from 12-5pm, where all real ales are £2.50 a pint.

Now this pub has settled down a bit I'll review it. It's been open about 6 weeks now and I was in on the opening night. We've been in several times since and it's now a good addition to the local pub scene. Originally Rochdale's main post office, it's been sympathetically converted with lots of wood panelling around the walls and the bar back. A couple of the guys behind the bar have worked in several local pubs and so are familiar with many of their visitors. There are 2 banks of 8 handpumps, all doubled up and always featuring a Mighty Medicine beer or two as you might expect. Over the last few week there have been beers on from Dark Horse, Great Heck, Northern Whisper, Vocation & Kirkstall amongst others, so a decent range is often available. My only gripe really is that sometimes, certainly on a Friday night, the piped music seems to be aimed at teenagers, when there aren't any in the bar as it attracts an older clientele. Motown, Northern Soul and 80's music have also been playing on other nights, which is more appropriate. Overall though this is a good pub. In fact we'll probably call in tomorrow night just to check it's still OK :-))

A traditional and attractive looking stone built country pub in a rather remote but very pleasant setting with great views across rolling fields, the pub building forms a U-shape around an entrance courtyard that is also used as a seating area, and there is also a further beer garden off to the right.

Internally, it consists of one room in the main part of the pub that is split in to two halves, with a further restaurant area off to the right. The left hand half housed the bar counter and had a flagstone floor with plain wood panelling on the lower part of the walls and rough cream plasterwork elsewhere. A few beer mats were pinned to the ceiling, but not as extensive a selection as you get in some pubs, whilst a small selection of games were on a shelf at the rear. This part seemed very much geared for vertical drinking, with just one high chair at the bar, and three more clustered around a beer barrel. The right half was a little cosier, with plenty of beams on the ceiling that had fairly light string on them, carpet on the floor and several tables and chairs. A large stone fireplace completely filled one wall, with a wood burning stove and a pile of logs stacked up ready for the colder weather. A small TV was up in one corner, but fortunately this was not in use, whilst a number of random pieces of artwork were on the walls, many seeming to have a feline theme.

The menu offered a decent enough selection of pub grub dishes and my smoky fishcakes were a decent dish and a very generous portion. That said, at £16 before you’ve even added a side order of chips it’s certainly at the top end of pub pricing, but to be fair that was one of the more expensive options. Across the table a mushroom and goat’s cheese burger with pesto and red onion was also well received.

Beers on tap were Doom Bar, Butcombe Original and Timothy Taylor landlord, whilst a fourth pump appeared unused. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Dry, Thatcher’s Haze and Ashton Press. All in all, a great pub and well worth taking the trouble to track it down.