The Oxford, Healey, Rochdale

Much improved under the new management. The whole place has been spruced up in a typical eatery sort of way. As you enter the tables and chairs to your left are mainly aimed at diners. To the right are some more tables to the side and rear of the bar which were being used by drinkers. Lots of fairly young customers in this area, mainly drinking things out of bottles. The main area and the bar area were patronised by the older end of the clientele. 3 handpumps on the bar serving Theakstons XB, Lightfoot & Black Bull. I had a pint each of the XB & Black Bull and my colleague had 2 pints of the Lightfoot. They pretty much all tasted the same. Theakstons is definitely a brewery that hasn't moved with the times. All our pints were reasonably kept, but not in tip top condition. Get some decent beer on the bar and this could be a very good pub.

Called in at about 1:30 this Friday lunchtime, I was the only person in the pub. It's a ripped out, one roomed barn that specialises in food, except that they didn't have any as the chef hadn't turned in. The floor was littered with crap from the night before and I was instantly accosted by a large annoying dog. There are three handpumps but only one had a beer on. It claimed to be Theakston XB but was in fact vinegar. The clueless barmaid said "I'll just go and check the barrel". After about a 5 minute wait she came back and said "No it's fine the barrel's still full". That means you've got a barrel full of vinegar then I said. I ended up having a Fosters!!! The barmaid wandered off into the back. It would have been a better idea to get some cleaning done I thought. What a mess this place is now. Once upon a time, not that long ago it was a thriving local pub. I wouldn't even think of calling in here again until there have been some major changes. I'm not even sure it deserves a score of 1. What a dump.