Olde Boars Head, Manchester

Situated close to Middleton town centre, this JW Lee's house appears to have quite a bit of history to it. There are a number of rooms, including the larger Sessions Room, which appeared to be hosting a wake. Although it was one of 3 pubs I visited where there seemed to be similar functions. In the corridor to this room can be seen the original wattle and daub used to build the pub. The bar itself is towards the roadside of the pub. I sat in a small room with a blazing real fire along with 4 women who seemed to work in the local school. This was to the rear of the pub, where there is an outdoor drinking area and a car park shared with a doctor's surgery beyond. Note there is a fee charged to use the car park, refundable with a purchase at the bar. There are also numerous other rooms and different sections to explore. Whilst the pub is a lovely old building, the ale selection was the poorest of the 8 JW Lee's houses I visited on the day. The solitary real ale is their Bitter.

Very old pub reputed to date to 1632, with half timbered walls. A real mix of rooms, most with low beams and stone flagged floors. There's one large room called The Sessions Room which used to be a courthouse. There's a quiz machine that wasn't working, looking rather out of place in here. Large, partially covered garden at the rear as well. Three handpumps on the bar all badged with Lees Bitter. I'm pretty sure a pub of this size should be able to support one of the Lees seasonals as well, especially as it was pretty busy at 3.30 on a Friday afternoon. My pint was OK without being top notch which was a bit of a let down as this pub is in the GBG 2013. I liked this pub, but the lack of choice on the beer front means that I'll only ever call in for one.