The Baum, Rochdale

I visited the much-lauded Baum on a recent Monday evening when there were a handful of other customers. To the left is a curved bar that supports eight hand pumps (6x cask ale and 2 x real cider) and a premium keg range. The multitude of pump clips on the walls inform those not in the know that this is a destination real ale pub. Seating is found in the right hand-side and in the left is a raised seating area at the front and a raised conservatory area at the rear. Through the conservatory access can be gained to a well-kept walled beer garden at the rear. A small speaker in the garden was playing background music that was also in the pub. The only television screen I saw was showing a list of the available beers. I hadn’t heard of any of them, which is normally a good sign. Pub grub is available, I had the Baum burger which was very tasty and reasonably priced at £10.95. I found the service to be very friendly and I am pleased to say that this was my favourite of the fourteen pubs I visited during my crawl of Rochdale.

I'm sorry to report that The Baum suffered a hostile takeover by Simon's ex wife on Monday. Not only will I not be ordering beer anymore I don't have a local either. RIP The Baum. It will never be the same again.