The Rising Sun, Ramsgreave, Blackburn

Situated on the ominously named A666, just around the corner from Ramsgreave and Wilpshire train station, the Rising Sun is a wonderful old-school local's boozer. You enter into a narrow corridor with a door to the right leading you into a front parlour which was empty on my visit, meaning I didn't get round to taking a proper look, although I think I caught a glimpse of a pool table, but don't quote me on that. The corridor eventually brings you out into the main bar, with a lounge area to the left and a servery to the right, facing the rear wall. The area opposite the bar is fairly basic, with limited seating, mainly in the form of a single banquette running around the back corner, although there were a lot of customers in this part of the pub, mostly perched on stools at the bar. The lounge area also has banquette seating supplemented by a few low stools and there is a lovely tiled fireplace acting as a focal point, with a dark wood mantelpiece and an old coal scuttle nearby. There are some impressive slide door cabinets displaying all sorts of interesting items, including one full of old, rare beer bottles (one of which was a Blackburn Rovers beer), another full of unusual spirit bottles and one more set in a window between the lounge and corridor, full of spirit miniatures. In addition to this, the whole pub has been decorated with a huge collection of pint jugs, many of which are suspended from the ceiling and beams over the servery. An upright piano encourages weekend sing-alongs and on my visit there were a couple of TV screens showing a Champions League fixture. The décor is rounded off with all manner of old paintings and maps on the walls and the overall effect is very pleasing and evocative of times gone by. The barman was nowhere to be seen when I walked in, but rather than letting me stand around and wait, one of the customers stood at the bar took my order and started pouring my pint. Unfortunately for me, the bar blockers meant I missed the couple of handpulls which were serving Theakston Best and a guest from a local micro brewery which I forgot to note. This meant that I ended up with a pint of keg Theakston Mild for £2,60, which was actually pretty decent. I really loved the quirky, old fashioned qualities of this place and could quite happily have settled down and spent the rest of my evening here. It's a friendly place which seems to serve the local community well and I'd recommend making a bit of effort to give it a try.

This is a pub situated on a busy main road, and has claim to be one of the oldest pubs in Blackburn.On entering you can be forgiven into thinking you were back in the sixties.It consists of a few small rooms, with one featuring a piano,and a bar that seems to big for the small area the pub has. It is a cosy, friendly old fashioned local that seems to cater for a more mature type of clientele. At weekends expect a bit congestion around the bar when being served.