The Pack Horse, Affetside, near Bury

 

The Pack Horse

52 Watling Street, Affetside, Bury BL8 3QW

TEL: 01204 884584

It's a restaurant rather than a pub, all the tables are set out for diners and there is no bar space just for drinkers. But it's the kind of restaurant where you might not get a table if you haven't booked. It has an upmarket menu and a very swish setting.

    It is at the highest point, 900 feet above sea level, of the Roman road that ran from Manchester to Ribchester. It was originally built as a manor house and did not become a pub until 1650. It got its name because pack horse trains travelling from Lancashire to Yorkshire frequently stopped there. 

    For a long time the skull of a 17th century farmer, George Whewell, was kept behind the bar. He was the man who executed James Stanley, the 7th Earl of Derby, in 1651 during the Civil War. Whewell is said to have volunteered for the job because James Stanley was part of the Royalist Army that overran Bolton and massacred its inhabitants. They included Whewell's family. Nobody knows how his skull came to be kept at the pub but it was there since the late 1800s, when the Butterworth family owned the pub.

    According to an article in the Bolton News it was still there in 2022. The pub apparently had a major refurb in 2023 and the skull was placed in a glass case with an account of its history inscribed on the glass.

ambience - 3

decor - 4

Refurbished only two years ago and has kept the historic features: huge timber beams and open fireplaces.

real ales - 4

service -4

Polite and attentive

features - 2

serves food

weekly quiz night

toilets - 0

The trouble was, they weren't working when I visited. The water supply to the cisterns had failed. Naturally that's an unusual occurrence but I can't review what isn't there.

Score 17 out of 30

Fabulous views over Winter Hill

The Garsdale, Bury

 

The Garsdale

Woodhill Road, Bury BL8 1BT

TEL: 0161 764 1968

Country pub just outside Bury, near Burrs Country Park.It was refurbed and given a dining room back in 2003. It is close to the ruins of Higher Woodhill Mill and used to be the mill manager's house, so must date from the mid-19th century, though it doesn't look that old.

Disabled access isn't bad.

ambience - 2

Another occasion when I was in a pub early lunchtime early in the week, when it was bound to be quiet. Except it wasn't all that quiet, there was piped music playing, including out in the big beer garden.

decor - 3

Brown. 

real ale -2

Two guest ales

Service - 1

I don't think all the staff are the same but I got the bar person who was blank faced and offhand and dead slow at serving.

features - 4

Serves food

dog friendly

Nice big beer garden out back that looks on to a field but I'm not a bit impressed by the plastic lawn. 

monthly open mic night

weekly quiz night

toilets - 4

Pristine

Score 16 out of 30

The Vine Inn, Dunham Massey

 

The Vine,

Barns Lane, Dunham Massey, Cheshire 

TEL 

When I saw this pub I thought at first it was a residential house because it has no pub sign anywhere. Then I noticed a menu in the window and that the person sitting at the picnic table out front was drinking out of a pub-style pint glass. 

    It might have originated as a private house, a local directory of 1909 says it was occupied by a Mrs Katherine Allen, a beer retailer. That meant she was licensed to sell beer from her house.

    It has a cosy bar area and separate dining rooms and a nice outside sitting space surrounded by hedges. .

The disabled access is quite good.

ambience - 4

Friendly and relaxed

decor-3

tasteful but plain

service - 3

Prompt and friendly

real ale - 3

Samuel Smiths pub, has guest ales

I had the Moorhouses White Witch

features - 4

serves food

book swap, lots of books on the shelves opposite the bar with backgammon and other pub games on the lower shelf

child friendly 

dog friendly

toilets - 3

Score 20 out of 30

The Saracens Head, Warburton, Cheshire

The Saracens Head

Paddock Lane, Warburton, Cheshire WA13 9TH

TEL: 01925 753761

A rural pub out in the Cheshire countryside, which was a 17th century coaching inn.. I came across it because it is just 50 yards off the GM Ringway route. It is mainly a restaurant but has a bar area for drinkers. 

ambience - 3

Don't know what it's like when it's busy. I arrived just as it opened on a day early in the week, so it was quiet. I'm guessing it's lively at times. There's a huge, well designed dining room that takes up a lot of space but it's well separated from the bar area if you're only in for a drink.

No canned music and no tellies. (I like that)

decor - 4

Pale walls and lots of huge old wooden beams. A very traditional feel.

service - 4

Fast and attentive

real ale - 2

It's a Greene King pub but has two guest ales.

features - 5

Serves food, classic pub menu

Play barn and play area for children.

big pub garden

dog-friendly

The fifth feature is one you will only see in early November. This is when the Warburton Soulers perform a traditional folk play about death and revival. Their first performance of the year is at the Saracens Head on 1st November, unless that is a Sunday, in which case the first performance is on 2nd November.

Find out more about the Soulers and soul-caking on 

www.larchfieldhouse.co.uk/Souling/WarburtonSoulingPlay.htm

 

toilets- 3

Good, newly decorated and very clean. But no loo roll.

Score 20 out of 30

The Forester's Arms, Prestwich, Bury

 The Forester's Ams

444 Bury New Road

Prestwich M25 1AZ

TEL: 0161 511 5866

No photographs of this one because I didn't have my camera with me when I passed by. It's a newish pub, dates from the 1960s, and like many buildings from that decade has an unprepossessing look. It blends in with the buildings on either side of it and is hard to spot until you get close to it. It has a recessed entrance in the middle, the door on one side leading to the public bar, the one in the other side to the lounge.

decor -2

ambience - 3

Average high street pub with nondescript interior.

service - 4

friendly

real ales - 0

It's a Holts pub

Features - 4

pool table

darts board

quiz nights

TV

toilet - 3

Score 16 out of 30

The Swan, Whalley

 

The Swan Hotel

62 King Street, Whalley BB7 9SN

TEL: 01254 916685

An 18th century coaching inn that used to be a staging post for the mail to and from Manchester. A grade II listed building.

Decor - 2

A bit bland in cream, light brown and grey

Ambience - 2

Noisy. Piped music too loud for conversation.

Service - 2

Inattentive and the staff seem not too well trained. The person who served me had trouble using the till.

Real ale - 0

A Timothy Taylor pub

Features - 2

small food menu

TV screens on every wall

Toilets - 4

Floor a bit grubby but fully supplied

Score 12 out of 30

 

The Dog Inn, Whalley

 

The Dog Inn

55 King Street, Whalley BB7 9SP

TEL: 01254 823009

A seventeenth century pub, with the date 1641 over the door, this is Whalley's oldest pub. It was originally called the Spotted Dog and was a farmhouse up to the 19th century and sold only beer. At some point it expanded into the shop premises next door. You can see on the inside that it was once two different premises.

decor - 2

shabby

ambience - 3

Inviting

Service - 2

A bit off hand

Real ales - 4

Included Portmadog dark ale and Golden Salamander when I was there (May 2024)

Features - 4

TV 

pool table

dog friendly

Serves food

Toilets - 3

Score 18 out of 30

 

De Lacy Arms, Whalley, Lancashire

 

De Lacy Arms

61 King Street, Whalley BB7 9SP

TEL: 01254 823197

decor - 1

drab, White, black and grey colour scheme

Ambience - 3

relaxing

Service - 4

Real ale - 3

features - 5

child friendly

dog friendly

pool table

TV

live music

toilets - 3

Score 19 out of 30

The Peak, Castleton, Derbyshire

The Peak Hotel

How Lane, Castleton, Hope Valley S33 8WJ

TEL: 01433 620247

This pub in the centre of Castleton opened in 1809 and has several changes of name, being known first as the Board, then as the Butchers Arms (the first landlord was a butcher.) It was named The Peak in 1890. It has been run by the same family since the 1980s and had a big refurb in 2014.

Ambience - 3

lively and cheerful

decor - 4

Colour scheme in browns and greens with an odd clutter of items on the shelves at random. No collection of horse brasses, teapots or old photographs here but things like pewter pots, an oil can, pottery jugs, electrical items of indeterminate use, an old telephone. As though the owners had just slung items on the shelves which had no other particular storage place.

service - 3

Not bad but a leetle bit inattentive

real ales - 4

features - 4

dog friendly

child friendly

serves food

rooms

toilets - 3

Score 21 out of 30

 

The Castle, Castleton, Derbyshire

The Castle

Castle Street, Castleton, Hope Valley S33 8WG

TEL: 01433 620578

A 19th century former coaching inn in the picturesque Hope Valley in the Peak District.

Ambience -3

Decor - 3

Huge wooden beams and pale walls

Service - 5

Very welcoming

Ales - 3

Features - 4

dog friendly

Nice beer garden at the back

Serves food

Rooms

Toilets - 3

Score 21 out of 30