Welcome

If you love the British pub, you will like this blog. Here I will review the pubs I drop into in my wanderings around my home region - urban, rural, posh, homely, fun pubs, restaurant pubs, and local backstreet pubs. I hope to encourage people to appreciate them.
I will score each pub out of five points each (30 points maximum) on its ambience, decor, service, whether it serves real ales, state of the toilets (but I can't vouch for the state of the gents because I don't use them!) and what extras it has - games, beer garden, newspapers, serves food, karaoke, quizzes, live music.
If after reading one of my reviews you decide to check out a pub, I hope you enjoy the experience. But bear in mind that I have only visited some of them once, and pubs and pub managers change. If the review needs updating, please leave a comment.
Ups and downs? Well, people drink when they're down. And they drink to celebrate, when they're feeling 'up'. Besides that, this is hill country. It's full of ups and downs.
(ALL PHOTOS ARE COPYRIGHT)

Tuesday, 8 May 2018

Tophams Tavern, Smithy Bridge


18 Smithy Bridge Road, Littleborough OL15 8QF
01706 377768

Nice pub, near the Rochdale canal and less than a mile from Hollingworth Lake. Bus 454 from Rochdale passes the door. 
   I don't think I've ever had a drink here before, despite wandering along this stretch of the canal a few times. I'm glad I recorded it this time. The Smithy Bridge pub on the other side of the canal, which I had been to before and quite liked,  was permanently closed and delicensed in April 2016. 

ambience - 4
lively

decor - 3
This is an open plan pub with wooden floors, and comfortable seating

real ale - 2
service - 3
prompt if a bit offhand

features - 2
dart board
unusual regular's memorial

toilets - 5

Score 19 out of 30

I've seen quite a few pubs which have memorials to long time regulars. They are usually discreet brass plaques on the wall in some unobtrusive part of the pub. But this one has a big and interesting memorial to a regular who was a canal enthusiast. Check out the photos. I'd love to know who the Nautical Numpties were.























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