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
