Castello, Rochdale

 

Castello

415 Rochdale Old Road

near Bury

BL9 7TB

TEL: 0161 763 4754

It's a restaurant bar rather than a pub but it's a good one. You can stop for just a pint or a coffee.

Ambience - 4

decor - 4

Swish, nicely presented

Service - 5

Impeccable

real ale - 0

features - 4

serves food

well maintained flowery beer garden

child friendly

dogs allowed in the garden

toilets - 5

Score 22 out of 30

The George and Dragon, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire

 

The George and Dragon

Middlewich Road, Holmes Chapel, CW4 7EA

TEL: 01477 537785

There was previously a George and Dragon pub near this site from at least the 19th century but the original building was demolished to make space for the Knutsford Road to be widened to accommodate increasing traffic flow. This building dates from 1970. It looks plain and uninteresting on the outside but the inside is nicely designed with the dining area in a conservatory on one side and the other two rooms very spacious. The disabled access is quite good and there is enough space for wheelchairs to move between the tables in the room at the front.

decor - 3

taseful cream and brown colour scheme

Has the dining area in a conservatory

ambience - 1

spoiled by overloud piped musak

real ales - 3

Include Stormtrooper, Amarillo and Unicorn when I was there 

service - 2

Abrupt and not very friendly

features - 3

restaurant pub

very nice outdoor seating area at the front

dog friendly

toilets - 4

pristine and fully supplied

Score 15 out of 30

 

Reasonably good disabled access and has a disabled toilet

The Globe, Wardle, Rochdale

 

The Globe Inn

218 Ramsden Road, Wardle, Rochdale OL12 9NU

TEL: 01706 374500

A grade II listed building in the centre of the village opposite the church.

ambience - 3

friendly atmosphere

decor - 4

cream walls and dark timbers, blue and red carpest, comfy padded wall benches

service - 4

welcoming

ales - 1

Timothy Taylor Landlord

features - 3

child friendly

pool room

TV screen

toilets - 3

Score 18 out of 30

The Hare and Hounds, Wardle, Rochdale

 

The Hare and Hounds

76 Ramsden Road, Wardle, Rochdale OL12 0LQ

TEL: 01706 375389

There's not much to be found online about the history of this pub. It would be necessary to do some original research in local archives and newspapers. However, apparently the building was originally a farmhouse in the 17th century and was converted into a pub sometime in the 19th century. When the reservoirs were being built nearby the navvies working there made the pub their 'local', forming the major part of its custom. It was renovated and remodelled in 1925. That figures, it looks like a twentieth century building. But the next piece of information says that it was closed in 2002 and converted to residential accommodation. Well, it wasn't! It is still open as a pub, I had a drink in it just last week. I think the AI search has confused two pubs with the same name.

ambience - 3

decor - 3

dark and cosy

service - 3

ale - Timothy Taylor Landlord

features - 5

pub food

dog friendly

child friendly

live music

quiz night every week 

toilets - 5

pristine

Score 19 out of 30

 

The Moon Spinners

31 Newhey Road, Milnrow, Rochdale OL16 3NP

01706 656077

I passed this pub a number of times on the bus from work and was intrigued by the name, but never enough to stop and check it out. I passed it on foot on the same day as my walk from Ogden and Piethorne reservoirs, it's about three-quarters of a mile from Milnrow tram stop, on the main road.

    I can't find out much about it, except it doesn't look like it's reopened. It's labelled as 'temporarily closed' online though, so maybe there's hope that the owners will reopen it later in the year when the Covid restrictions are looser, or removed altogether.

The Waggon Inn, Milnrow

The Waggon Inn, 

35 Butterworth Hall, Milnrow, Rochdale OL16 3PE

01706 648313

This is a pub I passed early this month (April 2021) on my way back down from the hills around Ogden reservoir. I would never have found it if I had not decided to leave the popular path round the reservoir and follow a new, rocky bridle path that I'd never walked before. It brought me to a concrete tunnel under the M62, which joined a road through Butterworth and to this pub which is in a quiet side road but only 100 yards from the main road and about a mile from Milnrow tram stop.

    Butterworth began as a settlement in Anglo Saxon times and was a separate village until the late nineteenth century, when it was absorbed into the borough of Rochdale. It still has the look and feel of a village with this pub in the village centre.

    I can't review it because the pubs were still closed when I was here, but checking online it looks like it has reopened under the current Covid restrictions. It serves food but I get the impression customers are best phoning to book in advance as it seems popular.

    I plan to walk that bridle path again in the summer, and assuming restrictions have slackened as planned by the government then, I'll make time to drop in and check it properly.

 

The Spread Eagle, Rochdale

The Spread Eagle

Cheetham Street, Rochdale OL16

I thought I had put this pub on this blog some time ago, as I remember taking a photo of it on one of my visits to Rochdale. But it doesn't look like I did. I remember it as a fairly average town pub with a single bar, no real ale, newish if unremarkable decor, and pleasant service.

It was set on fire in 2016 but by then was already closed. This year, 2019, it has been turned into residential accommodation, though the work isn't quite yet finished. 

The Hopwood Arms, Middleton, Manchester

The Hopwood Arms

753 Rochdale Road, Middleton, Manchester M24 2RA

01706 359807

This is not a traditional canalside pub, by which I mean, one built at the same time as its canal to serve the canal workers. It dates only from the 1930s. But it backs onto the Rochdale canal on the edge of Middleton and is in a nice, semi rural location.

Ambience - 4

Decor - 4

It has a spacious open plan bar area and a beer garden with comfortable seating and canopies at the front.

Real Ale - 2

Service - 4

Prompt and friendly

Features - 4

child friendly

Serves food

hosts meetings of the mini owners club

children's play area

Toilets - 4

Score 22 out of 30

Bird in the Hand and Bird in Hand

I passed both pubs early this month (April 2021) on my way to walk round Ogden and Piethorne reservoirs, a mile further up the road, and it looks like the Bird in Hand has permanently closed, possibly a casualty of the pandemic. The front door and ground floor windows are tightly boarded up. I didn't notice the date stone when I first visited. It seems this is the newer of the two pubs. To find out if there are any plans for it, you'd need to look up the planning department of Rochale council.

    Pubs were still closed at the time, so I wasn't able to drop in to the Bird in the Hand, but on peering through the window, I could see that all the furniture and bar fittings were still intact and there were bottles of condiments lined up on one table, so I'm assuming that it has either now re-opened, or will reopen on 17th May.

UPDATE April 2023: The Bird in Hand is still closed. The Bird In The Hand is still open, I got a friendly welcome when I dropped in there.

There are a few pubs called 'Bird in the Hand' or 'Bird in Hand', but I know of nowhere where there are two of such similar names within 100 yards of each other on the same street.

Huddersfield Road,  Newhey, Rochdale OL16 3QZ

They are known locally as the Top Bird and the Bottom Bird. The Bird in the Hand looks like the older of the two, as the building has the long, low windows that are common in former weaver's workshops, of which there are a lot in this part of the county. They date from the 17th or 18th century. But I have not been able to find out about the history of either pub. Both are Samuel Smiths, and both are essentially locals' pubs,  Since they are so similar, they've got the same rating:

Ambience - 3

decor - 3

comfortable seating

 

service - 4

friendly

Real ales - 1

features -  3

real fire

pub games

dog friendly 

toilets - 4

Score 18 out of 30

The Summit

 

The Summit, 826 Rochdale Road, Oldham OL2 6XF

Tel:

Ambience: - 1

 Imagine a very downmarket version of Wetherspoons, in sweaty, poorly

                   ventilated premises.

Decor - 2

bit shabby, comfortable seating     

Ale - 1

One guest ale

Service - 3

Varies, depending how busy they are.

Features - 2

serves food

child-friendly

Toilets - 3

Clean, not fully supplied

TOTAL: 12 out of 30

The Waggon and Horses, Sudden, Rochdale

The Waggon and Horses, Sudden,  Manchester Road,   Rochdale OL11 4NW

UPDATE: I passed this pub in May 2018 and saw that it was closed and tinned up.

A pleasant, spacious pub, in what used to be a village, but which has become more of a suburb of Rochdale. I was there on a quiet early weekday, but the regulars assure me it gets lively at weekends.

ambience - 3

decor - 3

plain but well maintained

service - 4

prompt and friendly

ale - 0

ordinary range of ordinary beverages

features - 2

pool table

jukebox

toilet - 5

Couldn't fault it: clean, tiled, fully supplied

Score 17 out of 30

The White Lion, Rochdale

The White Lion, Yorkshire Street, Rochdale

A rather pleasant medium sized town centre pub, with one big room and a relatively small bar. But rather than being a dull rectangular room, it is divided into sections and has a couple of raised areas, and the furniture looks newly upholstered. A friendly relaxing pub, no jukebox or TV, which is becoming rare in pubs but may be appreciated by people who want to converse without having to shout.

ambience - 3

decor - 4

new upholstery, cosy colour scheme, well maintained

service - 3

low key but friendly

ale - 1

one cask ale

features - 4

karaoke on Sunday

range of pub games

2 table pool room

dogs allowed (but their licence doesn't allow them to admit children so not a family pub)

toilets - 3

Clean and fully supplied

score 18 out of 30

The Regal Moon, Rochdale

The Regal Moon, The Butts, Rochdale OL16 1HB
 Town Centre, next to the new busand tram interchange
01706 657434

This was built in 1938 and was originally one of the first 'picture palace' cinemas, a byword for comfort and class. When Wetherspoons took it over they respected its history, as the company usually does, and have preserved most of the internal art deco features. There are two framed plaques on the wall near the front entrance which give a short account of the cinema's history before it became a pub.

Ambience - 3

nice pub but gets a bit noisy in the evening

decor - 4

well maintained, as you would expect of a Wetherspoons pub

service - 3

They're friendly but a bit slow

ale - 5

Also as you would expect of a Wetherspoons, a big range of real ales

features - 2

Serves food and is open early in the morning for breakfast

It is in the 2011 good beer guide

toilets - 4

score 21 out of 30