The Gate, Diggle

The Gate, 
217 Huddersfield Road, Diggle OL3 5PQ
01457 870100

Previously called the Hanging Gate, it has recently had a change of management and a bit of a makeover. A nice, relaxing country pub on most nights, it gets lively when there's live music on. There has been a pub on the site since 1803, the current building dates from 1926.

Ambience - 4

Decor - 4

Service - 3

Varies a bit but usually prompt and friendly

Real ales - 2

Features - 5

Serves food

Live music at least once a month

Beer garden

Dogs allowed
accommodation

Toilets -4

Pristine and a few touches like popourri and hand cream

Score 22 out of 30

The Swan, Dobcross

The Swan

The Square, Dobcross, Saddleworth OL3 5AA

TEL: 01457 873451

One of the older Saddleworth pubs, built in 1765, and right at the centre of the village. 

Ambience - 4

Decor - 3

Wooden beams, pale walls, stone floor gives it a traditional feel. 

Service - 3

Friendly, bit slow but the short bar area causes queues when it's busy

 

Ale - 5

Has 5 real ales

Features - 4

Serves food

Regular live entertainment upstairs 

Quiz night

Book swop 

Toilets - 3

Score 22 out of 30

Views of Dobcross village square. It feels secluded, but is not far from the main road between Uppermill and Diggle.

The Navigation Inn

21-23 Wool Road, Dobcross, OL3 5NS

01457 872418

Across the road from the Huddersfield narrow canal, this pub was said to have been built in the early nineteenth century to cater for the navvies who were digging out the Standedge tunnel. It's as much a restaurant as a pub, currently serves food up to half eight in the evening.

Ambience - 3

Bit lacking in ventilation, so a bit humid.

Decor - 3

traditional and comfortable seating. A few outside tables.

service -3

friendly and helpful, if a little slow 

real ales - 4

Includes two guest ales

features - 4

serves food, medium sized pub menu 

dog-friendly

child-friendly

some theme nights and events through the year

toilets - 4

Score 21 out of 30

The Huddersfield narrow canal is not so narrow near here, it forms a series of wide basins between the locks. It's worth combining a visit to the Navigation with a stroll along the canal towards Diggle and back. There's a path on both sides of the canal on this stretch.

The Commercial, Uppermill

The Commercial, High Street, Uppermill OL3 6AX

01457 872513

Looking colourful for the World Cup 2014, a large friendly high street pub with a large open bar space and a smaller room with tables off to one side. 

Ambience - 4

Decor - 3

Comfortable seats, muted colours, tiled floor. Can be quietish during the afternoon, popular in the evenings, though seldom so popular that you have to queue long at the bar.

Service - 4

friendly

ale - 2

Two guest ales

Features -3

food

sports TV

Open plan design doesn't include room for a darts board or pool table, but:
Open mic night every second Thursday and occasional live entertainment

Toilets - 3

Good condition, but non-working dryers

Score 19 out of 30

The Bulls Head, Delph

The Bulls Head, King Street, Delph OL3 5DG

01457 874681

An ordinary, pleasant high street pub with traditional decor and comfortable furniture.

Ambience - 3

Gets lively at weekends

decor - 3

service - 4

prompt and friendly

ale -3

at least three real ales

features - 1

It's a smallish pub that fronts straight on to the street, so no room for pool table, darts board, beer garden etc. But it does have the oldest tapas restaurant in Saddleworth, open Thursday to Saturday. Phone to check opening times.

toilets - 3

clean and decent

Score 17 out of 30

The Old Bell Inn, Delph

The Old Bell Inn, Huddersfield Road, Delph OL3 5EG
01457 870130

Originally an 18th century coaching inn, this is a restaurant and hotel rather than a pub. But is is quiet enough mid-week to drop in for a cofee or a real ale in the downstairs bar and dining room. If you want to eat here it's as well to book, especially at weekends, as it's a popular eating place. It has a good range of malt whiskies and wines as well as ale. 

UPDATE 2021: Dropped in early one morning in June, just for a coffee, got excellent service. They now have tables and chairs and marquees in the car park (adapting to Covid rules, no doubt) and do breakfast from eight in the morning.

Ambience - 4

relaxing

decor - 4

dark wood and cream, brass ornaments but not so many as to look cluttered; traditional.

Ale - 4

on my last visit they had Timothy Taylor and Black Sheep

service - 5

polite and welcoming

features - 3

serves food until early evening

accommodation

flowery beer garden - still there in 2021, but many more outside tables and marquees.

toilets - 4

Score 24 out of 30

the poshest "throne room" I've seen in a pub

  Wisteria-covered smokers' shelter next to the beer garden

The Church Inn

The Church Inn, Church Lane, Uppermill, OL3 6LW

 

 

This country pub is opposite Saddleworth Church and a quarter mile downhill from the Cross Keys, and is similar in style, though the building is not quite as old.

 

decor - 3

ambience - 3

Cosy atmosphere, log fire, but seating a bit uncomfortable

 

ales - 5

A free house with more than five real ales available at all times

 

features - 3

serves food

beer garden

allows children and dogs

 

service - 2

service a bit indifferent, staff spend a lot of time chatting to regulars, so you'll have a bit longer to wait if you're not one.

 

toilets - 3

 

Score 19 out of 30 

 



The Cross Keys

The Cross Keys In, Running Hill Gate, Uppermill, Saddleowrth OL3 6LW

A country pub just a 15 minute walk uphill from Uppermill village, this has been a tavern since 1763 and was on the old packhorse route over the Saddleworth hills into Marsden in Yorkshire. It is now the headquarters of the Oldham Mountain Rescue Team, and the meeting place (in the barn next door) for a branch of the George Formby Society, which provides ukelele lessons for its members.

   The name Cross Keys is associated with St Peter, the keeper of the keys to Heaven, and is often given to pubs near churches dedicated to him. However, although Saddleworth Church is only a quarter of a mile down the hill from the pub, it is dedicated to St Chad!

Ambience - 4

decor - 4

stone floors, dark beams, wood burniung stove; very traditional feel.

ale - 2

JW Lees pub

features - 3

serves food

monthly folk music

allows children and dogs

service- 4

fast and friendly, even when the pub is busy (as it often is at weekends when I have been there)

toilets - 3

Score 20 out of 30





King William IV, Greenfield

King William IV, 134 Chew Valley Road, Greenfiled, Saddleworth OL3 7DD

01457 873933

It's a traditional pub on the main road through the village, and was named King William IV because it was opened in 1830, the year he came to the the throne. Before then, it was a private house. It is a venue for the Saddleworth Rushcart Festival in summer, and the Saddleworth Brass Band contest on Whit Friday. It has two small rooms, one on each side, at the front and a bar at the back.

ambience - 3
friendly atmosphere

decor - 4
newish and well maintained

service - 4  (though it was difficult to get to the bar on the weekend I was last there, due to the Liverpool-Oldham Athletic FA Cup semi final match being on the telly; the place was packed with local fans.)

ale - 2/3
usually two, sometimes three. Had Dobcross Bitter on my last visit.

features - 4
Serves food
Family friendly, children allowed in before 9pm
dogs allowed
Darts and cribbage

toilets - 3

Score 20/21 out of 30

The Railway, Greenfield

The Railway, Shaw Hall Bank Road, Greenfield OL3
01457 872307

 

This one really is near a railway station, opposite Greenfield railway station on the Manchester Victoria - Huddersfield line. It is on the Transpennine Pub crawl, a series of pubs that can be reached easily by train, with the timing of the trains allowing for an hour at each pub (which makes for a slow pub crawl to my mind, and I don't know any-one who has got further than Marsden.) It's also a real ale pub par excellence: serves no ale but real ale.

 

ambience - 2

decor - 2

dark beams and off white walls which are badly in need of repainting. But has a lot of photographs of old Saddleworth, showing how the area used to be industrialised. Walking around the rooms is a fascinating history lesson.

 

service - 3

prompt and polite

 

ales - 5

extra point for the range of real ales, there are always at least five

 

features - 3

beer garden a few yards along the road from the pub, in a nice tree shaded space with views over the valley
Allows dogs on leads
Live music Thursday, Friday, Sunday

 

toilet - 3

 

Score 19 out of 30

The Royal George, Greenfield, Saddleworth

The Royal George, Manchester Road, Greenfield, OL3 7HX

Phone: 01457 837851

On a main road junction, with roads leading to Huddersfield, Delph, and Greenfield, and close to the Saddleworth hills. The Tameside Valley Way is just across the junction and this is a good pub to stop off at if you are walking in the area. It's mainly a restaurant pub, with lunchtime and evening menu, and is in a pleasant enough setting to be worth a drive out if you want to eat out.  Bus 350 Oldham-Ashton passes close by at the road junction, runs every half hour during the week, once an hour on Sundays.

decor - 4

recently decorated in cream, uncluttered, few pub ornaments.

ambience - 3

A pleasant, spacious pub with two rooms and a dining room, but the piped music and the TV were on at the same time when I was there, (September 2012) and the overlapping noise got irritating.

ale - 2

JW Lees pub, was serving Moonraker and British Jewels when I was there in 2012, Golden Peddler in August 2014.

service -5

friendly, and impressively fast even though the place was busy

Features - 4

Food, quite varied menus, for lunch and evening

Dogs permitted.

Live music regularly throughout the month

Home of Off The Rails Comedy Club, last Sunday of the month
Function room for hire

Toilets -4

Quite good condition but the dryer didn't work.

Score 23 out of 30

Wheelchair access



The Diggle Hotel, Saddleworth

The Diggle Hotel, Diggle, Lancashire, OL3 5JZ

This is a big former hotel, with a traditional interior, shaded by mature trees at the front and with a view of hills. It is half a mile from the Huddersfield Canal and Standedge Tunnel, the longest canal tunnel in England. In the other direction, if you follow the path that starts on the left of the pub, in two miles it brings you to the Pennine Way.

UPDATE 2023: Revisited in April, it is as good as ever. It looks like I photographed it originally during Queen Elizabeth's 2012 Diamond Jubilee. Note the bunting. It looked the same this month because it had the bunting up again for the Coronation.

UPDATE  7th June 2026: THE DIGGLE HOTEL HAS CLOSED.

I was last there with a friend in November 2024. The landlady had lost her husband that month and she told us she wasn't sure if she would continue in the business. It looks like she decided not to. There is a sign outside the pub saying it is available to a new tenant but it is in a fairly remote place and that might put a lot of people off. It might only be viable if it continued to offer both accommodation and food as well as a bar, so might involve more work.

    I am very sad at its demise. I wasn't a regular but have dropped in there once a year since 2012 when I was walking the Huddersfield canal or going to and from Standedge and it was a very nice place to stop off.

 

ambience - 5

decor - 4

light, cheerful colours

service - 4

ale -3

always has at least two real ales

extras - 4

beer garden at the front under the trees

serves food

child friendly

dog friendly

toilets - 3

score 23 out of 30

The Swan, Delph

The Swan, King Street, Delph OL3 5DL

01457 874611

This pub was first licensed in 1807 though the building looks older. During the 1860s it was used for auctions; it was then the biggest pub in Delph. The licensee in 1862 was prosecuted for having customers on the premises after hours (lock-ins are not a new phenomenon it seems) and its licence was nearly withdrawn in the 1890s for having inadequate sanitation.

     Although it looks big on the outside, the inside is cosy, with a wood burning stove in the winter. I have revisited it in April 2014, and from what I read in the Saddleworth News, it has recently come under new management. This shows in the change in décor. It used to be unusually bare with no ornaments and few pictures on the walls, now it has a few (unremarkable) pictures and some white swan ceramic ornaments. As far as I can tell, it still welcomes all comers and is a great place for quiet relaxation.
    Changed management again early in 2015. The decor has not changed much, and it now serves food and has live music one Saturday a month.

ambience - 4

decor - 2

The new ornaments and pictures are too variegated and cluttered to add anything. I preferred the previous minimalist arrangement.

service - 5

ale - 3

three real ales. I tried The Governor on the last occasion I was there.

features -5
Welcomes dogs
Pool room
wi fi
serves food
monthly live music

toilets - 3

nothing wrong with the modern sanitation! Clean, decent, adequately supplied

Score 22 out of 30

The White Lion, Delph

The White Lion, corner of Delph Lane and Denshaw Road, Delph OL3 5HX

01457 920038

This is in a 300 year old building, that was once two separate premises - the rooms are of very different sizes. Delph is a pleasant village in a steep sided hollow in the Pennine foothills. At the far end of the pub (looking at the first of these three pictures) there is the start of a footpath which leads past some angling ponds and alongside a stream to the remains of Castleshaw Roman fort. Worth a walk on a fine day in summer, it's two miles there and two back.

UPDATE 2022: I've been here a few times since I first wrote about it. It hasn't changed but I've added a couple of features I missed the first time.

ambience - 4

comfortable and cosy. The small compact rooms are on your left as you go in the front door. The bigger rooms and the pool table are on the right.

decor - 4

service - 4

friendly

ale - 3

three cask ales, including at least one from the Greenfield local brewery

features -4

serves food during the day

child friendly

dog friendly

Nice beer garden at the back

toilets - 3

clean and in decent condition

score 22 out of 30

This pub had a review in The Telegraph in 2011, read it on this link

The Wellington, Greenfield

The Wellington, 29 Chew Valley Road, Greenfield OL3 7AF

A very welcoming locals pub, in view of the Saddleworth moors and two miles from Dove Stones reservoir at the north end of the Peak District national park. It was newly decorated and refurbished in August 2011, and serves almost nothing but real ale, and on my last visit it was impossible to fault. It is also child- and dog-friendly.

ambience - 4

decor - 5

newly redecorated in August 2011

ale - 5

at least 6 real ales and farmhouse ciders

service - 5

welcoming and prompt

toilet - 5

newly decorated and refurbished like the rest of the pub, fully tiled and fully supplied

features - 4

serves food during the day

allows dogs

allows childen during the day

table football

score 27 out of 30

The Granby Arms, Uppermill

The Granby Arms, High Street, Uppermill

This pub got its first beer licence in 1831 and has been through several changes of name since then, before sticking with the present one. It was first the Dog and Partridge, in 1840 it was the Queen Adelaide. After this date its licensee got a full licence. (In times past, pub licensees could be given licenses to sell beer only, or to sell beer, wine and spirits. 'Beerhouses' were distinctly downmarket premises.) In 1842 it was renamed the Marquis of Granby, but the locals called it the Granby Arms and the name stuck.

ambience - 3

decor - 4

well maintained, light and bright

service - 3  prompt and polite

ale - 1
one guest ale when I was last there, though I'm told it normally has a range of guest ales

features - 3
serves food until early evening, varied menu
quiz night once a week
poker night once a week

toilets - 3

score: 17 out of 30

The Clarence Hotel, Greenfield

The Clarence Hotel, Chew Valley Road, Greenfield OL3 7DD

01457 872319

UPDATE: The Clarence was closed in early March 2018. No notice as yet saying whether it will be relet.

UPDATE 2022: The Clarence is still in business, after a refurb. The benches in front of what used to be the front entrance are now completely surrounded by a plastic hedge and railings and you have to enter the premises by what used to be the back door. But I was there in summer 2021 just after the lockdown restrictions began to be eased and the rest was as good as ever and they were still serving decent grub.

On the corner where Manchester Road and Chew Valley Road converge.
It is only a mile's easy walk from Dove Stones reservoir, on the edge of the Peak District National Park.

This pub got its first licensee in 1861 and in the 1870s was a meeting place for the Saddleworth Hunt and the Ashton Hounds. The interior was modernised and altered in 1967, when it was owned by Bass Charrington. It was a free house until it changed hands in September 2012, but still has cask ales.
A comfortable, friendly pub, which welcomes both families and ramblers.

ambience - 4
decor - 4
It was previously all dark wood, but has been redecorated twice since it changed hands. The second redecoration is a lot nicer than the first, gives the place a cheerful feel.

ale - 3 
Serves at least three beers by local breweries.

service - 4  
Varies a bit, depending which staff are on the bar and how busy it is. But generally friendly and fast.

features - 4
serves food on all days of the week until 8pm. Check the pub's facebook page for the latest menu.
child-friendly
permits dogs in the bar area
Weekly quiz night

toilets - 4
gleaming white tiles throughout, always clean and fully supplied


score: 22 out of 30