The Royal Oak, Delph

I didn't have a camera with me on the day I visited and these distant photos taken from the centre of Delph on a subsequent, very rainy, day are the best I can do for now. The pub can only just be distinguished from the chapel directly across the road from it.

The Royal Oak, Broad Lane, Delph, OL3 5TX

01457 874460

I came across this pub by chance when I was wandering on the hills above Delph. It's difficult to find, if you were looking for it, as it is along a narrow lane not wide enough for two cars to pass, about a mile and a half above the village. You'll need a satnav, or OS Explorer map OL1. It has no pub sign, too, so it can be difficult to spot; from the back it looks like an ordinary Saddleworth farmhouse. I nearly walked past it, until I spotted the opening times in a side window. It's only open in the evenings from seven o'clock on weekdays, and on Sundays from 12 noon.
    It was built in 1767, and became a pub, originally called the Punch Bowl, in 1771. It has been run by the same family for the past 30 years, and has been mentioned 20 times in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
    It's worth going out of your way to visit. The photos indicate why it has superb views, and if you keep walking east, uphill, on the road next to it, it eventually becomes a bridlepath and then a footpath that joins the Pennine Way at the head of the valley.

UPDATE 2022: This pub closed in early March 2020. It seems not enough people thought it was worth going out of their way to visit and it failed due to lack of business. I think restricting its opening hours to evenings only at one point didn't help it, I have passed it two or three times in mid-afternoon when walking in the hills and would have very much liked to stop in, but it wasn't open. The place might have lost some passing trade that way.

    I passed it again on 28th May 2022, and as far as I can tell, what used to be the bar is in the process of being turned into a residential dwelling, perhaps simply an extension of the owners' previous living space which was the part of the building at the side of the pub. 

www.oldhamchronicle.co.uk/news-features/139/main-news/133021/devastating-closure-of-unique-royal-oak-pub

décor- 3
muted colours, beamed ceilings, coal fires. Wooden chairs a bit uncomfortable but has padded benches.

ambience - 4

service - 5
very welcoming

features - 3
The owner tells me they no longer do food as trade has varied too much with the weather lately. They can be full on fine days, very quiet when the weather is wet or uncertain. But:

Nicely designed terraced beer garden
Dogs on leads permitted
Superb views

ales - 3
Moorhouses

toilet - 3
A bit rustic but fully supplied

Score 21 out of 30

And the beer garden...

 

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 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