The White House, Ripponden

The White House, on the A58 between Rochdale and Halifax, 

Blackstone Edge, Littleborough, OL15 0LG

01706 378456

This pub is high on the Pennines, with stunning views of Hollingworth Lake, Manchester and Rochdale, and the Pennine Way passes within a few yards of it. Built in 1671, it was originally a coaching inn called the coach and horses. It's opening times are weekdays 12pm-2pm and 6.30-9.30pm, Sundays 12pm-9pm.

ambience - 3

decor - 4

comfortable seats

service - 4

features - 2

children welcome before 9pm

Serves food, large menu

ales - 5

Theakstons plus guest ales

toilets - 4

fully supplied

Score 22 out of 30

 

  From a mile away to the north on the Pennine Way, you can see how isolated the pub is. It really is in the middle of nowhere, and I can only suppose it gets snowed in during the winter. This photo was from my second visit in May, and was the only photograph I felt able to take that day; it was the only 'normal' view. Some-one had caused a fire on the surrounding moor that week, turning it into two square miles of charcoal. It was a sickening sight. There were a number of homeless sky larks fluttering around, whose nests and chicks had been burned.

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 Waggon and Horses, Walsden, Calderdale

The Waggon and Horses, Rochdale Road, Walsden, near Todmorden OL14 7UA

A real local pub on the main road from Littleborough to Todmorden through the Calder Valley, serves a local clientele and has a good value pub grub menu. I gave it a low score when I first visited in 2013 because of its 'averageness' as a high street pub, not because it was unpleasant. On a visit in May 2018, I found it had become somewhat less average. It seems to have had a bit of a makeover, a couple of new features added, and the service is excellent.
 It is only four doors away from the Border Rose, a similar traditional pub.
The 590 Rochdale to Todmorden bus passes both pubs.

decor - 3

ambience - 4

ale - 0

Serves a range mass produced beers and lagers

features - 4

serves food during the day
pool table
dog friendly
weekly karaoke and disco

service - 4

Very friendly

toilets -4

Score  19 out of 30

View down Calder Valley from the Pennine Bridleway, which goes down the hill to the left of this photo and crosses the main road about 200 yards west of the pub.

Border Rose Inn

Border Rose Inn, Rochdale Road, Walsden, near Todmorden, OL14 7UA

Like the Waggon and Horses, which is only four doors away on the same road, this is a traditional no-frills pub catering to a local clientele, with a good value pub grub menu.  It is near the Pennine Bridleway, and overlooked by rugged steep hillsides. Currently (May 2018) it is closed daily between 2pm and 5pm.

decor - 3

ambience - 4

ale - 0

Ordinary range of mass produced beers and lagers, at good value prices

features - 2

serves food during the day
dog friendly

service - 4

fast and friendly

toilets - 4

Score 17 out of 30 

The Church, Mossley

The Church, Stockport Road, Mossley OL5 0RF

Retains fewer of its original features than the Rising Sun, half a mile along the same road, but the building is probably about the same age. It has the same fine views over the Pennines.

decor - 3

well maintained, comfortable seating

ambience - 3

service - 4

prompt and polite

ales - 2

plus one farmhouse cider

features - 2

pool room

dogs allowed, but only on leads as there is a resident Manx Cat who sometimes hangs out in the main bar
children allowed

toilets - 4

nicely maintained and fully supplied

Score 19 out of 30

 

view across Saddleworth from the back of the pub

The Rising Sun, Mossley

The Rising Sun, Stockport Road, Mossley, OL5 0RJ

Originally licensed as a beerhouse in 1850, then as a public house in 1870; the landlord had to improve the facilities and build stables to get his new licence. Now a Freehouse with eight real ales and two farmhouse ciders. It's on the 353 bus route and has parking next to it (on the right of this picture).

decor - 4

white walls and dark beams, in keeping with the pubs age and style. Snug at the back retains period features. Some might think the stone floor and plain décor looks bare, but the seats are comfortable. It has wood burning stoves, very cosy on winter evenings.

ambience - 3

Bit rowdy when the football is on, otherwise okay

service -4

fast and friendly

ales - 5

It usually has eight ales and two ciders. This is a dedicated real ale pub with its own website (www.risingsunmossley.co.uk ) . There is a new ale every week, but always something from local brewery Millstone Mossley.

features - 4

Two screens in two rooms [I haven't previously mentioned the availability of TV and sports programmes in pubs, but some people like this sort of thing, so...]

dogs on leads permitted

quiz night on Tuesdays
DJ and live Bluegrass music once a week (different days)

toilets - 3

Score 22 out of 30

The Wine Press, Littleborough

The Wine Press, Hollingworth Road, OL15 0AZ

01706 378168

 

Up to 2007 this was known as The Fisherman and was a popular stopping place for bikers. It's still popular with some bikers (as you can see from the vehicles in the photo) but has since been renamed The Wine Press and turned into a restaurant pub. It's still a place where you can drop in just for a drink, and from the patio at the front there's a fine view over Hollingworth Lake.
 

ambience -3

decor -4 

 

Spoiled a bit by the bland piped music, but the ochre and burnt umber decor gives it a rustic feel and there's a range of seating from bar stools to dining chairs to soft sofas (I especially appreciated the soft sofa when I dropped in after a trek along the Pennine Bridleway) .

ales - 3

Black Sheep and Pride of Pendle (April 2013)

 

service - 3

 

features -3

serves food, varied menu

The view 

children welcomed during the day

 

toilets - 3

 

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 White Hart, Todmorden

The White Hart, White Hart Fold, Todmorden OL14 7BD

A Wetherspoons pub, with everythng you would expect of a pub of the Wetherspoons brand. It is a 19th century building which looks like it was originally built to accommodate railway passengers. Like many Wetherspoons pubs, it has posters on the walls giving information about the locality's history, including the local railway line and famous Todmorden residents: Peter Lever, cricketer; Sir JOhn Douglas Cockroft, who split the atom; John Ramsbottom, industrialist. The white hart was Richard II's heraldic emblem, and is very old pub name.

decor - 5

dark wood theme, original features

Comfortable seating. It was refurbished by Wetherspoons in 2011

ambience - 4

relaxing

service - 5

friendly and attentive

real ales - 5

at least 5 real ales, (as expected in a Wetherspoons pub!)

features - 1

serves food until 10pm 

toilets - 5

pristine, fully stocked with handwash, loo rols, etc

Score 25 out of 30