Welcome to your CAMRA Branch Update. It’s almost Easter and hopefully you’ll be getting a break and possibly getting away for a few days. If you’re in the UK, you’ll be able to enjoy the inevitable puns on hops you’ll find on pump clips throughout the country.
Branch Meeting
We’re on the road again this time. This month’s branch meeting will take place on Thursday 2 April 2026 at the Blackedge Brewery Tap, 55 Market St, Westhoughton, BL5 3AG. The meeting will start at 8 p.m. and all are welcome.
Good News, Bad News
Some good news reached us on the pub front this week. The Ridgway (formerly the Ridgeway) by Blackrod Station is due to reopen in May. The pub is named after a local mine owner but an extra ‘e’ got added somewhere along the line. The new mangement have decided to revert to the original spelling. Good luck to the new managers and I hope we’ll see cask ale on the bar to tempt in drinkers looking for quality beers.
We’ve also heard that the application to convert the Shakespeare in Farnworth into a nine bed HMO has been rejected by the Council. The listed building, purpose built as a pub in the 1920’s for Magee Marshall’s has been closed for some time and works had already started on the conversion before the Council stepped in. CAMRA objected to the conversion on the basis that the only use compatible with the design of the building would be as a pub and that the proposed use would certainly not preserve the listed features. Fortunately, the Council agreed and rejected the application, pointing out that the applicants had not provided any evidence that the pub was no longer viable. The pub is also one of only two ‘calendar’ pubs in Bolton meaning its features have a connection with dates – four doors, seven chimneys and 365 panes of glass among other things. It would be great if someone could take on this historic pub and bring it back to life so the public could enjoy its impressive interior. The other calendar pub is the Doffcocker Inn on Chorley Old Road, Bolton.
On the other side of the coin, Admiral Taverns, despite claiming they are ‘community obsessed’, recently announced the closure of the Royal Hotel on Vernon Street at short notice. The pub is the last in this area and when the nearby Cotton Tree was converted to a nursery a couple of years ago, the Royal was cited by the Council as being a pub the local community could use instead and now that is closed too. The community is certainly not happy with Admiral’s decision and the regulars are determined not to let their local disappear without a fight. They are firmly of the view that the pub has suffered from a lack of investment and in the right hands could be a success. They are already looking to have the pub listed as an Asset of Community Value and are garnering support from councillors and the MP. We wish them every success in their campaign and we will support them in any way we can. I hope Admiral will do the decent thing and market the pub as a going concern so that someone else can make a go of it with the support of local drinkers.
Socials
Our next social will be on Saturday 18th April 2026 and will be a home fixture around the town centre.
May is Mild Month and on Saturday 2nd May 2026 there will be a Mild Trail starting in Bolton and ending in Horwich.
On Friday 15th May 2026 we will be visiting Clitheroe Beer Festival.
The summer trips to Torrside Brewery in Derbyshire are always popular so this year there will be two, first on Saturday 25th July and again on Saturday 29th August 2026.
Details as always on the Socials page of the branch website here.
Wherever you get to, I hope you have an enjoyable Easter break and manage to hop along to a local pub and sample a few eggsellent ales or ciders……sorry!
Cheers,
John Mitchell – Chair