Category: Bolton Branch News

Presentations

Before we talk about the changes to the Beer Scoring System, I wanted to let you know that if you are able to get to Horwich this Saturday – 13 June – there will be a couple of presentations going on. At 3pm we will be presenting the Cider Pub of the Year Runner-Up award to Blackedge Brewery Bar. At 5pm we will be at the Bank Top Brewery Ale House where we will be presenting the Pub of the Year award for the Ale House itself and the Runner-Up award for the Bank Top Brewery Tap. We will also be presenting an award for Bank Top’s Leprechaun Stout.

Beer Scoring Changes

There are tens of thousands of pubs across the country serving cask beers, and many of those serve really good pints. 

For lovers of a decent pint, it’s important to be able to find them. CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide has been the ‘bible’ for finding the very best ones since 1974 and continues to be relied upon by tens of thousands of people. CAMRA’s online pub guide camra.org.uk/pubs can also help because beer quality is indicated by the ‘3 Pints’ symbols that CAMRA members can see when logged in. 

Pubs and clubs that serve really excellent pints, and serve them consistently well, can be potential candidates for the Good Beer Guide. To help identify them, CAMRA members score their pints whenever they have the opportunity. Their scores help local branches determine candidates for the Guide, and these can change year on year because the standards are high. Serving live cask beer requires skill in the cellar and attention by bar staff all the time. Competition for a place is stiff because only 4,500 places are available. 

Up until now, the scoring system has used a numbering system of 0 to 5. But there are problems with this. It requires memorising the criteria for each score and using them consistently, but memories can be variable. Some people genuinely struggle with numbers, so they don’t take part. It becomes open to individual interpretation with resulting inconsistency between scorers. There’s also the potential for individual bias and a reluctance to ‘award’ high scores.

We all know when we are drinking a good pint that’s been well-kept, and we also know when a pint is very good or excellent – who cannot resist telling everyone else about it! And likewise, a pint that is simply OK or, hopefully not often, undrinkable. 

So, to make things easier for everyone, a new intuitive ratings system is being introduced, which is more descriptive of the beer being drunk. Each of the new ratings has a description and a likely reaction to help you pin down the most appropriate rating. Ratings can be recorded on CAMRA’s online pub guide camra.org.uk/pubs by all CAMRA members so start rating your beer now.

The new ratings and descriptions and your likely reaction to being served a pint of this quality are: 

EXCELLENT – Exceptional and clear (if intended to be) with fantastic aromas, flavours and ideal carbonation. Superb!

Your reaction: 
You tell your friends and compliment the
cellar manager. 
VERY GOOD – Satisfying and well-kept with a great
appearance, good carbonation and enticing
aromas and flavours. 

Your reaction:
You consider having another and may cancel plans to
move to another pub. 
GOOD – Nice appearance, good carbonation, aromas
and flavour. Pleasant but not memorable.

Your reaction: You’re happy to have
another but might consider something else. 
ACCEPTABLE – Unremarkable and ordinary, with no noteworthy characteristics. 

Your reaction: You’re unlikely to have another unless it is all there is and there isn’t another pub to go to. 
POOR – Noticeably imperfect.

Your reaction: Drinkable with resentment, but you politely ask for a replacement. 
UNDRINKABLE – Unpleasant to drink, likely with a disgusting taste, incorrect appearance and off/foul aroma. 
Your reaction: You politely ask for it to be replaced and consider asking the publican to take it off.

The number of members scoring beers has been steadily increasing as has the number of pubs and beers being scored. I hope you find the new system easier to use and that you too can get involved in choosing our entries for the Good Beer Guide and letting other members know where to find the best quality cask ale in Bolton and across the country.

Cheers.

John Mitchell – Chair

Welcome to your Bolton CAMRA Branch Update. The Bank Holiday is here and, apparently we’re in for a heatwave. What better excuse to get out the the pub for a pint or two? Many pubs are running special bank holiday events and, if we know about them, we’ll do our best to publicise them on our Facebook page here, particularly if there’s cask ale involved. There’s also the small matter of a certain football match which I’m sure lots of pubs will be showing. Probably, by the time you read this, we will know whether the Wanderers have taken a step back to where a club of this size and history should be.

There’s lots going on in the world of beer and pubs at the moment so here goes.

Branch Meeting 

The next Branch Meeting will take place on 4 June 2026 at the Crown, 1 Chorley New Road, Horwich, BL6 7QJ. The meeting will start at 8 p.m. The Crown has just reopened after a major refurbishment and it is good to see Joseph Holt investing in its estate. As always, all are welcome and it will be good to see what’s changed and what remains the same.

Mild Weather

In the late 1930s, mild made up 92% of all the beer sold in Bolton’s pubs, slaking the thirst of the workers from the mills and foundries of the town. Over the following decades as these industries died, mild became seen as a drink of the past and lager took over as the preferred tipple of the masses. Over recent years, mild has been making a comeback with our local breweries regularly brewing it. CAMRA has designated May as its Mild Month and in response, a number of our pubs are stocking a mild. We have put together a trail using the ‘trip’ facility on CAMRA’s website. If you click here it will take you to details of pubs serving mild either for Mild Month or regularly. If you know of other pubs serving mild, please let us know at pubs@bolton.camra.org.uk or use the ‘Spot a Beer’ button on the pub’s entry on the website and we can add them to the trail.

Clubbing It

Over the last couple of months it has been my pleasure to present the awards for Club of the Year. The Ukrainian Social Club was the winner and Daisy Hill Cricket Club and Westhoughton Sports and Social Club joint runners up.  These clubs are at the heart of their communities providing a whole range of activities for local people from band practice to pilates and community gardens. Many of these clubs are open to the public although membership will get you a discount on drinks. These clubs are the hidden gems of cask ale, doing their best to promote real ale to their customers and they deserve our support. As summer approaches, what could be better than watching a game of cricket or bowls in the sunshine over a pint?

Pub News

As well as the Crown reopening, the (relatively) nearby Ridgway Arms at Blackrod has reopened and is advertising Wainwright Gold and Bradfield Farmer’s Blonde on the bar. The Rose and Crown in Westhoughton has also reopened but at the moment there is no real ale although they say they are looking into it.

On the down side, you may have read in the media that national brewer Greene King has closed the Red Lion in Over Hulton as part of a wider rationalisation of their estate. This is a real shame as it was a family friendly, food-led pub and given we’re told the Ryder Cup will be coming to a newly constructed golf course on the Hulton Estate, you would have thought it was perfectly placed to cash in.

I have mentioned before that the iconic Marble Arch on Rochdale Road in manchester is under threat from an unsympathetic development  around it. The pub has once again asked for CAMRA’s help to fight a planning application for a seventeen storey building to be constructed right next to the pub, completely overwhelming it. You can help by submitting an objection to the application. Click here to find out how.  

Socials

There are a number of socials in the pipeline so get the follwing dates in your diary.

Saturday 6th June 2026 – Stalybridge. 

Thursday 18th June 2026 – Local social. 

Friday 19th June 2026 – Stockport Beer Festival. 

Saturday 25th July 2026 – Torrside Brewery trip. 

Saturday 29th August 2026 – Torrside Brewery trip. 

Friday 27th – Saturday 28th November 2026 – Wolverhampton & Dudley trip.

Details of all our branch soocials are availbale on the Social Events page of the Branch website here.

You may have seen some emails emanating from HQ about changes to the beer scoring system. The new rating system will be launched in early June and I will send out another newsletter with details of the changes and other functions on the national website.

In the meantime, I hope you get to enjoy a pint or two in the sunshine while you can.

Cheers

John Mitchell – Chair

A trip to Wolverhampton & Dudley is planned for Friday 27th to Saturday 28th November. The main base will be Wolverhampton. There is plenty of time to book a hotel if you want to attend. It is too early to find train deals but put the date in your diary to remind you for three or four months before.

Rough agenda is to  arrive at Wolverhampton about lunchtime on Friday. Visit a few pubs before hotel check in and then visit some more pubs. Saturday a trip out before heading home in the evening.

Included will be a visit to the Beacon Hotel in Sedgley (on the way to Dudley) which is the Brewery Tap for Sarah Hughes.

More information will be available nearer the time.

The beer festival is at Masonic Guildhall, 169-171 Wellington Road South,
Stockport, SK1 3UA.  The festival is open from 12.00 noon – 11pm.

There are trains from Bolton at 10.36 (10.54) arriving at Stockport 11.18 (11.32). Change at Manchester Piccadilly. Cost is £7.90 if catching Northern Rail trains and can differ slightly on other trains. Trains are very regular if you want to catch later trains. Those who have a bus pass with the addition of the £10 train can travel for free.

CAMRA members can enter for free but will need to book tickets in advance on the online Advance Package for £14. Priority entrance includes the £4 refundable for the glass hire. £10 is for the drink tokens.
Tickets can be purchased here

CAMRA members will still need to show their CAMRA card.

If you need more information, please contact Gill on 07967585670.

Meet at One for the Road in the Market at 1.00pm. We will visit some regulars and some pubs we don’t visit often. We will decide which pubs to visit once we meet up

One for the Road, Stalls F14 to F15 Ashburner Street Lifestyle Hall, BL1 1TJ, 3 changing ales, food available in the market

The Greyhound, 146 Deansgate, Bolton, BL1 1BB, 3 changing beers

Great Ale at the Vaults,  Below Market Place, Corporation St, Bolton, BL1 2AL, 4 changing ales, food available

Olde Man and Scythe, 6-8 Churchgate, Bolton, BL1 1HL, 4 changing beers

Northern Monkey Bar, Nelson Square, BL1 1AQ, 4 changing beers

These are just five pubs. We can discuss others to visit on the day. If anyone has a suggestion of pubs to visit please let us know on the day

It is important that we support our local pubs and be seen to support them. Therefore, if you have a CAMRA t shirt or polo shirt, please wear it if you can.

If you need information on the day, please contact Gill on 07967585670

It’s a long time since we had our last social to Stalybridge, so we are fitting a social in at the beginning of June.

There are plenty of trains to pick from and you can choose to get a train straight through from Bolton to Stalybridge. There are different ways of getting the best ticket. Here is one way I have chosen but it’s easy enough to select the train which is best for you.

Leaving Bolton at 10.25  will get us to Stalybridge by 11.04. I have chosen a ticket which leaves the return an open ticket so we can pick the time we want to come back.

This train is the Peak Day return and the cost if £8.82. If you have a senior rail card, the cost is £5.55 return.

I have looked at using our bus pass to Victoria, but it is not cheaper that using the Senior rail card. I suggest everyone looks at the ticket which is best for you.

We can meet at the Station Buffet Bar at Stalybridge Station where there are 9 changing beers so everyone should find something that they like. Lunchtime meals are also available.

Station Buffet Bar, Platform 4, Railway Station, SK15 1RF, 9 changing beers

Cracking Pint (Formerly The Crafty Pint), 41 Melbourne Street, SK15 WJJ, 3 changing beers

Bridge Beers, 55 Melbourne Street, SK15 2JJ, 4 changing beers

If you know any pubs with very good beer we can always include in the social

If you need information on the day, please contact Gill on 07967585670

St. Michael & St. John’s Club, Lowergate, Clitheroe, BB7 1AG

The Beer Festival opens at 11.00.

The trains from Bolton to Clitheroe run every hour, leaving Bolton at 4 minutes past the hour. Northern have a variety of tickets. You should pick the tickets that are best for your travel on the Northern Rail website.

The 10.04(11.04) from Bolton will arrive at 10.59 (12.00). Return tickets will depend on the time you chose to leave; 15.22-16.17 or 17.21-18.17, 18.24-19.17

If you have a bus pass with the £10 train added it may be best to buy your ticket from Bromley Cross (the last station in Greater Manchester).
Check which option is best for you before purchasing.

It’s now possible to pre-order your tickets and jump the queue into the festival.  See the website https://clitheroebeerfestival.co.uk/ 
If you are a CAMRA member and are looking for free entry you will need to pre-order your ticket from TCKTY via the link below.

Non CAMRA members can purchase advance tickets here too:

BUY TICKETS FROM TCKTY

The venue is The Assembly Hall of St Michaels & St Johns – aka ‘The Old Schoolrooms’

Meet at One for the Road in the Market at 1.00pm.

The 125 Stagecoach bus runs regularly, every 15 minutes during the day from Bolton Interchange which will take us to Bunburys and then on to Horwich. Adult bus fares are £2 per journey but as we stop off at Bunburys a System One ticket for £5 is the best price.

One for the Road, Stalls F14 to F15 Ashburner Street Lifestyle Hall, BL1 1TJ, 2 changing ales. Food available in the market.

Bunbury’s 397 Chorley Old Road, BL1 6AH, micro pub with 3 changing ales

Bank Top Ale House, 36 Church Street, BL6 6AD, 4 regular and 5 changing ales including 1 guest

B33R@33, 33 Lee Lane, BL6 7AX. 2 changing ales

Blackedge Brewery Bar, Moreton Mill, Hampson Street, Horwich, BL6 7JH, 3 regular Blackedge ales and 4 changing from Blackedge. Food available from 1pm

It is important that we support our local pubs and be seen to support them. Therefore, if you have a CAMRA t shirt or polo shirt, please wear it if you can.

It is hoped that all pubs will have a mild beer but if not there will still be some good beers to enjoy

If you need information on the day, please contact Gill on 07967585670

Meet at One for the Road in the Market at 1.00pm. We will visit some regulars and some pubs we don’t visit often.

One for the Road, Stalls F14 to F15 Ashburner Street Lifestyle Hall, BL1 1TJ, 3 changing ales, food available in the market

The Greyhound, 146 Deansgate, Bolton, BL1 1BB, 3 changing beers

Great Ale at the Vaults,  Below Market Place, Corporation St, Bolton, BL1 2AL, 4 changing ales, food available

Olde Man and Scythe, 6-8 Churchgate, Bolton, BL1 1HL,

Northern Monkey Bar, Nelson Square, BL1 1AQ, 4 changing beers

These are just five pubs. We can discuss others to visit on the day. If anyone has a suggestion of pubs to visit please let us know on the day

It is important that we support our local pubs and be seen to support them. Therefore, if you have a CAMRA t shirt or polo shirt, please wear it if you can.

If you need information on the day, please contact Gill on 07967585670

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