Category: Bolton Branch News

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

Welcome to your CAMRA Branch Update. Spring is here, flowers are opening, but unfortunately pubs and breweries are closing. CAMRA, however, continues to campaign to try and bring a little sunshine into beer drinkers’ lives.

Branch Meeting

The March branch meeting will take place at the Ukrainian Social Club, 99 Castle Street, Bolton, BL2 1JP this Thursday, 5 March, at 8.00 p.m. If you haven’t already voted online you will be able to vote for the Pub of the Year, Cider Pub of the Year and Club of the Year at the meeting. All are welcome to come along to the meeting, but only members can vote.

Sharp’s Doomed

Well it may have taken longer than anticipated, but Molson Coors have announced the imminent closure of Sharp’s Brewery of Rock in Cornwall. Coors took over Sharp’s in 2011 to get their hands on its flagship brand, Doom Bar, and managed to turn it into the country’s best selling cask brand, putting £20m of investment into the brewery in the process. Unfortunately, owing to cost saving changes to the recipe, they also managed to turn it into a beer many drinkers avoid. Now, Coors have concluded that brewing in Cornwall is no longer sustainable and the brewery will close with the loss of 50 jobs. Doom Bar will presumably join lots of other ‘local’ brands being brewed at Coors’ giant brewery in Burton-on-Trent.

Sadly, Sharp’s is joining a long list of cask breweries we have lost recently with Caledonian, Jennings, Ringwood, Banks’s and Wychwood all having disappeared.

Planning Ahead

Pubs are not well protected in the current planning system. In the National Planning Policy Framework, there is a duty on local authorities to guard against the loss of leisure facilities, including pubs. You will have been asked recently to write to your MP about proposed changes to this limited protection. The government’s proposal is to put in place better protection but this would apply only to the last pub in an area. This would leave all the other pubs vulnerable to being converted to flats or other uses. There is no indication of what constitutes an ‘area’ so that could in theory be the whole of Bolton. Maybe we should carry out a survey to find out what CAMRA members think ought to be the last pub in Bolton. 2600 members have already written to their MP about this issue and if you haven’t already, you can still do so here.

From CAMRA’s prespective, we are fortunate in Bolton to have three MPs who are very supportive of our position on pubs, clubs and breweries. The MPs have been willing to meet with us to understand what issues are of concern to beer drinkers in Bolton and have taken positive steps to speak to the government on our behalf, including asking questions in Parliament. We have already seen how the influence of local MPs can bring about changes in policy on matters such as business rates. Let’s hope they can do the same on this planning issue.

Keeping It Local

Bolton Council, on the other hand, seems a little less receptive to these concerns. As I mentioned in my last update, CAMRA has submitted objections to the change of use of some pubs in the branch area as it believes that losing a community hub is an important decision. The Council has a duty to guard against the loss of community facilities and, to my mind, this means that if someone wants to close a pub, the Council should think seriously about the impact of the loss of the pub on the local community before granting permission to change its use. CAMRA’s concerns, however, have often been disregarded on the basis that there are other pubs nearby. When the Cotton Tree on Prince Street closed in 2024, the Council concluded that the community needed a nursery more than a pub and that there were other pubs in the area anyway. We have now heard that the Royal Hotel, the nearest pub to the former Cotton Tree, is to close. Which ‘nearby’ pub will the customers from the Cotton Tree and the Royal be expected to frequent now? Neither of the pubs served cask ale but nevertheless they do serve an important role in their communities. Not all pubs appeal to the same type of customer and the next ‘nearby’ pub may be of a completely different type. These factors should all be taken into account before permission is given to change the use of a pub.

Socials

Wigan Beer Festival takes place this coming weekend, from Thursday 5 until Saturday 7 March at Ribin Park Leisure Centre. A delegation from Bolton CAMRA will be heading to the festival on Friday afternoon if you would like to join them.

We will be having another outing to Wigan on Saturday 21 March to try some of the excellent pubs in the town centre. As always, details are available on the branch website here.

As winter recedes I hope that some of the difficulties our pubs faced during the cold dark months will also start to fade. This will only happen if we get out to our locals and support them. I know prices are going up but we are lucky that Bolton and its neighbouring areas still have some of the cheapest and best beer in the country, particularly that brewed by our local breweries. Let’s get out there and make sure they don’t go the same way as the Cotton Tree and Sharp’s.

Cheers,

John Mitchell – Chair