First visited : circa 1988
The Royal Exchange was the next pub on the right of the A58, a third of a mile from the town centre. It's an odd triangular building occupying the acute angle formed by the junction of Featherstall Road (the A58) and Whitelees Road. It was built in the mid-nineteenth century but by my time it mainly existed to serve workers at Whittle's Bakery just behind it.
I was familiar with it from a young age as the bus stop just outside it was the nearest one to my church and first school , St Mary's. There was a small row of shops beside it but I think they're all private dwellings now.
When we entered the Littleborough Quiz League as the Red Lion in 1988 the Royal Exchange was the hub as the organiser Roy Beninson was a regular and captain of the team there . He also died in the early nineties and seemed like a decent bloke. He certainly didn't cheat because they were never a good team. The most memorable thing about playing them was Mr Annuit.
I've no idea what his real name was. He was in his mid-sixties I'd guess and had a nautical air about him, bald as a coot with a short grey moustache. He'd invariably wear a vile David Icke- style turquoise tracksuit with a zip down front, open, whatever the weather , to reveal an even viler tattoo on his chest ( a bird I think but I never wanted to look too closely ) . What made him hilarious was that whenever they got a question wrong he'd react to the correct answer with a swipe of the air and the exclamation "Aargh ! A knew it ! A knew it ! " Except he didn't.
As a pub it's a small, basic, old man's haunt that you can't imagine anyone recommending but it survives.
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