First visited : 3 July 2011
Here's where the book goes a bit wrong - the perils of writing on a moving bus. First we've missed one out , the Wagon and Horses which is now a convenience store. And we've got the next two the wrong way round.
The Bull's Head is a large red brick pub at the bottom of Wardle Road where the A58 widens and becomes a dual carriageway for a short while. Unless there's one lurking in the backstreets that I don't remember it is now the only pub in the Smallbridge area
I'd never previously felt the need to go there and Smallbridge is not an area in which to linger although in the mid-70s we used to take the bus to the nearby library as its children's section was better stocked than Littleborough's. Today's lunchtime visit amply justified my previous lack of interest.
If the Bull's Head has benefited from the demise of all its rivals you'd be hard pressed to see any evidence. The interior is unspeakable. Despite being quite a large building the seating area is small and narrow and the seating itself is absolutely manky , torn and filthy. The place looks like it hasn't seen a lick of paint in 30 years. It opened its doors quarter of an hour late, couldn't serve anything for the next 5 minutes and couldn't take any money for it until a further 10 minutes had elapsed. For decoration there were a few tatty pool and darts trophies and notices about CCTV, drugs and barred people. It seems to be surviving on cheap beer, Sky Sports and Saturday night karaoke. The barman was actually quite genial despite looking like an old lag ( as did his three other customers ) but I couldn't wait to get out and won't be back.
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