First visited : 6th August 2011
Beyond the two ( now closed ) pubs of Wardleworth we come into central Rochdale. Yorkshire St ( the A58 ) is now a parade of mostly Asian businesses although Lovick's furniture store is still there as it has been for 40+ years and so is the cycle shop that was formerly Jeff Shepherd's. That sticks in the mind because my sister was briefly friendly with one of the family ( around the same time as the list was started ) , a thoroughly dislikeable girl .
The road eventually comes to a big roundabout, more accurately a traffic island occupied by an unsafe car park and a plain church owned by the Ukranians since the early seventies when the C of E had no further use for it. I have no idea how big the Ukranian diaspora in Rochdale is - there were a few knocking about in school - but it seems strange that such a prominent building sees such little ( and esoteric ) use.
I would have thought that the church would have blocked our view of this one which lies on Whitworth Road at the far side of the island but we normally went upstairs as teenagers do so probably spotted it over the church roof. Having said that we missed the more prominent Britannia Inn just before it.
The Tanner's Arms is a three storey detatched building backing onto a small retail park. It doesn't seem to have its own car park but parking nearby isn't much of a problem. I visited it yesterday around 7pm and it was a pleasant change to be in a noisy pub after the last few. I did feel like I was on enemy territory since the licencee was briefly ( three weeks in fact ) chairman of Rochdale Hornets. Any interest in rugby ( of either variety ) for me was killed off by Mr M's son ( see post 4 ) whose enthusiasm for it seemed to be linked to the justification it provided for knocking me around. However, the animus towards Hornets in particular comes from their being persistently bad tenants of the Spotland Stadium Company and the consequent strain that puts on the football club . The main decorations in the Tanner's Arms are rugby photographs but I did spot a framed Rochdale FC Promotion photograph behind the bar so I'll let the guy off.
The pub seems to be thriving ; it's clean and brightly lit with two TV screens and an over-loud jukebox. There was a mixed crowd of noisy artisans who looked like they'd been there all afternoon, some younger lads watching the football and older couples starting an inexpensive night out.
The Tanner's Arms is also a genuine hotel ( the first we've had since The Sun back in Littleborough ) . When I Googled it for a picture I was intrigued to see that one of the images brought up was of a sultry young lady in a red bra. Following this up ( as you would ) I found that The Tanner's Arms is prominently advertised on the website of a Swinger's Club based nearby. Fair enough if that's the clientele ( none of whom, I'm guessing, closely resemble the young lady in the picture ) they want but I don't think I'll be staying there anytime soon.
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