99 The Woodman Inn - Ashton-under-Lyne

First  visited : 31 May  2015

The  Woodman  is  about  half  a  mile  outside  of  the  town  centre  where  Wilshaw  Lane  joins  Oldham  Road.

As  it's  in  or  near  to  the  nicer  end  of  Ashton   I  had  some  hopes  this  one  would  be  a  nice  call  but  was  rather  disappointed. The  pub  lives  up  to  its  name  by  having  a  lot  of  wood  panelling  but  it  looks  odd  rather  than  attractive. In  particular  it's  created  a  very  strange  little  lounge  with  just  one  table  in  the  centre  and  any  olde  worlde  charm  cancelled  out  by  a  giant  TV  screen  on  the  wall. Elsewhere  the  seating  looks  a  little  shabby  and  the  walls  are  overdecorated  with  football  and  film  star  posters  without  rhyme  or  reason.

Although  there's  a  handwritten  notice  on  the  wall  warning  that  local  residents  have  got  diary  sheets  ready  to  record  any  disturbance  at  closing  time, the  few  patrons  when  we  called  were  a  handful  of  old  men  checking  out  the  racing. One,  not  noticeably  Scottish,  guy  was  waiting  for  the  Scottish  Cup  Final   on  Sky  which  seemed  particularly  sad. It  was  friendly  enough  but  there  was  no  reason  to  call  again.

98 The Burlington - Ashton-under-Lyne

Not  visited

This  one  was  on  Oldham  Road. It  closed  in  2009  and  remains  boarded  up  and  empty.

97 The Ashton Hotel- Ashton-under- Lyne

Not  visited

This  one  has  me  stumped. I've  got  this  down  in  the  book  as  "Ashton  Hotel- where  do  you  think ?"  but  I've  got  no  idea  where  exactly it  was. It  must  have  been  somewhere  near  to  the  bus  station  but  I  can't  find  any  reference  to  it  anywhere. Any  Astonians  reading  this  please  help  me out  here.

96 Beau Geste - Ashton-under-Lyne

First  visited  :  1987 or  1988

I  used  to  wait  for  my  bus  home  just  the  other  side  of  a  road  into   the  bus  station  from  this  pub  and  occasionally  went   in  it  to  kill  time  if  I'd  just  missed  one  or  had  an  evening  meeting  to  attend. The  bus  station  has  since  been  re-located  and  now  the  shopping  centre  almost  abuts  onto  the  pub  as  seen  above.

I  recall  it  being  quite  pleasant  for  a  town  centre  pub  despite  an  unprepossessing  appearance  from  outside   and  it's  good  to  see  it  holding  out  against  redevelopment.

95 The Queen Inn - Ashton-under-Lyne

First  visited  : 17  May  2015

We  walked  past  this  one  on  the  way  to  the  Theatre  Tavern   a  few  weeks  back  and  I  was  rather  hoping  I'd  missed  it  out  of  the  book.  It  did  actually  close  for  a  period  around  2010  but  has  re-opened.

Actually  though,  our  visit  today  was  quite  enjoyable. The  pub  is  small, cheap  and  cheerful  with  minimal  decor  but  the  barmaid  or  perhaps  landlady  was  very  friendly,  particularly  towards  Simon. The  sandwich  I  purchased  was  quite  nice.

There  were  a  handful  of  other  punters  showing  not  much  interest  in  Swansea  v  Man  City  and  I'm  not  quite  sure  how  they  make  the  Sky  pay  given  the  limited  capacity.

I'm  not  sure  I'll  be  visiting  again  but  it  was  much  better  than  expected.