122 The Yew Tree - Balderstone

(Acknowledgements  to  www.derekparsons.com  for  the  picture )

First  visited  : 2  April  2016

This  was  a  long-delayed  visit  and  something  of  a  nostalgia  trip.

I  used  to  see  The  Yew  Tree  every day between  1978  and  1983  from  the  windows  of  my  last  school  Bishop  Henshaw  RC  Memorial  School.  The  school's  cross  country  course  , such  as  it  was, went  right  past  it .  A  few  months  before  I  went  to  the  school,  my  Mum  had  dined at  the  Yew  Tree   with  her  playgroup colleagues , in  the  pub's  most  distinctive  feature, a  genuine  Pullman  railway  carriage  which  had  been  parked  beside  it  since  1968. The  carriage  apparently  remained  there  until  1998  when  it  became  too  costly  for  the  pub  to  repair  so  it  was  sold  on  to  the  East  Lancashire  Railway.

Some  of  the  sixth  formers  used  the  pub's  car  park  ; whether  or  not  they  paid  something  for  this  I  couldn't  say.

There  was , probably  still  is , a  bus  stop  right  outside  it  which  I  used  when  returning  from  after  school  activities.

The  pub's  had  a  big  face  lift  since  then  and  is  quite  odd  inside. When  you  go  through  the  front  door  you're  into  a  beige-painted   corridor  and  it's  not  immediately  obvious  where  the  bar  is. In  fact  it's  the  second  door  on  the  right. The  pub  still  does  food  but  I  didn't  sample  any  of  it. It's  spotlessly  clean  and  well  kept.

I  went  in  a  rather  odd  front  lounge  with  painted  photos  of  Edwardian  ( I'm  guessing ) people  whose  names  meant  absolutely  nothing  to  me. But  it  was  the  view  from  the  window  that  captivated  me. Bishop  Henshaw's  has  physically  disappeared ( it  became  known  as   St  Cuthbert's  in  an  unnecessary  sop  to  the  failed  middle  schools  that  used  to  feed  it,  when  they  were  abolished  in  1989 ). Apart  from  a  small  sub-station  on  the  far  left  of  the  site,  all  the  buildings  I  knew   have  been  razed  to  the ground  and  replaced  by  new  ones . I  had  been  back  the  odd  time  for  summer  fetes  and  things  in  the  nineties  but  now  it  is  no  more. There  was  nothing  of  any  great  architectural  merit  to  mourn  but  one's  past  gets  less  tangible  by  the  day  and  sights  like  that  bring  it  home  to  you.

121 The Summit - Thornham

First  visited : 17  February  2016

The  Summit  , bizarrely, is  at  an  obviously  lower  elevation  than  The  Pleasant,  on  the  Rochdale  side  of  the  hill. It  more  or  less  straddles  the  Oldham / Rochdale  border. I  suspected  that  the  current  building  is  not  the  original  pub  and  a  little  digging   clarifies  that  when  we   went  past  in  1978  it  looked  like  this :

 

I  don't  know  when  or  why  the  old  building  was  demolished  but  the  pub  is  now  part  of  the  Flaming  Grill  chain.  Simon  and  I  went  there  for  tea  tonight  and  it  was  quite  good  though  we  had  to  wait  a  long  time  and  there  was  a  pile-up  of  dirty  glasses  on   the  bar  that  stayed  there  all  evening   so  there's  room  for  improvement  in  the  organisation. Maybe  they  were  just  caught  on  the  hop ; it  was  certainly  busier  than  I  expected. The  staff  were  all  very  friendly  and  obliging. If  you  go  through  the  internet  beforehand  they  give  you  a  20%  off  voucher.

Inside  it's  quite  large  with  the  obligatory  TV  screen  at  the  opposite  end  from  the  main  dining  area.

120 The Pleasant - Thornham

First  visited : 13  February  2016

The  Pleasant  is  situated  at  the  top  of  Rochdale  Road  before  it  starts  plunging  into  Rochdale  and  becomes  Oldham  Road.

The  Pleasant  lives  up  to  its  name. It's  relatively  small, friendly  and  spotlessly  clean. There  was  no  one  in  the  nicely  set-out  Lounge  Bar  this  afternoon  but  a  few  people  playing  pool  in  the  snug. There's  some  outside  tables  in  the  back  yard  but  you'd  hardly  call  it  a  beer  garden. The  main  drawback  with  it  is  that  there's  no  parking  facilities  at  all  and  I  had  to  park  quite  a  distance  up  Springfield  Lane  to  the  side  to  get  to  it.

119 Halfway House - Thornham

First  visited : 30  January  2016

We've  dropped  the  ball  a  bit  here  and  missed  out  perhaps  half  a  dozen  pubs  in  the  centre  of  Royton  but  I  can  see  how  it  happened. I  was  initially  using  the  little  red  notebook  for  two  separate  things, one  to  record  the  pubs  passed  and  second  to  write  up  the  trips. Therefore  the  book  starts  with  the  pubs  noted  on  the  14th  October , then  I  left  the  next  5  pages  blank  for  pub  names  before  starting  an  account  of  the  Stoodley  Pike  walk  that  day. Unfortunately  that  never  got  finished  but  I  was  still  intending  to  complete  it   so  when  the  Tipplers  Inn  filled  up  the  last  line  on  the  pages  I'd  left  blank  for  pub  names,  I  had  to  judge  how  many  pages   I'd  need  to  complete  the  Stoodley  Pike  story  before  resuming  the  pub  list. While  I  was  pondering  that  the  bus  whizzed  on  and  so  a  few  pubs  got  missed. I  hope  that  makes  sense.

The  Halfway  House  is  so  named  because  its  half  way  up  the  slope  on  the  flank  of  Tandle  Hill  as  Rochdale  Road  climbs  out  of  Royton  towards  Thornham  Summit. It's  a  John  Willie  Lees  pub  and  seems  to  be  thriving. It's  quite  large  inside , well-lit and  tidy  , with  a  central  bar  serving  separate  areas  for  games / football  watching   and  dining. We  were  a  bit  too  early  for  eating  so  I  couldn't  tell  you  much  about  the  food  but  they  had  a  fair  few  uniformed  young  staff  waiting  around  so  I'm  guessing  it  does  get  quite  busy. The  drinks  seemed  a  bit  expensive.

118 The Tippler's Inn - Royton

Not  visited

There's  a  mention  of  it  on  a  Royton  messageboard  to  prove  it  wasn't  just  a  figment  of  my  imagination  but  otherwise  I've  drawn  a  complete  blank  on  this  one. Anyone  know  anything  more  about  it ?

117 The Marston Tavern - Royton

Not  visited

This  was  on  the  left  hand  side  of   Rochdale  Road. It  closed  in  2011  and  there  is  now  an  Italian  restaurant  on  the  site. I'm  not  sure  whether  any  of  the  original  building  survives.

116 The White Hart

First  visited :  24  January  2016

The  White  Hart  is  a  little  further  on  towards  Rochdale  on  the  right  hand  side. It  looks  spruce  on  the  outside  and  it's  well  maintained  inside  too . It's  sparsely  decorated  but  clean  and  tidy  with  a  number  of  screens  for  football, a  games  room  and  space  for  live  music  on  Fridays. It  has  a  kids  play  area  at  the  back  but  doesn't  appear  to  do  food  which  is  an  odd  combination.

There  were  few  in  it  this  Sunday  afternoon  with  Everton  v  Swansea  on  the  box  but  there  was  a  tasty  barmaid  called  Kirsty  who  was  quite  pleasant.

In  the  games  room  there  was  a  framed  and  signed  picture  of  Joe  Royle  and  I  suspect  it's  getting  by  on  match  day  business.