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.

115 The Old Grey Mare - Royton

First  visited  :  22  December  2015

Although  I've  recorded  this  one  as  being  in  Oldham , its  postal  address  indicates  that  it's  actually  in  Royton.

It  had  only  just  opened  when  Simon  and  I  visited  this  morning  so  it  was  understandably  deserted. It's  a  large  well-kept  pub  with  a  games  room, small  beer  garden  and  a  small  separate  dining  area. They  had  a  problem  with  the  freezer  so  we  couldn't  sample  the  food. There  were  some  interesting  old  photos  on  the  walls  and  posters  advertising  live  bands  on  a  Friday. The  barmaid  was  very  friendly.

Simon  liked  it  and  there's  no   reason  why  we  wouldn't  visit  again  if  we  were  in  the  area.