More from last weekend (19-20 Jan), with a trip to beautiful Bolton, always good for a GBG surprise or two.
The walk from the station to my new pub is a story of continued decline, with a string of boarded shops on and off Bradshawgate, and some tired looking recent GBG pubs (sadly, Sparkles isn’t one of them).
Yes, there’s the usual sprinkling of redbrick buildings,
and some fish’n’chip bargains
but the pedestrianised shopping streets along Newport Street fail to stir the soul.
Wigan stole a march on Bolton with their impressive shopping developments in the last decade, and I begin a mental note to bury Bolton (pun intended) in my post.
It’s a good job the town still has some civic grandeur.
I had no idea where “Great Ale @ The Vaults” is, as I’ve never heard of the Vaults. I wandered aimlessly, trying to get WhatPub loaded while bumping into gentlefolk carrying Primark bags.
And then it hit me. It’s in the vaults of a shopping centre.
And what a shopping centre it is, with the restoration of Victorian vaults a work of art to compare to Bradford’s Sunbridge Wells. I’ve no need for shops at my age, of course, but this is wonderful.
The highlight of my trip to the Gents is the scariest loo art of the year so far.
Great Ale will split opinion among pubbers, with a setting alongside chain restaurants, an excess of purple, and high tables.
Quite a contrast to the earthier Great Ale outlet at the market, this is the sort of flashy bar you expect from cutting edge places like Southport (e.g. Tap & Bottles). But it’s quirky and cheery and with helpful staff who want to offer you tasters, so beware.
A bit early for Bolton’s youth, the lunchtime custom came for four coffee drinkers, so my Outstanding beer probably needed the pulling through it got. Very tasty but not cool (NBSS 3).
To its credit, some really good pub snacks like cheese plates and local pork pies, but by now I had my mind set on goat curry.
Music was flooding the Vaults from an unmanned piano, an instrumental version of Boogie Wonderland. Stuff yer Las Vegas.
Boogie Wonderland on a player piano! Just as Earth Wind & Fire had always intended.
I’d say the main problem with “Great Ale” is the name. It’s like naming an accounting firm, “Our Accountants Are Top Notch, Honestly.”
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I agree, Mark, another naff name for a bar/micro/bottle shop. What’s wrong with Ye Olde King’s Head @ The Vaults, eh ?
Is “player piano” the word for those automated things then ? I had an uncle who had a room in his house in the Fens full of automatons from the last century. Odd.
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“an excess of purple,”
The abundance of purple might be due to the fact that they won a Revo Purple Apple Award last year. 😎
Cheers
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Is that, like, true ?
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Yup. 😊
It concerns the Marketplace itself vice The Vault but;
https://boltonmarketplace.co.uk/about/
(2nd paragraph under Award Winning Service). 😎
Cheers
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Surely as they’re in the vaults Deep Purple would be a better name ?
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👏
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Surely as they’re in the vaults Deep Purple would be a more suitable name ?
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So good I posted it twice.Apologies.Some of my posts don’t seem to appear.
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A few of your posts went to Spam, alongside the “advisors” and pill hawkers. Were you in a Wetherspoons when you posted them ?
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No.
But I do have a cousin in Nigeria who has some important news for you …
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I’ve always wanted to meet the Council officer who sent £10k to a bank account in Abuja to assist with the transfer of £2.735 million to the council.
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And your icon thingy beside your name changed too! Spooky. 🙂
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So did you try Sparkles as an obvious pre-emptive them?
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Only Si and Duncan feel obliged to do pre-emptives as obvious as that. What would they have said if I’d asked for my Bass flat ?
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Divided opinion about purple lighting in drinking establishments. As if. You’ll have us choking on our flat Bass. Are you sure it’s not the bar formerly known as the Bass Museum? That had a purple stage when it’s Worthington E was served freezing cold in plastic glasses whilst being in the GBG.
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I remember that ! Not a success.
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It was quite a savvy move to put another Great Ale in Bolton, as the removal of the old Bus Station where the market is, is costing business footfall over that side.
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Oh I see. Actually the market was busy on Sat lunchtime, the Vaults wasn’t. I’ve been in Bolton at night enough to see how variable it is.
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Yes, Bolton is indeed all over the place in many aspects of social interactions, renovations and generally curious building decisions.
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