I survived my birthday (22/12) but now I need to catch up on the posts, starting with a penultimate G-Manc tick in Westhoughton, the over-performing and fast-growing town betwixt Bolton and Wigan.
Bolton claims it, but it always feels very Wigan to me with its Beer Schools and Provenances and Brewery Taps, though the first thing you see is very Eccles.
What a wonderful town hall.
The Black Edge Brewery Tap is less striking, the sort of unmarked shop conversion you walk past 3 times before seeing the tell-tale high tables.
My usual tactic is to take a first swig of the beer before heading upstairs, so that if a fire alarm goes off I can at least claim the tick. Which is daft.
Upstairs rooms are always empty however packed the downstairs is, no-one wants to be on their own when the fire alarm goes off, I guess.
But the dingbats are upstairs….
I can’t get any of those.
So I head downstairs to sit against the wall and identify a 6 Music soundtrack of the Prince and the Manics and enjoy a crisp, clean Session beer (NBSS 3.5+), a third good place in Westhoughton, though of course I’d rather be sitting in that bench seating in the White Lion drinking Holt.
Such is life. If you tolerate high tables, then your posture will be next.
retiredmartin 
A bad spell of weather
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I knew I had the most intelligent readers.
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I love the light fittings that are appearing in pubs these days -not very original but in the Old Bank of England the chandaliers are made of giant wine glasses -not sure if they are new but the pub was looking as splendid as usual & not packed with city boys -my husband enjoyed reminiscing about his exploits in there back in the day
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I saw your tweet from the Old Bank of England, Pauline, a pub I liked but as you note a bit full of city boys. With more working at home those London city pubs have been really pleasant this year.
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After we went to the Red Cow (only recently re opened -no trade at all ) we ended up in Hung Drawn & Quartered where an ill advised double Cointreau was purchased (ow much ! ) Empty in there too
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Nothing is ill-advised at Christmas, Pauline ! I’m sure someone else was in the H, D & Q the last week. Go one, ow much was it ? £8 ?
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Sadly no recollection of the cost of the cointreau as last drink of night -will wait for cc bill -& my husband says it was the Counting House anyway -oops !
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They all look the same!
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I bought Mrs RM a gin and tonic from the aptly named Four Thieves in Clapham 5 years ago. It cost £10.15. Never forgot it.
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If you tolerate high tables, your posture will be next. Brilliant!
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Underrated, I thought. To be fair, it was a rather slight post, all told.
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See in the Dark
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We WILL get these all eventually.
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I’m not sure what we call those sorts of visual riddles over here but I don’t think it’s “dingbats.” The only one I could figure out was The West Indies, i.e. w e s t in D’Souza. The rest of them would no doubt drive me mad if I had the fortitude to devote more than a couple seconds to them!
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(No idea how the word “Souza” ended up in there! I’m only able to reach your blog on my phone these days, and the software has a mind of its own!)
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Are you using a souzaphone ?
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