TELL ME SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT ORRELL

12th February 2023.

A few interesting new Guide entries in “Greater Manchester” this year, including Prestwich, Radcliffe, Lowton and Orrell.

Now, I know where Orrell physically is, tucked between sumptuous Skelmersdale and wonderful Wigan with the M6 roaring past.

But I know next to nothing about it. And I HATE not knowing more than you lot about anywhere. I thought they had a successful rugby league team, but to my horror I now discover it was actually a union outfit that dropped like a stone after professionalism ruined rugby 25 years ago.

What’s it got now ?

From a rapid exploration, I noted abandoned council offices,

a sports pub serving Doom Bar,

and a smart new bar of the sort you get in places like Harlow and Corby with “Lounge” on the end, or a modern gin bar in Atherton.

The Posthouse probably comes into its own in the evenings. On Sunday lunchtime, two gentlefolk having fish and chips (is that allowed on Sundays ?) constituted the custom.

I’m glad places like this make the Guide (assuming the beer is good enough, which it was); it proves CAMRA members aren’t completely scared of young people’s vcnues.

Two beers from Wily Fox (no, me neither), the Crafty Fox a cool NBSS 3, and a soundtrack that veered wildly from the Emotions

to the La’s

Drama, you ask ? Well, a couple came in and asked if they allowed dogs, but they didn’t. I’m afraid I silently cheered.

Mrs RM would have loved it.

Anyway, what did I miss in Orrell ? Oh, possibly this.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

15 thoughts on “TELL ME SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT ORRELL”

      1. I wasn’t sure if you were pulling my leg there (and that Romilly is full of dogs) but I’m assuming not with your Wetherspoons comment and therefore Romilly is dog free? I’ve nothing against the place, but it’s never on my radar for some reason and I used to live close by. I’d have imagined its catchment area is full of people with dogs, but I can also imagine they’d take the piss and the beer garden ending up resembling Crufts.

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      2. The lounge and garden area are strictly no dogs and this is enforced assiduously.

        In turn this means that they can also require children to be properly controlled, which you obviously can’t do if you allow animals complete freedom.

        It’s a basic point that so many miss.

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  3. I used to work with a bloke who supported Orrell RFC who could occasionally be found getting close up and personal, shall we say, with a female member of staff in a stockroom or a lift.

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  4. “a smart new bar of the sort you get in places like Harlow and Corby with “Lounge” on the end” – quite likely the “Lounge” brand of Loungers, founded in 2002, who operate 206 sites in England and Wales across two distinct but complementary brands, Lounge and Cosy Club.

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      1. I get dragged to the Cosy Club in Cardiff Bay by work colleagues and the Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout is quite good there (I was concerned that no-one else would be drinking it), but I despise the place.

        One of the Lounges has just opened in Canton, Cardiff, and having looked on the ‘about’ page its founders (three or four guys not much older than me) say they founded the chain 20 years ago as they wanted a place they’d like drinking in, which means that when they were in their late 20s/early 30s, they basically wanted to be in a place full of middle aged and middle class women. They’re obviously loaded now, so it worked out a treat for them.

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      3. Martin,
        I’ve only drunk in the Birmingham and Bournemouth Cosy Clubs.
        Their many more smaller “Lounge” venues tend not to have cask beer hence not having used their Verso Lounge in Stafford.

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  5. Tripe!

    It’s Tripe, that’s the interesting thing about Orrell. All the Lancashire Tripe Barons live there.

    (that doesn’t look like a lounge by the way)

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