FABULOUS FARNWORTH – PHOENIX NIGHTS, TICKING AFTERNOONS

January 2024. Farnworth.

Let’s complete a “county”, shall we.

OK, it’s only Greater Manchester, generally a doddle as it’s my next county from home and I pop in there most months for haircuts and agonies at the Etihad.

But my last tick is in Farnworth, part of Bolton, and a tricky little trip to the land that time the GBG forgot, a trip I thrillingly take by BUS. Yes, a BUS.

Farnworth, where Peter Kay grew up, and Phoenix Nights was filmed at St Gregory’s.

My only previous venture out here was to the Britannia many years ago, so the Kings Arms seems a real act of exploration. I check my birth certificate (22/12/**) to make sure I’m over 21.

Interesting opening times too.

Wow, what a joyful way to end a Guide chapter.

Particularly joyful for aficionados of the slightly sweary 4pm back street boozer, though the occasional “blimey !” and “gosh !” are some way from what you’d get in Chelmsford.

“What they f*****g doing ?”

“I can’t f*****g remember !”

This is a triumph for Bolton CAMRA. A Proper Pub in a part of town with little cask, serving some interesting beers including a bargain (£3.20) Plum Porter that edged up from 3.5 to 4.

And just like that, Greater Manchester (no such place) had fallen.

I could have stayed for a second, but with some alarm I suddenly realised that I needed to catch a train to Victoria for an (overdue) haircut that left in 14 minutes, and Google was telling me I was 20 minutes away from. Only time to linger at the library, then.

Unknown's avatar

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.

18 thoughts on “FABULOUS FARNWORTH – PHOENIX NIGHTS, TICKING AFTERNOONS”

  2. Fabulous Farnworth, you have got to be joking, it’s an absolute shithole and should be in the top three in “Crap Towns”. The Kings wasn’t selling real ale last time I was in Farnworth and the only decent pub was the Bridgewater Hotel a Sams pub. All the rest were full of sweary high vis blokes Ffffing and blinding even though there were kids in the bar. What a dump.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    2. Why don’t you have the balls to say that in Farnsworth instead of hiding behind your computer keyboard like the coward you are?

      Like

      Reply

      2. Listen you dog egg, I was brought up in Farnsworth and it’s a proper working class place full of decent people. Anyone who thinks we’re all sweary blokes in hi vis is a fucking twat!

        Like

      3. You only need to see that Carnegie library and other civic buildings to realise how daft that comment was.

        Bolton gets a lots of slagging off but the town centre is great. Always loved the museum and aquarium.

        Thanks for defending your town.

        Like

    1. Stafford’s got one, a lovely building but disused since all the books were moved to a soulless newbuild the County Council couldn’t lease to anyone.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. I don’t mind Bolton at all, in fact we had a crawl there late last year and I also used to work there. But Farnworth isn’t Bolton it’s a separate entity really. Interesting that someone who claims to have been brought up in Farnworth can’t spell it correctly!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment