retiredmartin

April 2025. Aspull. Greater Manchester.

Right, a night out in Bolton, with elite company. #LiveAsYouDream

I even got a brand new GBG tick in the mysterious lands betwixt Wigan and Bolton, aka Pie Country.

Over 30 years I must have driven through Aspull a dozen times, and never noticed the Colliers Arms.

But how could you miss that exterior ?

Recently taken over by local micro Escape, it’s an absolute joy,

cleverly pitching its own cask (Caravan a crisp 3.5),

up against some enterprising crafty keg.

In Sheffield, Loxley does a similar job, but the Raven fails to look lived in.

In contrast, the Colliers looks lived-in for 320 years. There’s Old Boys standing impatiently at the door at 2pm opening, joined by a family of Crystal Palace fans who choose Amstel, Corona and J20s, so hardly GBG tickers.

The young barman is cheery and charming and plays Fontaines DC, but doesn’t understand a word I’m saying, particularly when I ask him the origin story behind the tin of Mulligatawny soup on the shelf. It’s a long story, apparently.

I’m so enraptured by the soup story I neglect to notice the pies under a plastic lid; you should NEVER turn down an artisanal pork pie (NPPSS 4) anywhere within 20 miles of Wigan.

There’s mustard art in the Gents,

but wisely I resist putting actual mustard on my pie this time.