April 2025. Bolton.
Pub no. 4 on our trio’s mini-Bolton crawl, and following the old indoor market bar we head for the one in the new shopping centre.
Great Ale at the Vaults does most of what it says on the tin,
tucked away in the basement next to mini-golf and Nandos and the slightly disturbing toilet art.
A riot of purple, it’s a casual bar attracting a mix of folk,
none of them drinking the cask. And Jane heads straight for the fridge before deciding there’s nothing strong and weird enough for her,
and settling on the Red Rose stout.
which like in 2018 is tasty but lacks that bit of coolness to secure GBG status.
I guess “Good Ale and Interesting Baked Good at the Vaults” lacks a little something.
Right, enough modernity; lets head back to 1251.
retiredmartin 
Have you read the Mass Observation book The Pub and the People, about the drinking culture and pub scene of Bolton in the thirties? They even paid a local to do a crawl of pubs in the town!
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I read a bit about that crawl in the Bolton museum I blogged about a few posts back (some great photos there).
Boak and Bailey wrote about the Mass Observation, but I’ve not read the book.
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