June 2025. Shevington. Greater Manchester.
I was comparing notes on the trickiest looking new entry in Greater Manchester this year, wondering how to possibly get to Shevington, tucked away in the wilderness between Standish (aka Stockport in GBG ’99) and Skelmersdale, about which the less said the better.
Well, just stay on the train from Wigan to Southport for 10 minutes to Gathurst and walk a mile north.
Gathurst ?
A mysterious place, with no discernible life bar a station pub (patience !) and a sign for soft fruit.
Is that cheap ? I have no idea.
The mile walk along Shevington is the dullest I’ll do all year (well, since Hillingdon); this is sort-of-posh Wigan, with a salon called SNOB to prove it.
Actually, it’s not that pretentious, and the only pub in the village (sure I did a Silver Tally years ago) is pleasingly food free.
1905, eh ? A good year for Edwardian pubs, and my grandfather Eddie was born.
120 years later it’s a bit “solid”. Some might say plain but that’s unfair; it’s immaculate. Three blokes sit on high stools at the bar, I take my pint of Hobgoblin Gold into the solid seating of the lounge.
Blimey, they’re playing Heart Radio loud, “Texas Hold ‘Em” at ear-splitting volume. I move to the side wall, but it’s little better. Still, the beer is cool and chewy (NBSS 3.5), and one of the great things about the Good Beer Guide is that you can make the GBG with just good beer.
The landlady pops round to make sure I’m not doing drugs or using the CAMRA “experience”, I nod, and make a polite exit via the loos with Manchester complete.
They are, without a doubt, the most spotless loos in Wigan.
retiredmartin 
She asked me that too – very keen that the beer was well received. An echo of Holt’s about it – the sort of entry that once filled the Guide in these parts. Pubmeister
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The Southworth twins would appreciate the beer quality, but it’s the sort of pub with “tight” beer range some might thing is in the past, GBG wise.
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