BATHAMS IN BLACKPOOL

January 2026. Cleveleys. Blackpool.

This Blackpool tram map is getting some use. More use than the actual trams that Friday, anyway.

Two uncoventional new pubs in the GBG in Cleveleys, but the Wobblinn has one thing that might attract the Pub Men.

No, not the seating, or the fire extinguisher;

it’s the beer advertised on the entrance (top) that Blackpool Jane dived for last week.

“How do you expect me to choose between Bathams and Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby ?” I whine to the lady from Kidderminster,

but one sip tells me I’ve made a rare correct decision.

Well, looks like I scored it a 5. You’re only allowed to score six of those in your life (joint members can use their wives allocation), so this is A BIG THING. Rarely seen outside the Black Country, and if I’m honest not always as good as its mythical reputation, this was less sweet than I’ve had in Wolves.

As well as a perfect pint you a soundtrack of late 70s pop,

Marshall Hain and Alicia Bridges played to complete disinterest to Cleveley folk who looked like they’d have been 18 in 1978.

“Show us the lacings “.

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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.

44 thoughts on “BATHAMS IN BLACKPOOL”

      1. Martin, I had that “Bathams and Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby” dilemma in Church Eaton’s Royal Oak eighteen days ago and opted for two pints of the Ruby Mild as I can get Bathams in Lichfield’s Horse and Jockey every month or two. ( The cobs were easier – cheese and onion for my wife, hot pork and stuffing for me )
        But in Lichfield’s Horse and Jockey it’s a Bathams, Holdens or Bass dilemma.
        I can be tough in the Midlands.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Dilemmas eh, Paul?

        I was just wondering whether to switch from Boltmaker to a Vocation which I fancied, but I know for a fact that the TT has been well pulled through.

        Tough, what?

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I was 17 in 1978. Already a frequent visitor to the Walnut Tree (long gone) and the Railway (still going last time I looked). Bass in the former, Border in the latter. Oh, and the Acton, now an Ember Inn!

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    1. Not necessarily rowdy, Lana.
      One of Martin’s and my friends is Jon of Frome who is a concert pianist. Imagine the astonishment several years ago of the Star’s barmaid in Bath when he surprised us all with several minutes on the pub’s piano at the far end of the historic pub.

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  6. Congratulations on finding “probably the best beer you’ll ever have”, according to the description of NBSS 5, leading to disappointment with every beer you drink from now on.

    Erm, I meant to say, “hope you find another one soon!”

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    2. Someone on Twitter said “I had the Bathams at their tap, it was no better than a 3”, which says a lot.

      Actually, I’ve found it 3.5 tops in their tap (Bull & Bladder) and the Great Western in Wolves, two wonderful pubs.

      The Wobblin is not my idea of a wonderful pub, pokey and cold, but they know how to serve beer.

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      3. Save the language debate for Discourse, Will !

        Could you improve a 5 with a completely blemish free glass ? Or by putting a flake in a banked Bass in Stockton ?

        I look forward to debating the Tamworth Tap in a safe space tomorrow.

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    4. I’ll give a 5i (I’m not a CAMRA so it’s an imaginary number) to the pints of TT Boltmaker that I had in the Old White Beare near Halifax yesterday. (No autovacs.)

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      2. Well coincidentally a couple of hours ago I was mentioning Ossett and Thornbridge beers this lunchtime in a Penkridge pub to a Yorkshireman behind the bar of Stafford’s best pub and on suggesting the need for an Autovac he realised that, for once, I wasn’t being serious !

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  7. Great song from Marshall Hain, we had the ‘Don’t Walk, Boogie’ compilation LP from 1978 in our house – probably my big sister’s. I’ll certainly be looking out for a Bathams – as someone who lives in the Midlands it surely cant be too hard to track down?

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    1. DLR,
      Their twelve pubs are detailed on the website.
      bathams.co.uk/pubs/
      Free trade outlets were also listed not long ago but I can’t see them now.
      Wier am yow ?

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    2. Whereabouts in the Midlands, though ? Till recently it was the dozen or so Bathams houses in the Black Country and the Great Western in Wolves, but Bathams seems to be playing on its cult status and popping up in north-west micros of late !

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    3. Which one of the duo was Marshall, and which one Hain? Asking for a friend, as the female performer had that knowing nod and a wink which, along with a smile, would melt a young man’s heart.

      It might have been mine, as I was an impressionable 23 year old back in 1978!

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    4. I have the Alicia Bridges album ($1.00). It was impressive. She had multiple musical styles thereupon. However, only the disco songs got any airplay. So when the disco backlash kicked in months later, she was cast aside. ☹️

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    1. Oh yes you’re back home now ! I did read some of your lovely Port Vale posts a year back I think but forgot the personal details. Yoor writing reminds me of “Abraham Arbuthnot” (sp. ?) who wrote for the Northampton Town fanzine 30 years ago.

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    1. Agreed, AP! The Bathams and the Sarah Hughes are the obvious attractions, but what is it with CAMRA and their penchant for shop conversions? I can just imagine those beer mats, in a few years time, when they’re faded and flaking – cheap, but not exactly cheerful!

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      1. I think you’re capturing the dilemma about the best beer not always coming in the best pubs, Paul. Some of us would wish that in Tonbridge the Punch & Judy and Man of Kent had the beer quality of Fuggles or the Nelson Arms (good as those two are).

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