Manchester Road
Manchester Road runs from St James's Street in the centre south out of Burnley, going past Burnley Manchester Road station as it does so. Burnley Manchester Road is one of two railway stations serving the centre of Burnley, on the Preston to Leeds line. From Blackpool, Preston and Accrington, the fast trains stop here, while the slow ones stop at Burnley Central, on the other side of the town centre. Trains coming from the other direction, from Leeds, Bradford, Halifax and Hebden Bridge, also stop here. You can come to Burnley by bus from Manchester as well. The regular service comes, surprisingly enough, down Manchester Road, on its way to the bus station, handy for Turf Moor, at the bottom of the hill.
You emerge
from the station onto the steep hill of Manchester Road, with Burnley spread out below. It’s a
commanding view, and Turf Moor, to your right, looks magnificent from here - the biggest
thing in the town, literally, metaphorically. There are always some decent drinking options on this stretch, with
the decline of the Mechanics and the Big Window being balanced by the rise of the Inn on the Wharf and the mighty Ministry.
Heading down Manchester Road until it ends
at the bottom at the Old Red Lion on the corner of Manchester Road
and St James’s Street you'll
find the Borough, the Hollywood Star, the Ministry of Ale, the Inn on the Wharf, the Mechanics, the town's new Wetherspoon's pub - the Brun Lea - and
the Big Window. The Burnley
Express offices are also on this street. At the bottom there are plenty
of banks and cash machines between here and the bus station on the way to Turf Moor. Oh, and the police station
too.
The Cattlemarket is just
off to your right, while Hammerton Street to your left has turned into a night time bar area, boasting, if
that's the right word, such haunts as the 'Chicago Rock Cafe' and Iso Bar, and, newly opened, one of those
supposedly Aussie 'Walkabout' places. For pubs, you have the Little White Horse, the
Falcon and one of the clutch of new pubs in town, the Orange House,
before you emerge close to the Garden Bar on St James's Street.
Walking down is a pleasure, although if you're travelling back, you do of course have
to walk up again. You may
need to bring crampons and a sherpa.
Alternatively, if you head up Manchester Road
past the station and keep going, ever up through Rose Hill (by bus if you've got any
sense), past such pubs as the General Williams and the Rose and Crown (of which I know
nothing), then finally at the top of the hill, out of town, you'll come to the Bull and Butcher.
Click here for a map of Burnley centring on the area covered by this crawl.
The
Borough
Halstead Street, next to Manchester Road station
The nearest pub to Manchester Road station. The
Borough is tucked in next to the Leeds bound platform, and appropriately enough sells
Tetley. Unfortunately, this is now Tetley’s smooth. Back in the days before the Inn on the Wharf and then
the Ministry, and when it used to
be the proper stuff on sale, we would call in for quick one before the start of the journey home,
but we grew tired of blokes who hadn’t been to the game telling us how rubbish Burnley
were. A grotty place. In fact, a dump. There are just many better pubs to go to.
The Borough, 14 Halstead Street, Burnley BB11 4HU.
Tel 01282 423873.
Click here for a map.
The
Hollywood Star
Manchester Road
The Hollywood Star forms part of the relatively new Apollo cinema
complex across the road from the station. It was badly damaged the other year by a fire which started in its
kitchens, and both it and the adjoining 'Wacky Warehouse' were closed for some
considerable time. When they re-opened, guess what? Whereas before the fire they
sold beer, albeit mediocre, after rising phoenix-like from the flames, they didn't.
Most mysterious. It wasn't the hand pumps that started the fire, was it? Of course, all pubs should sell real
ale, but this dropping off our agenda was no great loss. It's a predictably soulless and
bland place of the 'big steak' variety. There was a time when this was handy for the station, but we're better served elsewhere these days.
The Hollywood Star, Manchester Road, Burnley BB11 2EG.
Tel 01282 439521.
Click here for a map.
The
Ministry of Ale
Trafalgar Street, off Manchester Road
Just down from the station, on Trafalgar Street off the roundabout, is
a pub that used to be called the Nelson. This was shut for years. However, a couple of years back it was
comprehensively reborn as a
beer den under the new name of the Ministry of Ale. It is now a very good pub indeed. I think I've even grown
to like the name.
Inside it's odd place, though. They obviously did it
out themselves, and it all has a curiously homemade feel. There's something not quite
right in the decor. Is it the non-pub colours of yellow and light green that adorn the walls? Or the
bar, constructed from what look like bits found in a skip? And what about the floor, which
is tiled, but never flat. Indeed, there are signs here and there advising you to look
out for the uneven floor. And it helps if only one person goes to the gents at any one time.
In other words, it's a all a bit makeshift, but of course I find it quite endearing.
One of my
occasional researchers described it after an early visit thus: "This is now the nearest (decent) pub to a
station in
Burnley
and gets my vote for a mandatory visit when Turfing it. It's like a tart's boudoir (all
pine floor, green-stained pine T&G-cladding and two-tone-yellow ragged walls), but
don't let that put you off. The Ministry's bar-top is a piece of 'knobbly-surfaced'
granite-y kitchen work-top - a thing I particularly hate in a pub as it always makes me
think that the renovation has been done by someone with absolutely no taste whatsoever (a
bar should be a slab of, preferably, mahogany about 3" thick...). It has a
bar-billiards table at the back which confused the hell out of the locals (they've never
seen one and can't understand how you play pool with only two balls...)." The bar billiards didn't
last long, as it happens. Probably just as well; on
one visit I got involved in perhaps the lowest scoring game of bar billiards ever. I still
don't know the rules. It's darts instead now, which at least I think I understand.
But enough blather. Beyond all this, and most importantly, the
beer is absolutely excellent. They might not be the world's best grouters, but in this pub they know their ale.
No visit to Burnley is
now complete without a visit to the Ministry. It's become the essential first and last stop
in town, and increasingly impossible to leave after just one pint. The beer is never anything other than first
rate. This is, in my book and those of others I trust,
consistently the best pint in Burnley, bar none. How the local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale can
overlook this pub for inclusion in the Good Beer Guide is beyond me.
If that isn't enough, the Ministry also incorporates a brewery. You can see
the Moonstone Brewery on your right as
you enter. It's a small brewery so what they have available will vary. They do quite a few one off brews, but their
regulars include a dark mild, Dark Star (at 3.5% ABV), a bitter called Tiger's Eye (3.8%), a stronger dark beer,
Moonstone Dark (4.5%),
and a loony juice, Red Jasper (at 6%!). I confess discretion and the need to get through the day mean
I haven't tried the latter. The mild, however, a new addition to their range,
is excellent. I've also had some fantastic pints of Moonstone Dark, which can be very drinkable. There's nothing
wrong with the Tiger's Eye either. Not all of these will be available at the same time, but there should be one of their
beers on the bar. So far, none of the beers are available anywhere else. After
the venerable Moorhouses, this place is Burnley's second brewery, and so no
visit would
be complete without. Even better, landlord Mick has passed on the recent cut in beer duty by reducing the price of
the beer they brew, particularly for the mild, which has been slashed by 20p to an outrageously cheap £1.20. A great pint
and a bargain too. What more do you want?
As well as this, they always have two or three ever changing guest beers
available, including beers that you don't get round here, and they are always immaculately kept too. If they
don't have their own mild on, there's a good chance they'll have Moorhouses Black Cat mild available. Either way, you win.
It's interesting to note that - unlike most Wetherspoon's you could mention - the guest beers in here are generally
of normal strength, so that everyone can drink them. That's a sign of people who understand beer. Hearteningly, on one
recent visit they were planning to get rid of the smooth Boddingtons dispenser because no one was drinking it.
The Ministry also acts as a show pub for Mossbrew
[www.mossbrew.co.uk],
which supplies equipment for microbreweries. Apparently if you're thinking of buying yourself a microbrewery you can
book a training session here, help to
brew some beer, familiarise yourself with the equipment and of course do a tasting of the beers brewed at the Moonstone
brewery.
See the Mossbrew site for more information.
A new development is that they have started hosting art exhibitions at the pub, so you have something to look at as you
down your pint. They also now offer pie and peas on matchdays. Hurrah!
So despite the decor and the name, the fact is
that visit after visit they sell top class beer, including beer made in Burnley, and it's dead close to
Manchester Road station. All in all, this has been an extremely welcome addition to the Burnley beer map.
It's very friendly too, and while it was rather quiet at first, business has definitely picked up and
it seems to be attracting a loyal following.
Highly recommended. Even the walk back up the hill doesn't seem as bad these days.
The Ministry of Ale, 9 Trafalgar Street, Burnley BB11 1TQ.
Tel 01282 830909.
Click here for a map.
Becko's Burnley boozer of the month, February 2002
The Inn
on the Wharf
Burnley Wharf, Manchester Road
Another new (ish) pub on
Manchester Road. Unlike the Hollywood Star, however, the building in which it is housed
isn’t new. The pub forms part of a redevelopment of previously neglected canalside
buildings known as Weaver’s Triangle on the banks of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.
Before the railways, this was the hub of the Burnley, and therefore world, cotton
industry. It’s been sensitively done as well. Nice old warehouse building, stone interior, and
bar staff seem more than usually friendly. It's quite a large pub, but it doesn't feel
like a hanger. It’s a little genteel, perhaps, and naturally, they place an emphasis on
functions and foods. Clean and a little soulless it may be, but there are plenty of pubs dirtier and
rougher in Burnley if that is what you fancy. It's good that somewhere like this sells
real beer.
The pub has changed owners a couple of times since its opening,
and therefore beers, and most recently was sold by Yates's to Nottinghamshire based
Hardy and
Hansons. This was a welcome development, and the Kimberley beers available here are a welcome addition
to the growing diversity of beers you can get in Burnley. Kimberley Best and the stronger Classic are generally
available, along with one other beer from the Kimberley range. Unfortunately the beers always seem to be too cold.
I wonder how close their cellars are to the
canal. As it happens, on one recent visit the beer wasn't too cold for once, but unfortunately it wasn't very nice.
It was one of those pints that gets worse the further you drink down it, and I ended up leaving some of mine.
Horrible thought, but perhaps it’s always been like this, but it’s usually so cold that you can’t tell?
On the food front they're known for doing good meals, although I'm told they're not
as cheap as they used to be.
I think small, discreet groups of away fans might
get a drink in here. The pub is always really quiet on Saturday afternoons and early evenings. To be honest,
this place lost a lot of its value once the Ministry got going.
The Inn on the Wharf, Manchester Road, Burnley BB11 1JG.
Tel 01282 459951.
Click here for a map.
The
Mechanics
Manchester Road, next to the Town Hall
Time was when this was an essential stop, for
drinkers as well as the buses from Manchester, which halt outside.
The Mechanics is Burnley’s arts complex, housing venues for
plays and bands, an exhibition centre, a café and a couple of bars. It was developed from
the former Mechanics Institute in the 1980s and is one of Burnley’s more historic and impressive
buildings, sitting on the beginnings of the slope of Manchester Road next to the Town
Hall.
It also used to have a good bar. The bar downstairs, in at the left through the doors, is the bit that concerns us
here. When the Mechanics first opened this was called the Shuttle Bar, and it was a bit of
a shock to the system. In airy and pleasant surroundings you could sit by the window and
watch the traffic go past while eating good food and drinking excellent beer. Beers tended
to come from little breweries and were supplemented by Moorhouses and, at one time, an
excellent pint from the now defunct Lion Brewery of Burnley. Prices were on the high side
for Burnley, similar to the Sparrow Hawk, and the matchday routine of many
supporters encompassed both, with pre-match drinking starting in the Mechanics and finishing in the
Sparrow.
We should have known it couldn’t last, but
for a while it did. However, some years ago, the council contracted the bar out to be run
by Whitbread. Overnight the enterprising beer range disappeared, along with many of the
customers. The drinks were now supplied from Whitbread's dismal range, and the bar slipped out of the Good
Beer Guide, in which it had been an automatic inclusion. It then changed its name to
‘Oliver’s Bar’ (who’s Oliver?). Downhill all the way. Service also became abysmal.
I stopped coming in for good
after one Saturday lunchtime when for several minutes there was no one working behind the bar.
It now doesn't seem to be going as a
beer-selling concern at all. This is a terrible shame, because when it was well-run it
used to be one of the best things in Burnley, and it could be again if someone tried.
The Mechanics, Manchester Road, Burnley BB11 1JA.
Tel 01282 664400.
Website www.leisureinburnley.co.uk.
Click here for a map.
The
Brun Lea
Manchester Road, between the Mechanics and the Big Window
No, I'm sorry. I've tried, but I don't like this place. Don't like it at
all. In fact, I think it's dreadful.
What a shame. The coming of Wetherspoon's to Burnley
was eagerly awaited, certainly by me. It's easy to get blasé about these
ten-a-penny places in the south, but they're less thick on the ground in the north, and as guaranteed real ale retailers
they have a role to play in town centres where many pubs have gone smooth. I long thought that Burnley was the sort of town
that could use a Wetherspoon's. It took so long to get this place going, too, with numerous rumours of sites around the town
centre being explored until they settled on this spot on Manchester Road, which then took an age to build. Once open, what a
disappointment.
For a start, it looks terrible. Unlike many Wetherspoon's pubs, which are converted from interesting old buildings
(banks, cinemas, old supermarkets) and try to make use of original features, this has been built
from scratch. Unfortunately, this evidently gave the designers a free hand, and they've come up with some sort of
retro-kitsch café bar concept. No big deal in the West End, perhaps, where we're used to this nonsense, but it looks
ridiculous in Burnley. It doesn't look like a pub so much as a set from the next Austin Powers movie. Naff name, too.
At least it's not called the Moon Under Water, but was that the best they could come up with?
It's actually quite small by the standards of a new Wetherspoon's, which means it only resembles a medium-sized hanger.
Naturally it's big compared to traditional pubs, but the Wetherspoon's model is based on selling a lot of booze to a
lot of people,
and compared to others of theirs I've been in, it feels crowded. It is busy on a Saturday lunchtime. Bargains and special
offers on food and drink might have something to do with that.
As for the drink, I'd heard their range wasn't good, so I was pleasantly surprised on my first visit to see handpumps
for small and regional breweries on the bar. Perhaps they gear up for weekends. That said, they'd made the usual error -
all the beers were stronger than standard ones. Why not give people the option of drinking responsibly by offering a
normal strength pint? See the Ministry, above. However many beers they have on, it seems they will only have
ultra-bland Theakston's at normal strength. Try asking the staff about this. You might as well be talking a foreign
language.
And then there was the other, usual Wetherspoon's trick, of advertising things they don't sell.
The range might have looked impressive, but they weren't actually selling all of them. I know someone who asked for a
pint of something he saw a hand pump for only to be told they didn't have it. There followed the usual argument of
asking them to turn it round - the normal way in English pubs of signifying that a beer isn't available - which met with
the usual response that to do so isn't company policy. This happens time and again in Wetherspoon's pubs, and it's
dishonest and borders on illegal. They are effectively putting up a sign for something that they don't sell. They are
pretending they sell things that they don't, and then once you're at the bar the expectation is that you'll settle for
something else. It might be company policy, but I can't see them doing this in the
Coal Clough,
Ministry of Ale
or Sparrow Hawk.
These are Burnley's premier real ale pubs, and that is the standard that Wetherspoon's, with their famed commitment
to real ale, should be aspiring to.
I've been in since and decided there's no point doing so again. I've had four pints in here but still haven't
had a good one. On one occasion I was served something akin to pond water, and of course I had to ask to have it
changed. It never occurred to the bloke serving me that it wasn't an acceptable pint. Then I tried to order
something to eat and they didn't have my first, second or third choices from the menu, until it got to the point
where I had to ask them to indicate the bits of the menu they were serving so I could choose one. I decided that this was
not a professional operation, and did not deserve my custom.
It's disappointing, because in other local towns Wetherspoon's have made a welcome contribution. In nearby Nelson,
for example, they took over an existing, terrible pub and turned it into the only decent place to drink in a real ale
desert (the Station, opposite the railway station, should you ever find yourself there).
In Preston, they built a new pub from nothing, but it feels like a pub inside and sells Thwaites Mild at 99p a
pint. I'm not an out and out Wetherspoon's hater or enthusiast, although I know people in both camps. I think these
places can perform a useful role and you have to use them for what they offer. There are great Wetherspoon's and terrible ones. Unfortunately, this is one of the terrible ones.
So much depends on the manager, so perhaps it can
change, although we'd still be stuck with the decor.
One positive thing: while they have doormen, at least certainly on home Saturdays, their main concern seems to be
that people remove their baseball caps before entering. Quite right too.
The Brun Lea, 31-39 Manchester Road, Burnley BB11 1HG.
Tel 01282 463700.
Click here for a map.
The
Big Window
Manchester Road
This had a brief spell a while back under the guise of ‘J J
Murphy’s’, an fake Irish theme bar. I’m pleased to say that the trend for
pseudo-Gaelic pubs never really caught on in Burnley. They came late and didn’t last
long. After a short time, it reverted to its former name of the Big Window, and the fake Irishness
ended up in a skip.
Ironically, the Murphy period was when it actually sold the best beer. Before then it
had been a bog standard pub selling mediocre beer, an occasional stop en route to better
places. When it went all ‘Irish’ they installed a bafflingly complex interior,
but also sold decent pints of Castle Eden and
Tim Taylor’s Landlord on a
semi-regular basis. We put to one side our disdain for the fake Irish concept and visited
frequently for the sake of the beer. Now as the Big Window it is oriented on food and youth,
so sells no beer, so we are no longer interested. There are
usually doormen on matchdays to stop you getting in, as if you’d want to.
The window's not even
that big.
The Big Window, 13-19 Manchester Road, Burnley BB11 1HG.
Tel 01282 413632.
Click here for a map.
The
Cattlemarket
Corner of Elizabeth Street and Thomas Street
An amusing name, given that many pubs and bars in
town could reasonably be called this on a Saturday night, but a fair enough one given that
the area around the bus station apparently used to be occupied by the town’s
cattlemarket. This is a little pub tucked between the bus station and Manchester Road. We
used to call in quite often, as it sold reasonable Boddingtons and had a terrible jukebox.
Then the jukebox had its most offensive items removed and the
beer gave way to smooth. Perhaps they didn't want us to go in!
I'm now told that following a refurbishment,
the hand pump has now returned, which clearly calls for
renewed investigation. Local researchers report okay Worthington's. Clearly, that's nothing special - in fact it's the blandest
of the bland - and
there will always be better pubs around here, but the more pubs that sell beer, the better.
The Cattlemarket, 10 Elizabeth Street, Burnley BB11 2BQ.
Tel 01282 421151.
Click here for a map.
The
Falcon
Hammerton Street
Ah, the Falcon, a pub that sold beer when most
didn’t and also played host to some truly dreadful local indie bands in the room
upstairs (the Kestrel suite?). Although always a rather gloomy place, time was when you'd come here for a pint
because you wouldn't get any elsewhere. Alas, at some point it was turned into some daft-named bar,
and then it closed down completely. In 2001, however, it reverted to its proper name, received
a sympathetic refurbishment, and re-opened. Pleasing news. Recently they have sold Draught
Bass, Flowers IPA and (it's getting better)
Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Bass and Flowers
are two beers I'm never going to like, but the Landlord's sounded promising. Alas, on a
July 2001 visit the Landlord's was vinegar. When the barman could be prevailed upon to
stop fiddling with his CDs for a minute to change it, we got a pint of Flowers that was,
to speak technically, yucky. This was a shame, as I really wanted to like this
place, and if it sold a decent pint it would
be worth a visit, as it's handily positioned. In fairness, it was early days then, and
perhaps a hot Saturday night wasn't the best time to judge. We'll have to see how it goes. It
would be nice if this place back on the map to stay, providing a real nostalgia trip
for some of our older travellers.
The Falcon, Hammerton Street, Burnley.
Tel 01282 421444.
Click here for a map.
The
Little White Horse
Hammerton Street
Promises topless barmaids but no real ale. No, I haven't been tempted.
The Little White Horse, 18 Hammerton Street, Burnley BB11 1NA.
Tel 01282 424517.
Click here for a map.
The
Orange House
Hammerton Street
This is a relatively new addition to the town's expanding range of pubs,
converted from what was once the
legendary night spot Panama Joe's. Apparently these Orange Houses are a new chain, although there are not
currently many of
them. It's predictably a sub-Wetherspoon's kind of place. The decor is clean and bland, the pub is huge,
and on a couple of visits it's been packed.
Again, this may be down to the cheap food and beer available. There's a predictable menu (although you seem to get
plenty of food), the staff wear uniforms,
and the beer
is unexciting. This is not to be too critical. The pub's fine for what it is, as a place to get a bite and a pint when you're
out and about town,
and it's a good thing
that they sell any kind of beer to go with your food,
when many town centre pubs don't. But the difference between these post-Wetherspoon's
chains and the real thing is that
Wetherspoon's pubs generally attempt to provide some beer choice. Here you choose between Theakston bitter,
which is simply boring, and Webster's Green Label.
Bloody hell, do they still bother making this stuff? It was never any good, and the brewery has long gone.
Some middle manager in whichever multinational owns the naming rights must have forgotten to stop
production of this. Out of curiosity, I had a pint. It was bland, plain and easy to drink.
However, it was also 99p a pint.
I imagine they sell a lot of it on that basis. Although I don't rate it as worth a detour, I may call in again -
if it's my round.
The Orange House, 13-17 Hammerton Street, Burnley BB11 1NA.
Click here for a map.
The
Bull and Butcher
Top of Manchester Road
Have been past this place many a time on the
Manchester-Burnley bus, and as by this stage I'm generally keen to get into the centre of
Burnley, I've never found time to call in. This is out of town at the top of the hill,
with pleasantly bleak countryside around and commanding views down to Burnley. Various
Burnley supporters groups have used this pub as a meeting point in the past. The new landlord
seems keen to keep his ties with Burnley
supporters. He e-mailed me a bit back to report that they were opening for refurbishment
in December 2000, and were offering Timothy Taylor's
Landlord and Black Sheep Bitter,
which sounds like excellent news to me. It did for a while labour under the daft moniker
of the 'Slaughtered Lamb' - a reference to the pub in An American Werewolf in London
- but now good taste and the foot and mouth crisis seem to have prevailed, and it has
reverted to its old, 19th Century, name. A handy staging post on the road route into town.
The Bull and Butcher, Manchester Road, Habergham Eaves, Burnley BB11 5NP.
Tel 01282 414428.
Click here for a map.
Last updated November 2002
Burnley pub pages main menu
