The 24th of July saw the inaugural branch midweek trip to an out of town destination namely Chorley.

Of course midweek trips had been a regular thing for some time but this one was more inclusive to all members of the branch, members whose circumstances meant an afternoon trip on a weekday was possible. 

A good half dozen of us turned up and all managed to be on the same train but wouldn’t you know it after weeks of unbroken sunshine the rains finally came and we were met at our destination with a light drizzle, no matter the pubs we visited were all within a short walk of the station.

Passing various places we would be gracing with our presence later we homed in on the Bob Inn guided by Bev who had been on the previous ladies day trip, after claiming not to remember where it was she soon picked up the scent and zoomed straight there.

The Bob Inn sits on the outer ring of shops/stalls of the market so has the bar itself, some outside seating and an inner ‘lounge’ both of these are tiny but the seating was adequate for our small band. Some locals were at the bar but no other customers joined us, it was obviously market day and a steady stream of shoppers would pass by. There was plenty of choice for all with IPA’s and stout which proved popular, the room was adorned with various ornaments including a ‘cuddly stags head’ on the wall and fake bookcase wallpaper.

 First of the day had now on to the Flat Iron which was just outside the market, we passed some stalls one of which had two birds of prey on pedestals someone said they were sparrow hawks I wouldn’t know but one had a chicken drumstick in its talons, not a sub-species I would have thought. The Flat Iron had a traditional look to the outside but was clearly modern inside and there was the fake bookcase wallpaper again, beer was cheap though, £4 for two pints.

Outside round the corner to the Shed so called because of the décor, basically tongue and groove panelling, they did serve food but some of our gang missed the sign and brought their own in from the market, the bar people were fine with this which was good of them.

 A relatively (0.3M)long walk now a real gem of a pub on the other side of the railway, The Malt’N’Hops once again a stout was available but also pork pies, sandwiches and pickled eggs, the pies and eggs being only being only 50p each. We sat outside but the interior had lots of dark wood and etched and stained glass.

 Back across the tracks to the bars we passed earlier the Shepherds Hall Ale House and the Ale Station, you would call these micros I suppose but plenty of choice in each for their size, Bev was quite taken with a shaggy white dog in the latter, I said it looked like my bath mat had come to life.

This concluded our very successful trip out, enjoyed by all and I’m looking forward to future outings in the same vein, the next will be Macclesfield.