The road or track to Rochdale as the case may be took us on a fine sunny day to the birthplace of the co-operative movement, although some of us went by train and one traveller took the tram we arrived at the same time this wasn’t planned it was pure coincidence.

First meet up was the Regal Moon the wetherspoons slap bang in the middle of town a quick snack and a dazzling array of heavyweight beers, Black Bee and Wobbly Bob both from Phoenix, award winning 1872 Porter from Elland and the standards Windermere Pale and Greene King IPA.

Outside the Spoons and facing directly opposite is the Wellington formerly a club now re-opened as a bar/restaurant, on first entering you are greeted with a very up market interior part Georgian sitting room and grand dining hall in miniature, however the beer on offer was a well-balanced mixture. A rare sight anywhere is to see a bitter, blond and dark beer making up the three hand-pumps on the bar namely Donkey Stone Bray, Phoenix Arizona and Serious Moonlight. Chatting to the owner he says some people do stick their heads through the door and are intimidated by the fancy interior, no need to worry there was some fine beer to be had in pleasant and decorative surroundings.

Up through the shopping centre past the recently exposed River Roch to the famous Baum a former national Pub of the Year. We sat in the conservatory at the back enjoying the late summer sunshine with our 7 Brothers Peach , Blackjack poker face and another Serious Brewing Moonlight. Not many people around in the afternoon so easy to see the interior of the bar which is full of traditional knick knacks , the pub is in the heritage area which includes the Rochdale Pioneers Museum next door to the pub.

A short trip back down alongside the ring road and through the cenotaph gardens, sitting opposite the magnificent Victorian Gothic Town hall is the Medicine Tap which is in the former general post office a concept familiar to the T&H branch but this one is on a much grander scale to our own Barking Dog in Urmston. A café/bar/restaurant which opens at 9am and serves beer around midday, there is plenty of the stuff on offer, two banks of 5 handpumps at opposite ends of the bar selling the same thing actually so five beers; Torrside Pale, Reedley Hallows Pendleside, Welsh Pride from Conwy and a Rammy Craft being among them. In the middle of the bar is an impressive keg row mounted on one of those brass tube arches or elongated ‘n’s, there’s probably a proper name for them which escapes me at the moment.

Now another treat the regional POTY The Flying Horse Hotel, busy in the early evening Serious Brewing was once again evident and Pictish this time Brewers Gold. Ben, the landlord got wind we were from T&H branch and after a chat invited us on a tour of the cellar and very impressive it was covering the footprint of the building and is typical of a large cellar had a bewildering tangle of pipes and coolers alongside the many kegs and casks. This was our last port of call and I think we had definitely seen the best of Rochdale, a Friday social is on the cards for the rest of the branch.

Trafford and Hulme’s second midweek outing took us down the line to the town of Macclesfield famous as the Silk Town and also the Treacle Town, apparently a cartload of the gooey substance was once overturned in the street and the residents of the time came out in force to scoop it all up.

First stop had to be the Waters Green Tavern because a. it is a stones throw from the station b. it was open and c. it’s a damn fine pub, we were not disappointed, more hand pumps than you could shake a stick at, Barnsley Bitter and Salopian Oracle were our choices to go with our meals which were to be fair pricy but good.

Cross the road and you enter the Old Millstone, not much to report here, a hasty half of black sheep and we were off up the hill to the vicinity of the town square. Here we found the Five Clouds Tap and Bottle a newer place in the now familiar ‘shop front’ type, one hand pump dispensing Track Sanoma and a number of keg lines of varying strengths and styles one of which was Thornbridge Hellas Lager sampled by one of our number.

Setting of now down the hill past the splendid town hall from the Georgian era, 1823 to be exact, through the busy shopping district to the lower part of town and into the Jolly Sailor, a pub full of quirky artefacts we sat at a very shiny wooden table which seemed much too good for us to be putting our pint pots on. There was a good choice on the bar as well, Draught Bass, Harvest Pale and a couple from Storm Brewing, we stayed a while here and took in the surroundings. A curiosity on the windowsill next to us appeared to be Japanese in origin it looked like a soup or tea urn in the middle of two plate holders with small paraffin or candle heaters underneath them attached at either side. Scattered around the walls among the days gone by photos were musical instruments old and new, none of us are musical enough to play anything so we just admired them.

Opposite now to the Snow Goose Cafe Bar multi roomed and multi layered run it seemed by two women with an eye for décor and furnishing which made every room different. Musical instruments hanging on the wall was again a feature but on this pleasant afternoon we sat in the back among old wooden casks and some interesting stone features. Beer once again featured Storm Brewing this time Hailstorm and Ale Force and a Moorhouses called Nick O Pendle a cycling reference I think

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No time really to visit anymore pubs and there are plenty, Macclesfield is very much a dormitory town and a lot of places didn’t open until 4pm so maybe next time or perhaps a Saturday trip to do the town justice.

Are you free on Tuesday 30th October?

On 30th October hundreds of CAMRA members will descend on Parliament to lobby their MPs in a national day of action.

We will be asking MPs to commit to the following CAMRA campaigns:

- Axeing plans to increase beer duty in the upcoming Autumn Budget. 

- A permanent business rate relief for pubs in the upcoming Autumn Budget.

- An urgent review of the Pubs Code so that the Market Rent Only option becomes a genuine choice for tenants. 

Interested in taking part? Click here to download our FAQs document on the timings of the day, being a delegate and claiming travel expenses..

The branch has recently been informed of the sad loss of one of its long-standing members, Mike Kerr, who lost his fight with cancer on Wednesday the 18^th July. 

Mike was most active with the branch during the branch’s early 2000s renaissance under the chairmanship of Neil Worthington and Beverley Gobbett but continued to keep in touch right up to this year.

Some may remember him best turning up at St Clements Church with the volunteers food in his wonderful old green sports car.  It didn’t have much of a boot so he would have a box fastened in on the passenger seat.

Before his health began to deteriorate, he was a very active in surveying pubs, keeping the branch up to date with news of pubs at the southern end of our area, and generally banging the drum for good ale in good pubs.

Mike was one for doing things by the rule book, especially when we'd written the rule book ourselves. Many a meeting was put back on track by Mike reminding the meeting that the branch had responsibilities to CAMRA nationally.

Former branch member Dominic Driscoll, now brewer at Thornbridge Brewery remembered Mike thus: “Awkward sod that stuck to his guns but very much a believer in the cause. He was a kind man though, I liked him a lot. Always had time for me, even though I was the young whippersnapper."

Mike is pictured in 2007 with Jackie Bardsley at the Quarry Bank in Timperley. The branch were invited to have a membership stand at the pubs own beer festival so that we could introduce ourselves to the local residents and Mike stepped up to a weekend in the pub.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Liz and their family.