If you live in the Swinton area or travel on the East Lancs Road regularly, you may have noticed work being done to the Moorside Farm pub on Priestley Road this past week.
The garden at the front of the pub is being turned into a proper beer garden, flattening the landscaping, replacing the old grass with self-cleaning artificial grass and adding some new furniture.
The new beer garden could well be the most impressive suntrap in Swinton when it’s finished. And it’s not the only part of the pub to get a bit of a makeover prior to the festive season.
The interior of the building has seen the introduction of a ‘vault type’ area for over eighteens which has your typical bar furniture, with a new pool table on order. And there will also be a brand new digital darts board complete with supporting screens…
And Sunday lunches are also making a return to the menu.
The makeover comes on the two year anniversary of landlords Gary and Charlotte Hanmer taking over the Swinton local and is a result of their work to keep the ‘pop down the local’ feel as well as keeping up with more modern expectations.
“We’ve had a makeover to prove that the local pub is still very much alive,” said Gary.
“When we arrived two years ago we already had a vision of where we wanted to take the pub so got started straight away.
“The pool table was already very popular so we ordered a new table and it didn’t take long until we had a regular pool team competing in the local league. Pool teams are synonymous with local boozers in the area so it was nice that we could keep that tradition going.
“We also wanted to ensure we catered for a more modern day pub. So we revamped the bar area – which was very limited with stock availability for the customer – and set about asking people what they wanted to see behind the bar.”
The bar now stocks over 40 different gins and 40 brands of whiskey and a variety of shorts are also available.
The Farm closed its doors at 11pm on Sunday night for the contractors to work their magic and is set to reopen at 5pm on Friday evening.
The reopening party will see guests receive a free glass of I Love MCR Strawberry Jam Gin and a mixer on arrival as well as nibbles and live entertainment throughout the night.