The Rivington Pub & Grill (formerly The Ridgeway Arms) in Blackrod is a warm, cosy, and comfortable…read moretraditional English pub, with a large focus on dining. If you enter the Rivington from the car park, you would firstly think that you've walked into a the bar of a pleasant restaurant, complete with leather winged armchairs, candles, and historical photos of the area. If you walked into the Rivington from the other entrance, you would think that you've walked into a traditional and friendly pub, complete with a roaring fireplace, wood panelling, and comfortable chairs. Fortunately, both are true. Whether you're there for a pint, or there for your dinner, the warm and pleasantly decorated and furnished surroundings automatically make you feel relaxed and comfortable. The main dining area for the restaurant side of the pub is in a horseshoe shape, with open fireplaces on each end, and a raised seating area in the centre. The food offered has something for everyone, ranging from the traditional to the modern, but done superbly well, and in good portions. The head waiter told us how nothing is ever frozen, and everything is bought and created freshly, hence sometimes there can be a wait for your food, but frankly if you want good food created fresh, you should anticipate a bit of a wait. It only makes sense For starters, I had the Saddleback Ribs, which were in a delicious BBQ sauce, which was very much a home made sauce, rather than the thick ketchup-like BBQ sauce you seem to find everywhere today. The meat was so tender, that I was able to simply lift it up, and the bone fell out! Very tasty indeed! The serving staff here are friendly and helpful, but for many of them it seems English is not their first language. This isn't a criticism as much as an observation, and a note that a few times we had to say things a couple of times before they understood, as we were often asked "sorry, what was that?". My only criticism might be a one off, as we asked the head waiter for our bill, but it didn't arrive, and after 15 minutes we asked another waiter about it, but as we did so, we saw the head waiter walk in, see us, and have a moment of realisation, before he dashed off to the bar to collect our bill. Everyone forgets something now and then, but as soon as he realised, he was on it! Although there are many vegetarian dishes available, I do have to say that the Rivington's forté is their meat! All of their steaks are dry aged for 32 days hung on the bone, and all of their beef is from traditional breed cattle. My personal favourite dish here is the rare breed minute flash-steak, which is tender, juicy, and full of flavour (as were my dining companions' above dishes too!). My flash steak came a specific way, but for other meats you are asked how you want it cooked, and obviously which sauces and accompaniments you would like. Steaks cooked without a sauce get lightly drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. I personally love their chips! Big, chunky, old fashioned chips. Proper comfort food! I feel I must point out that when asked what he thought of the Herdwick Lamb Chops, my father-in-law, who is a very difficult man to impress, declared them "excellent!", which frankly blew the rest of us away (my mother-in-law dropped her fork!). This is an old fashioned man who would usually say something was "not bad" or at most "not bad at all!", but to declare a food 'excellent' is something we've not heard before... so that's saying something! They offer a nice selection of after-dinner goodies, from teas and coffees to after-dinner tipples, but as beautiful as their desserts sound, I have yet only ever had their sticky toffee pudding, which is home-made and very light (not stodgy and heavy like you'd imagine) and served with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce (my favourite!). It's not that I don't want to try their other desserts, but I can't resist their sticky toffee pudding whenever I'm given the choice!! Frankly I should go there one day and JUST have a couple of desserts! The Rivington Pub and Grill is superb basically, and if you've only ever been there when it was The Ridgeway, I emplore you to go along and give it a try! Maybe have one of their amazing sunday roast dinners. It's the sort of place you could go as a couple, with friends, your parents, or even the whole family. It's a good example of a traditional English dining pub done right! I look forward to my next visit.

If you are looking for a traditional cosy English pub then look no further!…read more The Rivington Pub and Grill, formerly the Ridgeway arms, is the perfect place for a quiet drink or tasty pub grub. The modern yet traditional interior with open log fires makes you feel right at home. The extensive menu has something for everyone and the prices are extremely reasonable for the quality of the food. There are truly no pubs like this around the local area, it's a gem! I am a regular customer!

A wining combination of fantastic food and wonderful service make the Railway a go to spot for…read moretravelers and locals alike. A wonderful English pub nestled in a beautiful location, the decor is traditional pub but with modern upgrades to the bar, but its the food that's the real winner here. Specials listed on chalkboards around the pub offer alternates to the solid menu, i really wished i could have ordered about 5 appetizers and 6 main's but alas, only one stomach! Prawn cocktail app was traditional English, small prawns in a delicious marie rose sauce with a few slices of granary bread, this was a huge serving, could almost feed two (but there was no way i was sharing!) For mains i went light, grilled salmon with baked potato with seasonal veggies, absolutely cooked to perfection grilled salmon with a decent sized potato with carrots and green beans. Other winners at our table were the Sunday roast, meat and potato pie, ribs and chicken and the southern fried chicken. Great value, clean, and a well diverse menu make The Railway one of my favorite places to visit when i'm in England.

Very surprised to see that nobody has reviewed this great little pub-cum-restaurant yet, as it's…read morebeen popular locally for years! You can always get a really good feed, with food ranging from hearty pasta dishes to Asian favourites like Thai green curry etc. Maybe none of the food is particularly groundbreaking, but it's hard to bear for value for money and me and my wife often come here when we have someone to look after the kids. There's plenty of space and the pricing is very fair for what you get. Only minor quibble might be that the music is sometimes a little on the loud side and I always feel vaguely rushed when that's the case, but like I say: a minor quibble in what is otherwise a very nice little local haunt.

The Original Bay Horse, for some reason, has the unflattering and unfair nickname of 'The Flea…read morePit'. This may be down to the fact that a couple of minutes of staggering and you'll find another pub called The Bay Horse. This is definitely the finer of the two and, arguably, the best pub in the area. You see, what we have here is a proper country pub. Exposed beams and brass topped table and a bar that serves some really wonderful real ales (including the fantastic local Bank Top brews). The price of a pint in here is outrageously cheap (especially if you're used to city prices) and out the back of the pub is a great outdoor seated area. If you do nip in for a pint and the weather is nice, be sure to check out the ashtrays on the tables in the garden as you'll find that they're metallic dog dishes that have been nailed down. It's the quirky things like that which really make a pub for me. A must visit and a stone's throw to the bracing and frankly gorgeous West Pennine Moors.

Come on eileennnnread more

This beautiful country bistro / Gastro pub is a great place for a family lunch…read more The menu is vast and there were plenty of options to suit everyone. They range from starters and large main meals to smaller 'soup and sandwich' options. The game pie I tried was amazing - juicy and tender meats with a lovely crisp pastry on top. The chips, outstanding too!

This is my favorite country pub in Cheshire by far! The food never disappoints and the atmosphere…read moreis terrific. I always visit when I am in the UK and have been visiting for he past 35 years.

I found The Black Horse by chance! My car broke down on Long Lane, on the way to Chorley, and so I…read moretook respite in the classic country looking inn and had a lovely lunch. Today I returned for dinner, having meant to come back for dinner ever since I enjoyed that first lunch visit by chance. I'm surprised it's not already on Yelp as it's not new either. It's over 1000 years old. Yes you read that right. The Black Horse is believed to be one of the oldest serving taverns in the country, and was the second pub in the country to be granted a license back in 1577. Every corner and beam exudes the feeling of a classic English pub/tavern. It's comfortable, cosy, and welcoming, with dark wooden furniture, a roaring fire, and warmly lit side rooms. It's everything you would want in a proper English pub. As I don't drink, we were here for dinner, and were greeted warmly and given menus. The staff are friendly and familiar, it's their business and their baby, and they want to make sure people enjoy their visit. The menu has recently been updated and has some fantastic sounding options, as well as periodical specials. On this occasion, we chose the starters of black pudding scotch egg, and garlic flatbread. We were surprised. It's a pub, so you don't quite expect the artistic and pleasant presentation of the black pudding scotch egg, which was beautifully tempting to look at, and perfectly cooked with a lovely soft yolk. The mustard sauce was creamy with a gentle kick. The garlic flatbread was subtle on the garlic side, but lusciously buttery and fresh. The staff checked on us now and then to make sure everything was ok, even the chef herself at one point. Very enjoyable indeed. For our mains, we chose the cheese and onion pie, and the fish and chips, two classics of British pub food! The best bit? The chef came out and asked how I'd like the side of bread and butter cut with my fish and chips! We all know why too... preference... do you just want bread? Chip butties? It's all dependant on that cut! It was nice to be asked! Both were again presented pleasantly. The pie was unctuously cheesy in a perfectly crispy pastry, not a soggy bottom in sight! The mash you could tell from the moment it was placed on the table was proper home made mash, and the comforting thick gravy provided was perfect for flooding the lot! Wonderful! The fish and chips were equally good. The mushy peas were nice, and the tartare sauce was particularly good, however my praise is mainly on the fish, which was outstanding! The quality of the fish alone was excellent, and the batter was crunchy, crispy, golden perfection! For dessert we chose the sticky toffee pudding (it's a classic!) and from the specials menu, the jam roly poly. Both with custard. We're Northern. The sticky toffee pudding was deliciously rich whilst being super light and fluffy! The smell of the jam roly poly slapped in the face as soon as it arrived, whisking me back to nostalgic childhood sunday dinners. The taste was amazing, not just in flavour, but the crust on the pudding was just right, with the occasional chewy crunchy bit. Bloody marvellous! I'd come again just that jam roly pudding! Basically The Black Horse is everything you want from a proper old English pub. It's established, cosy, warm, welcoming, and offers great drinks, excellent food, and a thoroughly pleasant atmosphere. I recommend it thoroughly!

Wow ordered a ploughman's platter ( takeaway) what a fabulous feast more than enough for 3 of us ,…read morefantastic taste , great value , definitely ordering more , highly recommend

I only ever drove past The Blundell Arms. It's very near where I live, so I drive past it a lot! It…read morejust looked like another pub, and not very popular, as I never saw anyone parked outside. But in recent times I noticed A-boards outside mentioning food, so after a long time of realising this, I decided to look online, and lo and behold, it's not just a pub that has "food available", but a full on food-centric pub! Hoorah! When I drove there, I realised that the reason it looked so quiet and lacking in cars is because there's actually a sizeable car park BEHIND it, and that in turn is the entrance people tend to use to access it. When I walked in, I was very pleasantly surprised, this pub was not only very expansive in side (perhaps not in terms of headroom in some of the older parts!) but was wonderfully traditional, with beautiful rustic beams running throughout, and many nods to its past as a court house, showing the old stone placard, and a window showing the traditional wattle and daub construction. The other thing I noticed is that this was a very bright space. The winter sunshine truly cascades through the windows, giving a wonderfully comfortable feeling. This place had a 'good' feeling as soon as I entered. I was greeted by a friendly staff member who took me to a table nestled amongst the rustic beams, where I was given the menus, and had chance to also peruse the lunch menu. The lunch menu was really good value, and I'd happily order from it, but in this instance I noticed on the main menu, amongst all the delicious traditional and classic pub food offerings, and "chef's inspired dishes" was a gourmet burger. So I opted for that! I took the time waiting to have a look round at the rest of the place, which is where Ashleigh, the staff member, told me about the building's previous uses, and how pleasant the place looks at night with all the lights lighting up the corners of this old building. When my burger arrived, I was quite pleased. The presentation was simple but that's all it needed to be, as it was a big burger, and a pot of triple-cooked chips. The chips were great, crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. The burger was tasty, but I wouldn't call it 'gourmet', as it was quite a standard burger, but grilled fully through rather than pink (due to health and safety demands usually), so it wasn't juicy, but was still tasty, regardless. The bacon on the burger was a bit fatty though, I had to pull strands of it off, but that's merely my personal preference. For the price, it was a good burger, and a tasty lunch. I'd certainly order it again. All in all, I was pleased I came to The Blundell Arms! I didn't realise it was such a lovely building, and didn't realise they had such a large offering to eat, so I'll definitely be back to try some more of the menu, especially the dessert menu... there were a few things on there I very much liked the look of, but as the burger was so filling, I didn't quite have the room. Maybe next time I'll go for the lunch menu instead of my eyes being bigger than my belly! Next time, Blundell.... NEXT TIME!!!

A really nice pub/restaurant that dates back to when the world was black and white and everybody…read morehad a horse and cart. Food is good but can take a while to get to you as the service is a little slow. A liitle on the pricy side for nothing that is out of this world. Huge range of wines and beers all this in fantastic ye olde worldy settings.

Amazing beer and great staff. Entertainment on Fridays and good music for all types of customersread more

Called in here for a quick beer over the weekend. I didn't know the pub before but has been…read morecompletely refurbished in the last year. Its very nicely done out now, modern but still welcoming. They have a huge range of ales most of which are brewed at their own brewery. They also had imported Mahu Spanish beer which happens to be my beer of choice when on holiday. I tried a pint and it was great, immediately transported to my favourite bar in Marbella!! The landlady was very pleasant and gave us some good tips for other pubs and restaurants in the area. I can recommend this pub and I shall definitely be back. One thing to add is no food served but they are fine if you did want to order in etc.

Fking fantastic food, reasonably priced, family owned English pub. Cannot recommend enough.read more

Friendliest pub in the area!…read more As an American with in-laws in Chorley, I visit the area often and spend my share of time in local pubs. The Spinner's on Cowling Brow is easily the friendliest I've been in. After a Sunday walk around Anglezarke with my son, we called in for a pint and a hot chocolate on the way home. The staff and clientele went out of their way to make us feel welcome, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. It's the first pub that my son has asked specifically to walk to again!

Always a good meal at the Cherry Tree although I've noticed the prices have crept up. Went last…read moreSunday and, as usual the food was great although my wife was a bit disappointed with the chips (she had the haddock and chips) as they were more hard and crunchy that she would have liked so she ended up leaving most of them. Mentioned it to the waitress who said she would advise the kitchen but we heard nothing back. Apart from that everything was as excellent as usual.

The Cherry Tree in Blackrod is a traditional looking English country pub/restaurant, complete with…read morepicturesque thatched roof, As we walked in, a member of staff greeted us and asked if we'd like to sit at the bar whilst we waited for the rest of our party. We ordered a few drinks, and it was helpfully suggested that we could put them on the table's tab instead of paying right away. It was nice to see that ale on offer was from local business, Black Edge Brewery. The bar area also has a lovely log burning stove, which was singing away cheerfully, and a welcome feature on a cold evening! After our party arrived, a manager took us through to the dining room where we took our place at a table (with uncomfy chairs), and were handed the menus and the specials menu by the manager, who told us that the soup of the day was sold out, but luckily they had another on offer. They also ran out of the pie of the day, and the sticky toffee pudding. It was 5pm. The starter I chose was the rustic bread board, which I thoroughly enjoyed! The bread was fresh and tasty, and as I remarked to our waiter, I think the balsamic vinegar was the best I've ever had! Bravo! The rest of the party were also pleased with their choices, and looking forward to their mains. The mains we chose included smoked haddock, roast chicken, brisket, and a burger with pancetta and Monterey Jack cheese (and very tasty crunchy fries!). The meals were tasty, but there was one hiccup... the mashed potato on the roast chicken dinner was absolutely stone cold! The mash on the brisket however was warm. So after informing a waiter, he took it away and returned a little while later with a fresh meal. Although the rest of the party had nearly finished, I think that this incident was handled well. The replacement meal wasn't simply the same meal with re-heated mash, but a completely fresh meal. This is a very good point in my book, as we all know plenty of places that would whack the meal in a microwave for 2 minutes and bring it back out again with some herbs thrown on top. Nicely done, Cherry Tree. We ordered two desserts (I just wanted a pot of tea, and one of the party was miffed that he was missing out on sticky toffee pudding as he was looking forward to it). The desserts ordered were an orange crème brulee with chocolate chip cookies (which we found odd... creme brulee with cookies? It didn't matter, I had them with my pot of tea instead!), and bread and butter pudding, At this point we all laughed, because the size of the bread and butter pudding was comical. It was the size of a Mr Kipling Country Slice, and as pleasant as it was, it was a stingy portion for £6.95! If the dish was two of these slices, then it might have been a little fairer. Basically, the starters and main courses were good, but the desserts could be better, especially given that The Cherry Tree is not the cheapest of restaurants. I also found it funny that my pot of tea was only half full, and so only made one-and-a-quarter cups of tea, but luckily I was so stuffed on that big tasty burger that it wasn't really a problem! The other issue was a service issue. It was a Sunday, and so granted it was busy, so staff were very busy too, however, aside Tom (the manager), nobody told us their names, and so we didn't have one particular waiter/waitress taking care of us, we had several who checked on us, brought out the food etc, but not a "main" waiter in particular, and so we weren't introduced to anyone or given any names. This normally wouldn't be so bad, but as we didn't have one particular waiter keeping an eye on the table, it meant that nobody asked us when we'd like the bill, and after an hour of sitting at an empty table, one of our party decided to go over to the bar to ask for the bill instead, which came a few minutes later. Our meal from start to finish took just under three hours, but despite this, it was a pleasant and relaxing experience. During this time I popped to the loo, and found it amusing that although being an older pub, there is only one cubical, no loo roll holder, and an ancient hand-dryer, they offer amenities like a chic London or New York bar. Nothing fancy or expensive, but a nice gesture nonetheless. Certainly something different to other places I've been. As we left, Tom asked us if everything was okay, but it seems that Tom hadn't been made aware of the cold mashed potato incident, but he apologised, and explained that they don't microwave anything, so the mash was heated to order, and it must've been a mistake in the kitchen, using the wrong pan. My overall thoughts are that although the food was tasty, and the venue itself very pleasant and relaxing, the menu is a little pricier than other similar restaurants I've been to in the area, and although the staff were friendly and professional, service was a bit slow and inattentive. Probably wouldn't return.