Calling in at the Castle on Oldham Street in 1971

The Castle © 2014 Peter Topping

The Castle on Oldham Street is one of those wonderful old pubs which constantly surprise me.

It is a place I went in regularly in the early 1970s and have been drawn back to it again more recently.

It dates from the late 1770s has undergone changes of name and appearances but remains a fascinating place and is a remarkable survival of the sort of drinking place you could have found on almost any street corner in the city centre from the 18th century onwards.

It consisted of just three rooms and while the front was the biggest we preferred one of the small back ones.

From memory I don’t think you could have got more than a handful of people in either of the back rooms and the decor was basic to say the least.

More recently I went back.

The back of the pub was closed off, but the front room with its tiled bar counter was fun to be in.

Painting; The Castle © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
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