Review: First Chop Bar/Restaurant, Ramsbottom

43 Bolton Street, Ramsbottom.

Getting there:- Take East Lancs railway to Ramsbottom or 472 or 474 bus from Bury.

Blink and you'll miss it.

General

This is a real find. A bar come eatierie and my scores will reflect the fact that this IS a bar rather than a full-blown pub or dedicated restaurant. It is a shop conversion and has been in business for three years or so. Great range of real ales and ciders plus 6-7 continental beers on draught. Also cocktails and a good range of malts.

The main bar is at street level with a smaller bar and seating downstairs.

Ray, the owner is a real enthusiast and only puts beers on that he likes. Same with the food.

It is on the East Lancs Railway Ale Trail.

Live music on Thursdays and Sundays

Real Ales

Five beers on handpump. This can reduce to four midweek. Most from local breweries. I tried one from Irwell Vale, another from Porter's plus a real cider. Other brews not sampled came from Phoenix and Hawkshead, Thornbridge and Elland. All in tip top condition. If you buy five pints in a week your sixth is free but if you are a CAMRA member you don't have to drink them within the week.

Score 5/5

Other beers

Also, Liefmans, Amstell and four other continental beers and lagers on draught.

Score 5/5

Real Cider

Four real ciders on all the time.

Score 5/5

Bottled beers

A great selection of bottled beers from around the word including Belgium, Germany and the USA. Also fruit beers, root beer and dandylion and burdock. 

Score 5/5

Wine

9 wines that can be bought by the glass. On Tuesdays and Fridays if you buy two large glasses before 6.30, you get the bottle for free! Most of wines in £11-£14 range.

Also champagnes.

Score 5/5

Decor/Style/Ambience.

Plain, pine tables and seating. Functional rather than decorative.

Score 4/5

Toilets

Not visited

Food Tapas, sandwiches and their own fabulous burgers including the Burts cheese. £5-6 range. Sharing platters and much more. Kids get any tapas, fat chips, a fruit juice and ice cream for a fiver! On Tues-Thurs, buy two tapas and get a third free. All food is top quality and is sourced from local cheesemakers and bakeries in the north west.
 
Disabled access 

Score 5/5

Wheelchair users would have a problem as this is not a large bar but Ray will book you a quiet table if you let him know.

Score 4/5

Service

Extremely good, friendly. Generous tasters supplied on request. I got a nice wedge of Burts cheese plus three crackers. He loves his business and only too happy to welcome customers. Can be rare these days.

Score 5/5

Value for money

Given the overall choice and extremely good quality and numerous freebies and offers:-

Score 5/5

Scores
Beer 5/5

Cider 5/5
Wine 5/5
Food 5/5
Service 5/5
Decor/style 4/5
Disabled facilities 4/5 

OVERALL SCORE 5/5

(My first ever 5/5)

Recommend?

Yes, yes, yes!

THE BLUE SHED RESPONDS:-

Needless to say Old Lard Ass arrived back pissed again. Hasn't he ever heard of the term 'Growing old gracefully?' Obviously not.

Rochdale Teenagers Getting the Blues?

IS ROCHDALE TROUBLED BY ITS TEENS?

“Youth is wasted on the young.” George Bernard Shaw

On RO’s news pages I was interested in three separate and seemingly unrelated stories relating to young people.

Firstly, there is the truly shocking statistic that in Rochdale, 43% of children are living below the official poverty line in the Smallbridge and Firgrove ward.. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/65466/figures-reveal-percentage-of-children-living-in-poverty

Secondly, there was the story about gangs of up to a hundred youths congregating in some of our local parks, allegedly to participate in long nights of drunken or drug-fuelled excess in which under-age sex also featured.  http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/65463/concerns-over-teen-drink-and-sex-sessions

Finally, there was a touching story of the 52-year old Heywood woman who was rescued from a burning building by a very plucky 16-year old neighbour. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/65400/woman-rescued-from-fire-by-16yearold-neighbour

Of course the poverty statistics are very much open to debate as the RO forum reveals. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14080&title=child-poverty We can argue about what constitutes REAL child poverty until we are blue in the face. Definitions of child poverty in the UK are obviously different to those that might have applied to the London of Charles Dickens or to a sub-Saharan country but the Rochdale figures do indicate serious grounds for concern.

Our children deserve the best start in life and yet in one ward in Rochdale almost half the children there are living in poverty. Whatever we think of the data, there is no room for complacency here and these figures should shame the politicians of all persuasions who have made vows to end child poverty over the past few decades.

In the story of teenage excess in Rochdale parks, we are presented with a slightly different take on childhood. Here a view is presented of adolescents who presumably have money to burn on drugs and alcohol. Whether or not the Bacchanalian orgies described by the police inspector really are like something out of a Cecil B DeMille film spectacular or are rather more low-key and tawdry also seems, on the forums at least, rather open to debate. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14086&title=teenagers-in-the-park

Whatever the facts involved in the poverty statistics and in the ‘booze and sex in the park’ stories there does seem to be strong indications that more needs to be done for young people in the town.

The days when teenagers joined youth clubs or some sort of uniformed or non-uniformed activity group seems to have gone long ago. Modern teenagers belong to the ipod generation where pleasures are often more materialistic and ephemeral than in days gone by.

Perhaps the Arts Centre we were once promised but will never be delivered might have helped to address some of the issues of those drifting towards delinquency, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, alcoholism or perhaps all four.

Yes, we know that times are hard. The economic horse has bolted and the church-mouse is on the phone to wonga.com but we really do need to invest in the young. Some of this investment costs next to nothing and involves little more than improved parenting skills. Other investment needs to be of the more expensive kind and may involve bricks and mortar and an expansion of services to attract young people into leading more interesting, fruitful and rewarding lives.

One thing is certain. Provide them with little to nothing as appears to be the case at the moment and the situation can only get worse.

Our children are our future in both the literal and metaphorical senses. They deserve the very best environment in which to realise their potential. So much of the experience of growing up in the Rochdale of the present day seems unlikely to help this potential to be delivered.

And yet one 52-year old Heywood woman owes her life to the fact that one 16-year old, whatever his socio-economic background, on that night at least, was not involved in fulfilling anyone’s negative stereotype of teenagers and willingly risked his own life to save hers.

Should he get an award? Certainly.

But let’s not forget the other thousands of Rochdale children. Let’s ‘award’ them with the best possible environment to grow up in whether or not we are parents, politicians, planners, prospective employers or just fellow-citizens.

You know it makes sense.

THE BLUE SHED RESPONDS:

He talks some guff. Bring back National Service I say. Too much time on their hands. Fornicating in the bloody park? Bring back the old Park Keepers I say and arm them with cudgels and tasers.

These buggers need a cold bath in the morning followed by a 5-mile run and a bowl of cold, lumpy porridge.

When I was a tree I didn't have sex. I just sort of grew out of the ground. I don't understand what all the bloody fuss is about.

Hot Sex Tips for Sheds

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Dial 1 for HARDCORE ACTION!!! - Foundations and getting the right mixture of concrete/sharp sand.
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Dial 3 for HOT AND READY!!! - You're a bit sweaty, but your shed is now ready for use.
Dial 4 for PUMP ACTION!!! - Mending that old bike you keep in your shed.
Dial 5 for BANG ME HARD!!! - Ensure your shed is solidly built.
Dial 6 for DAMP DOWN BELOW!!! - Problems with seepage? Advice on damp courses.
Dial 7 for PERMANENT ERECTIONS!!! - Just what are the planning laws for sheds?
Dial 8 for RUB ME UP!!! - Shed preparation prior to applying paint/creosote.
Dial 9 for SLIPPERY WHEN WET!!! - Is lino flooring the best option?
Dial 10 for BIG CHESTS!!! - What to do with those old tea chests from your last move.
Dial 11 for GET OUT YOUR CANE!!! - More tips on preventing sweet peas from falling in high wind.
Dial 12 for IT'S DRIPPING ON THE FLOOR!!! - What to do if those old paint tins are leaking.
Dial 13 for I WANT YOUR SEED!!! - Swaps for old packets of flower and lawn seed.
Dial 14 for CHAIN ME UP!!! - Security for cycles and mowers.
Dial 15 for RAMPANT!!! - Trouble with vigorous ivy and clematis?
Dial 16 for IT'S A BIT SORE!!! - Remedies for back injuries.
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Dial 18 for I WANT YOUR POLE!!! - A buyer's guide to new broom handles.
Dial 19 for TAKE IT FROM BEHIND!!! - Probably the best way to get your new shed into your back garden.
Dial 20 for HARD AND FAST!!! - How to lay a concrete foundation in one afternoon.
Dial 21 for WET AND WILD!!! - Rustic sheds in the Lake District.
Dial 22 for BIG ONES!!! - A review of the latest large sheds.

THE BLUE SHED RESPONDS

I'm a respectable shed I am!

Xmas Newsletter

Well it's Xmas again and newsletter time. If you wan't a copy and I ain't sent you one yet just email me or Facebook me and it'll be there like shite off a shovel.

Give racism the Blue Card!

Oh heck, I've just posted a message on Facebook warning people that I am fed up of getting crude racist messages on email and FB from well-meaning friends.

I got the idea from a friend who has done something similar. It just seems at the moment that it's ok to knock anyone. Race, anyone on benefits, the disabled. They are seemingly all fair game.

I got a really vile racist 'joke' via text last week from a former colleague. I might have sniggered at it in the 60's when I was young, foolish and woefully under-educated.

God knows this country has its problems but this sort of shite doesn't help. Neither am I the most PC person going and my irony often leaves people wondering.

The Blue Shed responds

I notice old Lard-Ass leaves out the subject of 'fat jokes'. A bit too close to home eh my adiposely-challenged friend?

How did he know I wanted to be painted Blue? He never asked.

Blue Shed Poetry

Here is my latest poem. I reworked Adrian Henri's fabulous 'Tonight At Noon' and gave it an updated, Rochdale slant:-

Tonight At Noon (Updated) by Hinch (With apologies to Adrian Henri

Tonight at noon
Supermarkets will refuse to stock Easter eggs before March
Tonight at noon
Children will learn how to skip again and to roll iron hoops
Bankers will take pay cuts to help the homeless
North Korea will scatter rose petals over the South                   
The Daily Mail will print messages of joy, tolerance and forgiveness
The first snows of summer will appear
And all our reservoirs will be forever brimming

Tonight at noon
Roaming dogs will clear up their own mess
Drake Street will ring to the sound of jingling tills and happy shoppers
Rochdale will be declared a World Heritage Centre
Salmon will be sighted leaping up the weir on Smith Street
And kebab shops will cater only for vegetarians
Fat ladies will refuse to wear their leggings
In markets and cafes
And track-suits will be worn only by sportsmen

Taxis will give way at crossings
Kareoke in pubs replaced by live music
Long queues outside our libraries
Traffic wardens embrace illegally-parked motorists
Flowers grow where once only litter flourished
Councillors set politics aside in order to work for the common good
Shoppers flock into town to marvel at the wondrous markets
            and
The sun will rise serenely in the West
Tonight at noon

THE BLUE SHED RESPONDS

Oh yes, very bloody droll. Maybe 'tonight at noon' old Lard-Ass will get his backside off the mattress and go out and earn some money.

Sheds don't really write poetry but I'll have a go:-

There once was a geezer called Pete

Who was more on his ass than his feet

He would much rather shirk

As his wife went to work

While he supped his home-brew for his treat

Maybe I can do something more personal to me:-

No wonder this Shed is so BLUE

Being here is as bad as the zoo

I stand freezing all night

As the cats yowl and fight

When it rains I get soaking wet through.  



Public Sector Pension BLUES

Let me put my cards on the table here. I am a recently-retired public-sector worker which, if you believe some of the rubbish being circulated by the Daily Mail and the government makes me out to be some sort of criminal insofar as I have a pension that although small, allows me to live with something approaching dignity.

The fact that I contributed to this pension all my working life butters no parsnips with some as they point out that the money I paid my contributions with in the first place came originally from the public purse.

My pension lump sum allowed me to settle the mortgage on my modest two up, two down, Band A, terraced house. The sum I am left to live on every month equates to less than the National Minimum Wage. For this I spent over thirty years on the front line as a Staff Nurse in the NHS. During this time I dealt with kids with cancer, the elderly, violent drunks, drug addicts, HIV patients, mental illness, severe trauma, burns and all the other stuff you get to see on ‘Casualty’.

There is no bodily fluid that I have not mopped up again and again and again in copious quantities and I have dealt with the most emotionally-draining cases that still cause my eyes to water thirty-odd years later as I recall them.

Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want a better pension than my colleagues in the private sector although I will admit that some of the deals that our bankers seem to get makes me drool with envy.

No, I believe that ALL people who work should be able to retire on a pension that allows them to live with dignity in old age. Instead of demonising public sector workers for wanting to retain their pension schemes, there should be legislation passed to force private employers to provide similar schemes. Then perhaps their own employees too can face retirement without fear and knowing that they won’t have to work until they drop in order to provide themselves with an acceptable standard of living.

Having retired, I cannot strike but I will be standing shoulder to shoulder on the picket line with my former colleagues on November 30^th. I know that patients will still be cared for because that is what we joined for. We didn’t join the service to stand outside our hospitals, town halls and schools on a freezing November morning to cry out for public sympathy. We are doing it because we believe that the current government proposals on pensions are unfair and will mean that many of our colleagues will have to work longer, pay more in and get less out of it at the end.

It hurts me to see any working man or woman demonised. In the public sector, amongst many other things, we deliver your babies, teach your children, lock up your criminals, empty your bins, wade through your raw sewage, put out your fires, keep your streets safe, look after you when you are ill or dying and bury or cremate you at the end.

We know that people who enter these services do not accrue great wealth and most of us remain fairly anonymous all our working lives. To be honest, that’s the way we prefer it. It takes a lot for us to get angry and stand or march chanting under banners. We know that times are very difficult so we are not asking for big pay-rises, company cars or fringe benefits.

All we want, when we choose to retire or can no longer work is a contributory pension scheme that allows us to live with dignity and respect.

It’s really not a lot to ask is it?

A retired Unite Member

THE BLUE SHED RESPONDS

Well, for once I have to agree with him. First year of his so-called feather-bedded, inflation-proof pension and in the middle of November, he still can't afford to switch his heating on until just before his wife gets in at 5.30pm to save money.

He thinks I can't see him but he sits there in the conservatory with one of those electric throw-overs on him as he tries to keep warm.

I'm not starting to feel sorry for him as he chopped down my predecessor to fuel his chiminea but it's a bit rich.

I heard Cameron on the TV today saying that he thought the pension proposals were 'reasonable'. What a joke. What Pete gets per month wouldn't buy Cameron and his Tory pals a decent canape and a bottle of claret in the Bullingham Club!

I don't think that BLUE Sheds can actually go out on strike but I am very good at going slow so next Wednesday, I will be staging my own sit-down and go-slow strike here in the garden and just hope that those darned cats will take the day off from peeing over me and doing all the other stuff that moggies do.

Some hope!