Home > Lancashire > Rochdale > Church Inn Church Inn

Picture source: Jim Murphy

The Church Inn was situated on Wilbutts Lane. This pub closed in 2013.

It is now demolished.

Simon Burke (December 2015)

I seem to remember that this was a Wilson's pub and the main place of refreshment for Rochdale AFC fans for many decades, as the Spotland football ground is almost next door. My father was a regular at both Rochdale AFC and ‘The Church’ especially when our family moved to nearby Sandy Lane in the 1950s. The big joke in the 1950s was when asked by a friend – “are you going to watch the "Dale" on Saturday?” [answer “YES”] was - “I believe they’re expecting a big crowd – they’ve ordered a dozen meat pies!” Note to all ex-pupils of Rochdale Technical School 1958-1963 – Sydney Lomax “Buzzer” Brown [maths teacher] lived in Pearl Street adjacent to the Church Inn. “Buzzer” got his nick-name from being over-active with his cane which he called “Doctor Lam-You-Well”. However he was [relatively] harmless really - of course we were all fairly tough in those days.

David Murray (July 2021)

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