Save the Witchwood

Ever had a good boozer, biker friendly, live bands and real ale?

Ever seen it get destroyed and replaced by a neon and chrome wine bar?

Often that's down to the brewery. In this case it's the Council doing it.

The Witchwood in Ashton Under Lyne is currently under the threat of
demolition. The council want to 'regenerate' the area by demolishing 4 pubs.
Of these 4, one is empty following the Landlords death in 2000, but all are
biker pubs, particularly since the closure and demolition of the Spread
Eagle in 1999.

The other end of Ashton has embraced the trendy pub scenario many years ago
and wondered why the murder rate up there was higher than in London a couple
of years back.

The Witchwood is the foremost of these remaining pubs. It boasts a good
selection of beer at affordable prices, rather than trendy bottled lagers at
massivley inflated prices (Bitter from £1.05 a pint). Live bands play
practicaly every night (Bad Manners, Otway, Slaughter and the Dogs).

I'd be grateful if as many people as possible could sign this on-line
petition.

Please follow the link below to sign the online petition.


http://www.thewitchwood.co.uk/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=17

Cheers,

Byrnie.

 

Byrnie wrote:
[snip]

[snip]

What?! I've heard of strange correlations but that one's up there with:

"The annual rate of cucumber harvest has been directly attributed to
motorcycle accidents. Last year had a very bad crop."

 

****, no. Spent many an evening in there - top local bands and good
beer.

Didn't know the Spread Eagle had gone, but I've not been up there for a
while now. Wasn't it full of Hardly-riding chromosexuals [1] anyway? -
so no great loss ;-)

Petition signed.

[1] (tm)Cane

 

I only drink wine at home, so I can't really comment.

Cheers,

Byrnie.

 

The trendy pubs at the other end of town attract the
'lets-have-loads-of-lager-and-a-fight' brigade. The murders all (with one
exception) involved people being kicked, beaten, stabbed and shot around
closing time.

Sorry if it wasn't too clear to start with. The police have linked the
increased level of violence to the changing face of that area of town ie
loads of trendy bars in a small area.

Cheers,

Byrnie.

 

<snip>

Who cares? It's oop north.

 

It won't make any difference.

 

I'd have thought it was more a case of "No point giving those dossers down

Just goes to show:
bikers.... good
trendies/yuppies/townies.... bad
I rest my case.

 

Certainly not to whether or not you'll be drinking in there...

 

Ashton town centre started going downhill twenty years ago. All the
pubs at one end of town turned into "a club in a pub" type bars, then
half the shops got converted. One in three premises got turned into
bars. The other end of town (where the Witchwood is) was cut off when
a bypass was built on the other hand and stayed "underdeveloped".

It's a sight to see on a Friday and Saturday night... people from all
over Greater Manchester flock to Ashton for lots of alcohol and to
give or take a good kicking. Nowadays people use knives and guns
instead of fists....

This same part of Ashton got the bland, nondescript makeover that you
see in a lot of Northern towns: unbiquitous paved areas filled with
ersatz street furniture. It was my home town, but it got changed to
look like a dozen other towns: at that point I didn't care if I moved
away and never went back.

Which are some of the reasons why I'm posting from rural
Oxfordshire.....

Mark.