Railway is just the ticket

IT is often said you do not get something for nothing but in the case of entertainment at a Royton pub that is certainly not true.

The Railway Hotel is a popular weekend destination for live music and best of all you don’t need to buy a ticket.

The JW Lees hostelry on Oldham Road recently underwent an extensive refurbishment.

And while exclusively a ‘wet’ pub, it is part of a vibrant town centre night-time scene – a fact acknowledged by landlord Mark Kilgannon.

“I’ve no problem with other venues near us,” he told the Correspondent. “I see them as complementing what we do at The Railway.

“It means there are more reasons for people to come into Royton in addition to our loyal, local customer base.

“And because we have three rooms at The Railway, it’s like having three pubs in one.

“You can let your hair down in a nice, safe environment and listen to our acts in the main room or you can have a quiet drink in the snug.”

Mark and wife Hayley, who moved from the Middleton Archer to the Railway three-and-a-half years ago, are proud of their top line entertainment programme that often has customers queuing at the door on Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s the thing we major on,” added Mark. “There is always something going on.

“We’ve got three darts teams, a football team, free to enter quizzes on Tuesday night and Sunday afternoons plus disco and karaoke on Sunday evenings.”

Lancashire lads Boomin’, whose credits include supporting The Script, Scouting for Girls and McFly among others, are regular visitors.

“They play here three or four times a year and the place is packed,” says Mark. “But the place is usually packed anyway.

“Our big problem is fitting people in. We are very fortunate to often reach capacity on Friday and Saturday evenings.”

The same open door policy will continue for the Railway’s Christmas Eve, Boxing Day (80s disco) and New Year’s Eve entertainment listings.

“If we let customers in free for the rest of the year, we don’t believe in going down the ticketing route,” confirmed Mark. “The only thing we stress is to get in early to avoid disappointment.”

The refurbishment work includes new flooring, seating and decoration throughout. The pub stayed open throughout serving its selection of JW Lees’ ales, lagers and stout.

“The stout has proved highly popular, not just with traditional stout drinkers but lager and bitter drinkers as well,” said Mark.

“We also have a Manchester craft lager which is also going down well.”

• The Railway’s opening hours are 1pm to midnight on Monday, noon until midnight on Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday plus noon until 1am on Friday and Saturday.

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