First Wigan Kebab… Plus a Pub Gift Pack We Didn’t Expect! | The Great British Pub Ride Day 6

Cheshire to Lancashire on Day 6 of the Great British Pub Ride – long ride, but a fairly leisurely one! The route took us from rolling countryside into urban sprawl, with plenty of cracking pubs along the way:

🍺 The Spinner & Bergamot
🍺 The Barkley Tavern
🍺 The Black Horse
🍺The White Lion
🍺 The Royal Oak Garstang

Shoutout to the lovely Debbie and the amazing crew at the Barkley Tavern who gave us personalised gift packs and warmed our weary hearts – Tom even got a little misty-eyed! The community spirit in that place? Like walking into someone’s living room, in the best possible way. These are the kinds of pubs that matter, and it’s gutting to hear how hard it is for them to keep going.

Also… we had our first ever Wigan kebab. Game-changer.

This ride keeps reminding us why we’re doing it and why pubs need backing.

Big day tomorrow. Bring it on!

Still haven’t subscribed to us on YouTube? ►►: https://www.youtube.com/@TheThinkingDrinkers?sub_confirmation=1

WATCH NEXT ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLozOD1T0Q24OlLBAcVN6UZQP1yK6WI9yS

Follow us on:
Instagram – @thinkingdrinkers
TikTok – @thethinkingdrinkers

#thegreatbritishpubride #greatbritishpubride #tandembike #longlivethelocal #mandemontandem #pubtopub #wigankebab

uh day six
day six was another long one in terms of distances but it’s been a very
It was a leisurely day on a bike not going to moan about this today
no way
uh it’s a calm before the storm we got a big one tomorrow but it was quite relatively flat uh we got we got it in our legs now so uh it felt it felt good there’s a bit of a contrast wasn’t it from countryside to urban
yes
yes today and we got it was quite front loaded in terms of mileage so it took us a good two and a half hours to get to our first pub which was the spinner and Bergammont which a lovely country pub named after two raceh horses bergammont is a one of the botanicals you get in June simon Simon there was very angry about all the challenges that pubs are facing it’s just what we’ve hearing a lot about as we go around the country just the amount of money he has to spend on sports and electricity and heating um so he gave us his time and he spent most of it
just pretty angry understandably nice fell
yeah brilliant
and a lovely pub but we had to crack on cuz we it taken us so long to get there
and then we arrived uh the Barkley Tavern which is on the outskirts of Wigan i’ll be honest it’s one of those pubs that if I was passing just normally I probably would have dismissed it and been a bit wary of going in there it was just the area was you know
it’s not the sort of pub I’d necessarily choose but but it was
the most it was incredible it was incred an incredible experience they had everyone came down all the staff were there they welcomed us in they gave us um Debbie who runs it they gave us these gift packs with loads of stuff in it like
muscle rub muscle angel salt toothpaste paracet anti-hay fever tablets
and they gave us a card and everyone was around us so warm and honestly
it was overwhelming
it wasn’t actually did did I was pretty jacked up yeah um and and then Debbie went through the stories of what she does for the community there and it it was exactly what a pub should be
why a pub’s important then in general for people to get together you know people’s always met down the pub um I’ll meet you down the pub so yeah for the community um we also support the the local Andes Man Club group um that’s a group for mental health for men and we have the um posters on the cards all around the pub we also support domestic abuse groups for ladies too just information in the bathrooms for that kind of thing as well
so it’s like a hub for people to go to in need
yeah it can be yeah during the winter months last year in the light of the government taking the the fuel allowance off pensioners we did a warm morning on a Wednesday morning which was hugely successful where we lit the log burner in the smoke and we put the telly’s on and we gave everybody free tea and coffee bloody hell and the warmth there was was extraordinary it was three what half three on a Wednesday
and the place was packed there was kids running around uh some lads in the garden it was just it just felt like a living room
it’s funny i went in there thinking you know talking about those the versatility of pubs which we’ve talked about a bit and the fact that they offer lots of different services but it wasn’t what it was about anywhere near what it was about it was just about the fact that all these people in this community felt that this she she went on holiday last week and um and the community came together and said “Well we’d quite like to keep the pub open.” So she let she let
the locals
run the pub for the weekend because the patients took over the asylum
strongly about Yeah yeah but she’s I mean and they did it successfully to the point where she was like “Maybe I’ll do it again give me give herself another break.” But she was just so she’s so lovely and obviously obviously wanted to stay there it was it was a bit gutting because we obviously have to cycle
but I tell you what if I if I if you wanted to get
if you wanted to get an MP
whoever’s in charge of pubs or hospitality I’d drag them to that pub and go just just sit in here
sit in the corner and watch it
yeah watch what’s going on here and just think what would it would what would be what would happen if you took this away what would happen to these people’s lives
and they’re tough lives you know we’re not you know we went from the chly arms which is an amazing wonderful pub it’s brilliant
but it’s an experience pub isn’t it it’s like a it’s like a
destination destination you go there you stay the night it’s great 250 quid you get your dinner your breakfast a gin experience but I could not fault it but but that is a very different experience to what a pub what we are trying to find about around a pub and this is what the pub is and this is what makes us angry when they’re facing all of these challenges and at the end she was talking about how much her energy bills are how much the business
energy bills is becoming a thing massive thing the energy bills you know she’s struggling to keep this thing going and it’s absolutely critical for that community it’s we talk about this third space the fact that you work you live at home you look for somewhere else to go to get out of the house to be different to work to relax third space that is what that pub is and also we had a wig and kebab which we should talk about because something I’ve never even we’ve written a book about kebabs we never talk about
unbelievable they have a pie and we had a meat and veg pie and they put it between a beautiful bap um and there’s gravy and mushy peas and you have it’s a pie sandwich
okay so take it out of that
yeah pop it on your bun
yeah yeah
all right okay
you fold your bun over
fold your bun over
oh now all right okay what happens here
right okay so you can either put peas on your bun
put peas on the bun
you can There’s mashy peas in there if you want
you want mushy peas mashy peas
yes please you look after yourself there go on
okay you can just dip it in if you want yeah yeah
all right i’m going to go I’m going to have gravy but what I’m going to do watch this watch this where is it can he do this there’s a system mess with the system
debbie said I could do what I like so you shut up shut your face mate there you go
you shut your face what would you do
i would have it all on the
Yeah yeah i think I’m a tactic
i hate to say it but I agree do cuz I feel I feel the gravy will soak into the into the cob
um I’m just a pioneer i’m a pie did you get it
i’m I’m a pioneer
did you because it’s a pie have it have a wig and kebab do the wig um and then finally we went to Oh we stopped into the white line
we had a lucky saint in fact we had
we passed the white line cuz we’ve got this Lucky Saint pub Finder where it tells you where the pubs are having have it on draft and we pass went right there it is so we popped in for a sweat off
yep
and then we’ve ended up here oh no we went we went to Black Horse where they got
Oh my god beautiful pub one of the most extraordinary interior
18th century bar uh yeah beautiful place royal Oak that’s where we’ve ended up we’re going to sleep here we’re going to eat here first it’s been it’s been a good day but the star of the day Debbie I mean
we love you Debbie
brilliant thank you for the AU soul cheers
cheers why is this pub important to the local community
brings people together it does bring people
all the locals together back together
there you go
best one on the community spirits
the best one on the lane community spirit yeah all those things
largest beer garden
largest the largest beer garden yeah
sun trap
a sun and it is a sun trap yeah
dog friendly
they bring the dogs in there you go they love the fact
a better range of beer
topless topless there is no topless outside sunburn in legis sorry john must trust you to lower the tone