EACH week shine the spotlight on some of East Lancashire’s best places to socialise with family and friends.

This time we have decided to head to Rawtenstall in search for our Pub of the Week.

Name of pub:

Casked Crafty Ale House & Ginporium

Address of the pub:

14-16 Bury Road, Rawtenstall BB4 6AA

Landlord/landlady name:

Mike and Amanda Jones

How long have you been the landlord/landlady for?

Since December 2017

Bar staff and their names:

Luke - manager, Simon - assistant manager, Chloe, Sean, Gary, Eli, Ella and Jo - bar servers.

Give us some history about the pub

Conceived and created as a one room micropub in 2017. We extended into the adjacent unit in 2019, and now specialise in craft beers, and an extensive range of hand picked gins and spirits.

Is food served? Is so what’s on the menu?

We serve packaged snacks. Customers are welcome to bring their own food (within reason!) into the bar to enjoy with our lovely beverages.

Is there a beer garden

We have seating for 20 on our sunny pavement area

Do you have any darts/snooker/pool teams

No, but we have Casked Runners, our running club and a walking group which meet up every Wednesday

Most popular drink served is:

Our range is ever changing with five local cask ales and eight craft keg so there isn’t any one favourite. We also offer more than 85 gins and our gin of the week is always popular

Most memorable moment at the pub

According to Luke, Mike once “chucked Jane Horrocks out!”… The true version is that she came in with her friends after we’d stopped serving, so he politely declined service!

Do you have an entertainment line-up?

We have a quiz every Wednesday and live music most weeks usually on a Thursday.

Have you faced any challenges within the industry

Covid was a huge challenge. We survived by delivering fresh cask ale to our customers’ homes. Since then the energy prices and near-recessionary trading conditions have hurt a bit, but we are surviving, thank goodness.

The best thing about running a pub is

The atmosphere and customers’ relaxed faces when we’re busy.

The worst thing about running a pub is..

The hours!

The perfect hangover cure is...

Don’t get drunk to begin with! Have a half!