Former Heroes of Blackrod Pub to become Ben’s at the Legion

The former Heroes of Blackrod, on Manchester Road,  has been taken over by husband and wife Ben and Nikki Haydock, who will be reopening the pub as ‘Ben’s at the Legion’ later this month – a nod to the venue’s former life as the Blackrod Royal British Legion Club, which closed its doors in August 2012.

Speaking to the Bolton News, Ben said the pub would include a plaque of remembrance for the war dead.

Now, the brewery – which already has a micropub in Chorley – plans to extend the opening hours of the Blackrod pub to offer breakfasts and pub lunches, alongside catering for the late night crowd.

The Manchester Road pub has been known as Heroes since 2013

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Ben said: “We’re going to be a sports bar, we’re going to have real ales on, craft beer – we’re going to be serving breakfast, pub lunches, I could go on all day.

“It’s a new model for pubs, really; pubs are struggling, and we’ve got this building, we’re going to squeeze as much potential out of the building as we can.

“We’re going to be opening at eight in the morning, offering breakfast, offering home deliveries, hopefully getting workers in having their breakfast, offering barista coffee, and then we’re going to be doing pub lunches.

“We’re going to be showing all the sports, and we’ve got a space upstairs as well which we’ve got lots of ideas for, it’s available to rent as a function room.

“We might make up some co-working spaces up there, have evenings like wine and cheese tasting, or guest chefs – the opportunities are endless.”

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The day-to-day running of the pub will be carried out by Ben’s wife Nikki.

The duo, who live in Adlington, run the brewery alongside Ben’s father and his son, Keith.

Ben, aged 46, is originally from Bolton – now, he’s ‘glad to be getting back in a BL postcode’ – with a grand opening event set to take place at 11.30am on Saturday, October 5.

Bolton Wanderers’ club ambassador John McGinlay – who has previously backed the brewery – is set to cut the ribbon at the grand opening.

Ben's Brewery has been backed by the Wanderers' John McGinlay (Image: Ben's Brewery)

Ben added: “We’re probably going to be a week later with the food, we’re going to be pub hours for the first week.

“We’ve got some good kitchen staff in, we’ve got some ladies with lots of experience of catering – one of them has been a baker for about 30 years, my wife is going to be in the kitchen as well, she’s run a successful cafe before, and she’s just come off managing the other bar.

“We’re a bit of a family business but we’ve kept all the old staff on, we offered them all jobs and I think five out of six have taken us up on that, and we’ve been able to give them more hours, so I think we’re doing everything the right way.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.