Cemetery Hotel, Rochdale

This ominously-named corner pub takes its name from the nearby cemetery - nothing more worrying than that! It was built in the later nineteenth and given a face-lift a little late, probably in the Edwardian years. From the front door there is an inner porch with ‘Cemetery Hotel’ mosaic floor and a dado of rich vibrant various shades of green with cream tiling up to the ceiling finished off with a row of green tiles at cornice level. The dado of rich vibrant various shades of green continues throughout the lobby and into the drinking lobby in front of the servery. The tiling on the wall opposite the servery has been suffered from some movement to the property. Within the tiling are very decorative tiled panels of shades of green and orange. The bar back appears modern, but the bar counter could be old, if not Edwardian, and was painted over in black in 2020.

There are three rooms. The most impressive of the three rooms is the front left Parlour with ‘2’ on the door. It is expensively fitted and includes very good seating, which was repainted back in 2020. There are four seating areas created by substantial part glazed mahogany draught screens with classical columns. Either side of the entrance door are two imposing mahogany draught screens with leaded glass panels in the top part. The room has a distinctive turquoise tiled/ceramic fireplace (which is showing signs of wear) with a good wood surround including a mirror. The room has retained an original etched front window with the wording ‘Wines & Spirits’ but the two side windows are poor replacements for the original ‘Crown Ales’ and ‘Cemetery Hotel’ etched windows lost in recent years.

The small pool room on the front right with a ‘1’ on the door is by comparison extremely plain with a wood block floor, bare fixed seating all around the room where the back panels were replaced in 2020 and all wooden surfaces painted a blue-grey colour. The room still retains its original ‘Crown Ales’ front window and there is a range fireplace, which normally indicates the room was formerly a kitchen, and would pre-date the Edwardian refit. The small snug on the rear left has ‘3’ on the door, retains old fixed seating with a draught screen (all repainted black in 2020) but it has lost its fireplace and the windows are poor replacements of the original ‘Crown Ales’ and ‘Wines & Spirits’ etched ones. There is a (modern) hatch for service to the side of the servery.