A FORMER Delph pub landlady has used a traditional song to enshrine the name of Oldham Tommyfield Market’s first bar.
Michelle Riley, 47, has opened the cosy Cob and Coal to great acclaim from customers seeking a quiet backwater to share a drink in a quirky setting.
The tiny tap and bottle shop sits snugly in a corner of the indoor market and offers a wide range of beers ciders and wines six days a week.
Included in the beer selection are Schlenkerla, a German sausage beer, and Tynt Meadow brewed by Trappist monks in Leicester.
Leicester-born Michelle, a former landlady of The White Lion in Delph, explained how she settled on the bar’s unique name.
“My husband Chris and I wanted a Leicester and Oldham connection,” she said. “Chris always talked about cob coaling and the song so it was a contender.
“I’ve got into a many a row over what a bread roll should be called – it’s a cob in Leicester.
“So we decided on an honourable compromise and the name of the tune fitted the bill because of song’s connection to the area.”
The song ‘we come a cob coalin’ was sung by children in the run up to Bonfire Night so neighbours would give them loose change or anything towards their bonfire.
Once they had shared their tips or other bits of wood, they would build their bonfire. Then they would buy, or get their parents to buy, their fireworks.
Meantime, Alderman David Jones, a former Mayor of Oldham and a customer at the bar, said: “It’s just what Tommyfield needed.
“The bar is an ideal place to drop in for a drink and a chat and it will certainly encourage more footfall to the other stalls too.”
Michelle, who is hoping to open other micro bars in Oldham, added: “Bury, Ashton and other towns with markets have their own bars – Oldham didn’t. I’m really pleased it’s becoming popular.”
Part of the decor includes a line-up of clocks which will show the opening times of bars in markets in principal cities across the world.
The Cob and Coal is open Monday to Friday from 11am-5pm and Saturday from 10am-5pm.
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