Reopened Shaw pub cooking up a storm with traditional meals

The Black Ladd pub on Buckstones Road closed down after its previous owners experienced financial problems and could no longer run the establishment. 

The pub was bought by Amy Barnie, who refurbished and reopened the venue in July. 

Amy quickly launched a new food menu at the pub, featuring a range of traditional pub grub.

That being one of my favourite types of food, I couldn't resist heading down for a taste of their menu.

I went along mid-afternoon yesterday, Saturday, when it was fairly quiet, probably due to the gorgeous weather at the time.

As I walked in, I was welcomed with a warm and cheery smile from the waitress who sat me at a lovely table in an alcove right by the windows looking out over the sunny Oldham moors. 

The pub's lofty spot in Shaw provides stunning views across the town, which make for a great feature while enjoying your food. 

I swiftly ordered a drink, which was unfortunately just a Pepsi thanks to my having to drive, but it was a refreshing one at that.

I then ordered myself some food after grappling with the plentiful choices on offer and decided to go with the homemade cheese and onion pie.

My meal at the black ladd (Image: Newsquest)

This dish is definitely a favourite of mine when done right, but is so very easy to get wrong, and so I decided it would be a good choice to evaluate the quality of the food. 

A cheese and onion pie, for me, should have a nice firm texture, when the slice is served up, it shouldn't fall to a sloppy mess.

And, in the words of Goldilocks, the Black Ladd's pie wasn't too firm or too soft, it was just right.

The pie at the Black Ladd (Image: Newsquest)

The onions were sliced nice and fine, the cheese was flavourful and the pastry was perfect buttery goodness.

My love of this dish comes from having it baked by my nana since I was young, and this honestly made me feel like that little girl having the treat from nana's house.

The pie came served with chips and the choice of garden or mushy peas or baked beans. I went with beans.

There's not much to say about the beans, they're just beans after all but I will say they weren't dry or overcooked and they were piping hot. 

But there was plenty to say about the chips.

Now these are proper chips (Image: Newsquest)

They were crispy on the outside to the point where running the fork along them made that crackly sound, but gorgeously fluffy on the inside.

The portion size was huge and filling, meaning my meal ended after the pie despite there being plenty of tasty sounding desserts available.

The food with the pint of Pepsi cost me a very reasonable £17.95, which I was happy to pay for the satisfaction of the food. 

Service at the pub was also exemplary and the staff were all cheery and polite. 

The pub is open seven days a week with food served from 12pm to 8pm.