Pub’s filling up to the top

Thumbs up . . . Sharon in the newly-created upstairs bar

AN inventive pub landlady has taken her pub to new heights in a bid to keep her regulars happy.

Sharon Hirst saw her takings plummet when a foul stench seeped through the cellar floor of The Swan on Lees High Street.

But customers are flocking back — because she has turned an upstairs function room into a bar.

Sharon, who took the pub over nine months ago, was devastated after suffering six weeks of foul-smelling waste through the cellar floor.

And now, with the help of brewers JW Lees, she has turned the pub’s upstairs room into an intimate bar area with its own dance floor.

Sharon (37) said: “The smells have been dreadful. I was facing complete disaster with it all happening so close to Christmas. But opening the bar upstairs has been really well received by locals who like a quiet pint.

“The function room has great views over High Street, so drinkers really have a superior view of what’s going on from the upstairs windows. It’s very novel and — most importantly — there are absolutely no smells. Business has really picked up.”

Sharon worked at The Swan for six years before becoming landlady and lives in the flat above the pub.

Oldham Council, United Utilities and the brewery have launched a major investigation to trace the smells but so far they have not identified the source of the problem.

JW Lees area manager Jack Partington said: “Sharon is a real trooper. She is doing everything possible to keep the pub open. Using the function room as a bar for locals is a terrific idea.

“The smell is a complete mystery. We do not believe the problem is with our property and we are still working to try and find an answer.”

Signs in the pub’s front downstairs windows direct customers to a side door where they climb a carpeted staircase to enter the new bar facility.