[Closed] The Whitaker Rawtenstall

looks good. Didnt even know it was closed... used to go often before the world flipped upside down. Get the steam train from Summerseat and walk up, kids play on the park and some dinner in the cafe and a mooch round the creepy animal displays! good times.

Hopefully the cafe will be back on form

The place gets a lot of stick from locals who think they excluded because it's moved upmarket.

They did the northern grip launch a few years back there i think

I'll check it out, definitely. It's a lovely setting. Used to take the kids up there a lot too when they were younger, and some god mates of ours got married there just before the world turned upside down there. I drew up the Whitaker for their wedding invites. I'll have to dig out the image.

While we're plugging local stuff:

If you are in the area and fancy a beer then check out our friends bar just down the road. Its a lovely place which ticks all the STW boxes as it was Camra pub of the year for the last few years with a massive selection of local craft ales and gins

Casked Crafty Ale House and Ginporium in Rawtenstall

Here's a drawing of the place by local artist and all round top bloke Scott Sandler. I bloody love his work

I've got this print he did of Lee Quarry up at home

Love the artwork, recently moved up this way. Any links to his stuff?

Heres the link to his Insta

He's a postie in Haslingdon who started sketching when he'd finished work. Unbelievably, he's no formal training. I absolutely love his style. We've a few of his prints up. His use of distorted perspective is just incredible

He's an absolutely lovely bloke too. Often has a stall selling prints in Rawtenstall market

Hopefully the cafe will be back on form

The place gets a lot of stick from locals who think they excluded because it’s moved upmarket.

I don't get this - the council were going to pull the plug on it and turn it into offices, Julian, Jackie and Carl put a proposal and took it over. Its been not-for-profit ever since. Cafe ingredients were locally sourced and hence the food cost what it did.

It might have been a bit arty farty Guardian reader at times but at least it stayed open.

Hopefully people like what's been done with the revamp.

I don’t get this – the council were going to pull the plug on it and turn it into offices,

It was a few people on a local Facebook group, moaning that the little kiosk his mum ran wasn't there and you couldn't buy a cheap drink anymore.

Typical valley stuff, zero imagination, stuck in a past that's long gone, living small lives

Rossendale is full of people harking back to the good old days of factory chimneys as far as the eye can see. Trouble is the descendants of those factory workers are still around even if the factories are long gone. The big problem is the councillors that get elected on the back of these inward looking people, anything not perceived to directly benefit them is bad. Rossendale is an ace borough, the more gentrified it becomes the more money there is for investment which benefits everyone. Ashamed to say I've been in the valley nearly 30 years and never been to the Whitaker, really should make the effort.

Ashamed to say I’ve been in the valley nearly 30 years and never been to the Whitaker, really should make the effort.

You've missed out on the shrunken head display! Always a school holiday favourite of ours.

It is definitely worth going having a look. Its reflective of the valley and its people now rather just 'a load of old stuff' style museum.

See if you can spot me and MrsRNP

reflective of the valley and its people

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/15/robert-maltby-on-the-of-his-girlfriend-sophie-lancaster-the-goth-thing-was-an-oversimplification

The Whittaker in it's new form will be great I'm sure, I'll be taking the kids once the initial rush is over

Thanks for the balance of tone - clearly it was needed with my overly gushing of positivity for the Whitaker and The Rossendale Valley.

Whitaker is ace. And @mahalo (do I know you IRL?) has exactly the recipe for the perfect afternoon out up there (best done when friends come to visit). Will definitely check this out.

clearly it was needed with my overly gushing of positivity for the Whitaker and The Rossendale Valley.

Nothing wrong with being positive, nothing wrong with recognizing there are plenty of issues still out there

Which i believe was a mummified monkeys head not the victim of a tribe as i grew up believing.There was a massive birds egg collection that got put way from public view probably around 1979.We used to go in there all the time as kids when it was just a museum

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benw
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Which i believe was a mummified monkeys head not the victim of a tribe as i grew up believing.There was a massive birds egg collection that got put way from public view probably around 1979.We used to go in there all the time as kids when it was just a museum

According to MrsRNP - the head has been examined/tested and is an actual human head. Its joined the birds eggs in the archives.

Well done to all of you,will definitely be going there next time i am back in't Valley.

It also has a small pump track

The flat area has the potential for grass track racing as well with some Roundhey style banking