The Colliers Arms
Although this pub closed in 1956 stories of happy nights spent there abound. For those of you that don’t know The Colliers Arms was another Hill Top pub and was located where the late Jacka Berrisford lived. I think its now called Stanley View. Apparently this pub had a stove pot in the middle of the room that was the focal point. Another feature was that they kept a monkey in a cage on the bar! One night the pub was packed, smoke was thick in the air and the guests were well oiled when somebody let the monkey out of the cage. Well you could imagine the monkey bouncing round the room with people trying to grab it until the poor monkey landed on the stove pot and immediately jumped off with burned feet and paws to the top of the bar where it proceeded to sit for the rest of the night spitting and blowing on its feet and hands and rubbing them together just like a human would. This created quite an impact with the patrons and the story is still periodically recounted.