The Joshua Bradley and Bluebell Suite — Restaurant in Tameside

An inauspicious start - we called the restaurant at 2.30pm to enquire about the possibility of securing a table for 8. It was a bit of a punt on our part, granted, given the short notice and the size of the party, so we weren't overly surprised when after much deliberation they advised us that there wouldn't be a table available for another 2-3 hours.

We declined the offer and were resigned to looking elsewhere - until, that is, we found that on their website you were able to make immediate reservations for a party of our size for pretty much the whole of the day. We booked for 3.30pm and immediately made our way the to the pub; half expecting to be turned away on arrival. Imagine our surprise, then, to find a pub which was less than half full. We were immediately taken to our table without so much as a quibble. A very odd state of affairs - I'm not sure why a business would actively want to turn away paying customers from a half-empty pub.

Anyway, the pub itself is magnificent - a huge pile sandwiched on the border between Woodley and Gee Cross. The grounds are huge with ample seating both to the front and rear with a small play area beyond the rear beer garden. Make no mistake, there is plenty of space for the kids to run around out here.

Internally, the pub has been decorated to an incredibly high standard. We were seated in the rear 'conservatory' dining area which serves as an extension to the original building.

We took the opportunity to sample a range of courses during our stay at the Joshua Bradley:-

Starters 3x Crispy Chicken Strips Bread and Oils Pan Seared Scallops Kid's garlic bread

Mains Pan Roasted Chicken Supreme Roasted Rump of Lamb Pan-Fried Rump Steak Sandwich 3x Fish and Chips Kid's Sausage and Mash Kid's Fish Fingers

Desserts Chocolate Fudge Cake and Ice Cream Baked Vanilla Cheesecake Brownie with Ice Cream Kid's Brownie with Ice Cream

There's too much to unpick here to give a full review of everything - it's fair to say that everyone was very happy with their meals, but I'll mention the highlights and be nitpicky and mention some of the low-lights too.

So the good - the hasselback potato that came with the chicken supreme - just magnificent! I could have had a bowl of those on their own. Sounds weird as it's 'just' an accompaniment, but they really did stand out. And the kid's 'fish fingers' weren't your bog standard birds eye-esque breaded abominations, but proper mini fillets of battered fish. The scallops were HUGE, and oh so tender. Served on a bed of risotto with massive chunks of chorizo. I've paid more for far less when it comes to scallops - these really did impress.

The not so good - we weren't asked how we wanted the steak cooked for the steak sandwich. As it turns out it came out cooked just as my mum would have asked for it so there was no problem, but it should be standard practice to ask the customer - even for steak you 'just' serve on a sandwich. Also,the brownie was quite cloying, thick and almost undone in consistency. Not something I would choose again - the fudge cake seems to be the better option if you need to get your chocolately fix at the end of your meal.

It's also well worth mentioning our waiter, Eric, who was brilliantly attentive and tolerant of my really quite unfunny quips throughout the meal(!)

I think it's fair to say that the setting, food and ambience here is a cut above the rest - if they'll only let you have a seat in the place in the...

It's been a month to the day since our wedding. In truth it has taken me this long to put into words how perfect our day was. But lets start with before the wedding. Elise, the events manager at the Joshua Bradley and Bluebell suite is fantastic at absolutely everything. She steered us in the right direction in terms of food and drinks package. She made sure we knew absolutely everything about how the day would run to our chosen time frames. Then the day of truth arrived. Elise coordinated the day to perfection. literally not a single hitch on our day! She was always on hand to make sure I knew what was next and to make sure everything was exactly how we wanted it. She even walked one of our flower girls down the isle when she got stage fright

I met a special lady here Unfortunately They say that you can judge a place by how the management react when something goes wrong. The management at Joshua Bradley failed to come up to standard. I have visited Joshua Bradley on a number of occasions and would agree that it is a cut above most chain style pub eateries. However on my last visit with my partner in April something went seriously wrong. I ordered the chicken and bacon pie which was tasty but lukewarm and the pastry slightly undercooked. Before we even left the premises I had to make an urgent visit to the toilet. For the rest of that evening I was violently I'll with sickness and diahrrea and spent most of the following day in bed. A few days later I called Joshua Bradley and reported my illness, there was no sympathy or apology , just defensiveness. The man actually asked for a stool sample,,,shocked ! Several weeks later I received an email with a report from their Health and safety official, really ! Full of facts and figures and procedures and basically washed their hands of any responsibility. My body knew exactly what caused me to be ill, and that was the Chicken and Bacon Pie. It's unfortunate because I have enjoyed my other...