The Farmers Arms is situated close to the Co-op store, Haslam's sweet shop, the little red post box in the brick wall and has a phone box close by, so it is in the centre of most goings on in the village. Its customers are farmers and labourers, men who work in the town and the odd pint customer who fancies a drink, not forgetting the little, blind old lady living opposite, who every evening manages to find her way across the road with her jug for her drop of bitter. A couple of pensioners sit chewing tobacco in the snug and in the saloon some men and playing dominoes and others shove halfpenny. Each summer, the men go off on an outing, as the charabanc rolls up so do the village children to wave the men off, knowing full well they will be rewarded by the men throwing handfuls of pennies as they leave the Farmers Arms and get on the charabanc and return much later.

The Same Yet is at the other end of the village, not quite as popular as the Farmers Arms, but, handy for the farmers and labourers who work and live locally. Mrs Jowett is the landlady having taken over from Mrs Booth. The legend is it was originally The Star Inn until it was refurbished, when the signwriters asked what the name of it was, the answer was, “the same yet’, meaning it was still The Star Inn, but, to everyone's surprise, in bright, gold lettering, the sign over the door, “The Same Yet”. It was decided it should stay as it was too expensive to alter and so it remains to this day.

Village News – New bus service

Since the Toll bar came down, a single decker bus has started running from Simister to Prestwich. Jack Parry’s bus service is a boon to villagers who get tired of walking to Heaton Park to the shops and back. They call it “the bone shaker”, because it rattles along and literally shakes every bone in your body, but, it reaches its destination eventually. There’s only one bus so it takes an hour, including breaks, to travel from Simister to Prestwich. Sometimes it breaks down and if its early morning its an excuse for children to stay off school if they travel to Prestwich for their education, but, if its in the afternoon then a long walk home lies ahead when they finish school

All material on these pages is ©Edith Oughton 2006