Last orders have been called at a Rochdale pub which can trace its history back to 1422.
Drinkers said goodbye to the Farewell Inn in Manchester Road, Castleton, on Friday.
The current boozer opened in 1922, but a pub has stood on the site for almost 600 years. It was so-named because it was used as a meeting point for soldiers going off to war.
Former landlord Ian Bleakley, who ran the Farewell Inn for 13 years, said the closure was the end of an era.
The 63-year-old added: “It is so sad, a crying shame. There is such a long history with the pub. It is unbelievable to think there has been a pub there since 1422. It was a meeting point for soldiers. They would be signed up here and then marched off to war and their girlfriends and wives would come to wave them off. That is how the Farewell Inn got its name.
“It has been bad for pubs for a long time, it was once the heart of the community but now it has gone.”
It is believed the pub, which was run by Punch Taverns, was sold at auction for under £200,000.
It is the sixth pub to have closed in Castleton in recent years.
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