Littleborough pub brings community together with new pool league

Licensees Cara and Martyn Benyon at the Dyers Arms in Littleborough, near Rochdale, have launched a new local pool league to bring players and pubs together, and are inviting more venues to enter their own teams.

The Littleborough Pool League gives local players the opportunity to compete regularly, meet new people and enjoy friendly competition without having to travel miles. Created by Cara and Martyn, the league is also supported by pub regular Mark Jones, who helps with its organisation and administration.

With seven pool teams already playing from the Dyers Arms, the licensees are now encouraging other pubs across Littleborough to get involved, including venues with a pool table that do not yet have a team.

The pub is part of Admiral Taverns, the UK's leading community pub company with circa. 1,300 wet-led pubs across the UK.

Cara and Martyn have run the Dyers Arms for the past three years, building a welcoming hub for local people to meet and socialise. Following a full refurbishment in 2025, which saw £180,000 spent on a complete redecoration, as well as the creation of a new beer garden they have continued to develop the pub’s sporting community, which includes darts and football teams alongside its pool players.

Licensees Cara and Martyn Benyon commented: “Pool is a big part of what we do at the Dyers Arms, and we’re proud to have seven teams playing from the pub. We created the Littleborough Pool League to give local players more opportunities to compete within their own community, meet new people and support their local pubs. Martyn is a key player in the league himself, and they will also be launching a new ladies pool team which will start next season in March/April.

“We’d love to hear from more pubs interested in entering a team, including those that have a pool table but haven’t set up a team yet."

“We strongly believe in a local pub bringing together local people and the local community.”

Business Development Manager for Admiral Taverns, Anthony Briggs, commented: "The Dyers Arms is a real community pub which has done a brilliant job at launching this initiative. It's a great example of using the pub as a way to connect locals and provide real value to its customers."

Alongside its sporting activities, the Dyers Arms supports Springhill Hospice as its nominated charity. Fundraising activities include staff versus pool team matches, and raffles.

Pubs and players interested in finding out more about the Littleborough Pool League can contact Cara at caramanley@yahoo.co.uk.

Notes to Editors

Admiral Taverns (“Admiral”) is the UK’s number one community pub group. Headquartered in Chester; the Group operates a national estate of c.1,365 predominantly wet-led community pubs. Admiral’s unique operational approach has earnt industry recognition with the Group winning Best Community Pub Operator at the 2024 Publican Awards, whilst also being shortlisted for Best Partnership Pub Company (501+ Sites). In 2019, 2016 and 2013, Admiral Taverns won Best Leased and Tenanted Pub Company at the Publican Awards and ranked highly commended as Best Community Pub Operator in 2017. The Group has also been consistently highly rated by licensees in the industry’s independent annual Tenant Track survey, exceeding the scores of all its national peers.

For further information please contact Polly Clarke/Amy Keane via Admiral@brandpotential.com.

Third-party news items are published as received for informational purposes. Publication does not imply endorsement by the Guild. Please use the contact details within the post for any enquiries.