One of the nicest things about staying at Pots & Pans is that you can leave the car at the cottage. Uppermill has plenty of pubs, cafés and restaurants, and everything in the village is within walking distance: it’s about ten minutes down the hill from the cottage to the High Street. This is our own guide to the places we like, and the places guests keep telling us about.
Uppermill gets busy on Friday and Saturday nights and at Sunday lunchtime, so if you have your heart set on somewhere in particular it’s worth booking ahead. I’ve left out opening times because they change so often. Please check the venue’s own website or social page before you set off.
If you’re coeliac or gluten intolerant, have a look at our guide to gluten-free food in Saddleworth. For a curry, see Indian restaurants in and around Saddleworth.
Pubs
Uppermill has a good mix of proper village pubs and smarter bars. The High Street ones are all within a few minutes of each other, and the two pubs up the hill make a good destination for a walk.
- The Commie (The Commercial): a friendly, no-frills local in the middle of the village, with a good choice of cask ales. Dogs welcome.
- The Hare & Hounds: a traditional inn on the High Street, lively when the sport is on. Dogs and walkers welcome.
- The Albion Tap: a small bar next door to the Hare & Hounds with an interesting range of craft and cask beers. Dog-friendly.
- The Granby Arms: a traditional pub popular with locals, with a real fire and a small paved garden. Dogs welcome.
- The Waggon: a 19th-century coaching inn on the High Street that these days is as much restaurant as pub, serving good food and Robinsons ales. Book at weekends.
- The Church Inn: up by St Chad’s church overlooking the village. A proper country pub with a big beer garden and hearty food, and the We Are Wolf brewery works in the old brewhouse next door. Dogs welcome.
- The Cross Keys: a stone-flagged 18th-century moorland pub further up the hill beyond the Church Inn. Walkers and dogs are welcome.
Cafés and tea rooms
- Caffè Grande Abaco: still known to many locals as Java, and the social hub of the village. Coffee in the morning, food through the day and wine in the evening, with a courtyard where dogs get treats and a water bowl.
- Kobe (formerly Kobe Coffee): coffee and brunch by day and Pan-Asian food in the evening, on the High Street.
- Our Place: a coffee and brunch spot at 56 High Street (where Fika and then Bloc used to be), with home-made bakes.
- Rec Room Coffee House: just off the High Street on Lee Street, in what used to be the Reclamation Room. Good for breakfast, lunch and cake, and dogs are welcome.
- The Cake Kitchen: formerly the Vintage Cupcake Kitchen, a small café and cake shop on the High Street for cake and afternoon tea.
- Saints: a relaxed café on St Mary’s Gate beside the park, handy after a trip to the playground.
- Greene’s Bistro & Parlour: Grandpa Greene’s café in King George V Park, serving brunch, lunch and afternoon tea, and of course their own ice cream. They even have a dog menu.
- The Limekiln Café: at the Brownhill Centre by the viaduct at the northern edge of the village, next to the canal. A handy stop on a towpath walk, and popular with dog walkers.
Restaurants
- Sorella: a warm Italian trattoria on the High Street with traditional cooking. Well worth booking.
- Muse: a stylish bar and restaurant for small plates and cocktails. A good choice for a night out.
- The Shalimar: Uppermill’s long-standing Indian restaurant at the bottom of the High Street, which also does takeaway.
- Salt: a modern British restaurant at the bottom of the High Street, sister to the Waggon. Evenings.
- The Waggon and the Church Inn (see Pubs) are both good for a proper meal too.
Takeaways
- The Shalimar does Indian takeaway as well as sit-down meals.
- Uppermill no longer has a chippy of its own. The nearest are Diggle Chippy, which often has a queue for good reason, and the Delph Fish and Chip Shop on King Street in Delph. Both keep fairly short hours, so check before you go.
A short drive away
- The White Hart, Lydgate: an old coaching inn about ten minutes away by taxi, with a smart brasserie, good beer and views from the garden. One for a special night out.
- The Farrars Arms, Grasscroft: an 18th-century stone pub at the crossroads in Grasscroft, known for its home-made pies. It has a real fire, and dogs are welcome.
- The Royal George, Greenfield: a JW Lees pub on Manchester Road serving food every day, with a carvery on Sundays. Dog-friendly.
- Platform 13, Greenfield: an independent café opposite Greenfield station, opened in 2025, for breakfast, brunch and lunch. Dogs are welcome.
- The Swan Inn, Dobcross: known locally as the Top House, on the pretty village square, with open fires, home cooking and old Saddleworth photos on the walls. Dogs are welcome. Since 2026 there is also a tearoom, Dob X Tea, upstairs.
- The Old Toll House, Dobcross: a tea room with a small garden centre on Platt Lane, serving home-made breakfasts, lunches and afternoon tea.
- The Old Bell Inn, Delph: an 18th-century coaching house famous for its enormous gin collection, with a restaurant and good pub food.
- The Loading Bay, Diggle: a family-run café, bistro and wine bar in Diggle’s old Co-op building, not far from the canal. Dogs are welcome.
- The Diggle Hotel: a stone inn from 1789 near the Standedge Tunnel, on the Pennine Way. It reopened in the summer of 2026, with cask ales, open fires and food, and dogs and muddy boots are welcome.
- Grandpa Greene’s, Diggle: the original canalside ice cream parlour, a pleasant walk up the towpath from Uppermill. It is closed for redevelopment from September 2026 until around December, with a weekend pop-up on the patio in the meantime, so check their website before you go. Their bistro in Uppermill park is open as usual.
- The Printers, Denshaw: formerly the Printers Arms, a stone pub built in 1717 and now independently owned, serving home-cooked food, with a real fire.
- The Rams Head Inn, Denshaw: a family-run inn high on the moors above Denshaw, with log fires and views, known for steaks, game and seafood. Worth booking.
If you’d rather have a quiet night in, the kitchen at Pots & Pans has everything you need, including a range cooker. Uppermill’s butchers, baker, cheesemonger and wine shop are on our shopping in Uppermill page. Wherever you go, please eat, drink and shop locally when you can. It keeps these independent businesses going.
Last checked September 2026. Places open, close and change hands, so if you spot something that’s out of date, or somewhere you think should be included, please let me know at admin@potsandpanscottage.com.
All reasonable care has been taken to make sure the information on this page was accurate when it was last checked, but it may be out of date, incomplete or simply our opinion. Please check with the venue before relying on it. Pots & Pans Cottage accepts no responsibility for any loss or inconvenience arising from use of this page or any website it links to.