A strange sensation given the pub is resoundingly closed, the tables stacked with chairs.
Brand new takeaway boxes piled onto a central table explain why.
Publican Josh Lee is trying to make the best of a bad situation.
After just two months of "heaven", being open after the national lockdown, he had to shut his doors as all hospitality venues in the Bolton area were closed this week.
He has re-furloughed his staff, keeping just himself and the head chef Robert Nelson in their small kitchen.
He's hoping the new takeaway menu and this two-man band can keep the pub ticking over.
"It can't get any worse can it?" he laughs ruefully. He believes this pub will probably survive, but its sister pub round the corner will not.
The new local lockdown restrictions mean most of the pubs and restaurants in the centre of Bolton are closed.
The Elephant and Castle is a lone venue selling beer from a trestle table outside its front door, and there is a Greek restaurant with plastic screens in the entrance looking hopefully for takeaway customers.
Many told us that the High Street was depressed before the coronavirus hit. The new restrictions have just made it worse.
The government has allocated funding for those businesses affected by the restrictions.
Businesses in England that are required to shut because of local lockdowns can claim up to £1,500 per property every three weeks while small businesses will get £1,000. Businesses still locked down at a national level are not eligible.
But the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, Adam Marshall, would like to see more.
"Companies have people on their payroll, they have rent, they have suppliers to pay and the grants aren't going to be enough to pay the bills when you don't have any takings," he says.
However, Mr Lee in Bolton feels he has received a lot of support, and says that the challenge has made him more entrepreneurial.
"It reminds me a bit of the introduction of the smoking ban. We've got to adapt and change what we do," he says
Very important point