The Tipsy Cows bar, with wine crates, hanging glasses and the team at the counter

Our Story

Mickii, Lynette and a shared love of bringing people together. Welcome to our little corner of Great Harwood.

Our beginning

Dreams do come true

Tipsy Cows began as a dream: to create something truly special in the heart of Great Harwood. Mickii and Lynette Edwards opened it as a husband-and-wife team, and what started as an idea has grown into a multi-award-winning cheese and wine bar that people travel across the North West to visit.

It’s a small place with a big personality: hand-picked cheeses from around the world, one of the biggest drinks lists in East Lancashire, a candlelit cellar and a party room downstairs. Every weekend, from Thursday to Saturday, the tables fill with first-timers and regulars alike.

Our philosophy is simple: nothing is impossible. It drives everything we do, from tracking down the next remarkable cheese to putting our profits back into the community.

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The Tipsy Cows frontage on Church Street in Great Harwood

1806the year our building dates from

18KFacebook followers

98%recommend us on Facebook

4.9out of 5 on Tripadvisor and Google

380+whiskies behind the bar

Figures as of September 2026.

Our building

Dating back to 1806

Our building has stood on Church Street since 1806, witnessing more than two centuries of Great Harwood life. Its stonework, cosy corners and quirks are part of what makes Tipsy Cows feel like Tipsy Cows.

Head downstairs and you’ll find the cellar: candles down the corridor, bottles on every side and a party room with stone walls. Ask nicely and Lynette may give you a tour; guests say there are a few friendly ghosts down there too.

We’re always improving the place, and we’ve promised “a few changes around the place” to go with our new menu in the coming months.

The steps and wine-lined passage into the cellar

Meet the owners

The people behind the boards

Cheese master & co-founder

Mickii Edwards

Mickii brings the stories behind the cheese to your table, with the same determination he showed on the rugby league field. A former Oldham, Leigh and Swinton player, he won two caps for Wales in 1995.

Off the field he has run 100 miles in a day, run 125 miles in 24 hours for a young girl living with Batten disease, run to Manchester and back to pay for children’s Disneyland trips, and captained the rugby league side in a cross-Channel relay swim for Head for Change. He also campaigns to make rugby league safer for the players who come next.

Wales: rugby league international, two caps (1995)
Oldham RLFC: heritage number 1036
Pride of Hyndburn: Hyndburn Business Awards 2017
Ultra runs: 100 miles in a day; 125 miles in 24 hours
The Big Rugby Swim: English Channel relay, 2023

Host, mixologist & co-founder

Lynette Edwards

Lynette, known to regulars as Netty or “Moo Moo”, is the warm welcome that keeps guests coming back. She runs the room and the cellar, looks after the hampers and takes bookings personally, so no table, deposit or dietary request slips through the net.

She’s also a qualified mixologist behind our cocktails, and her wine knowledge is the secret ingredient of our wine and cheese pairing evenings.

This summer Mickii and Lynette took their first break after 50 weekends in a row, with Ethan keeping the bar going while they were away. The young team is, in one reviewer’s words, “a credit to the place”.

Behind the bar

One of the biggest drinks lists in East Lancashire

Cocktails made properly by a qualified mixologist. Shelves of wines and bubbles. Gins, rums, vodkas, Belgian and German beers, local mead, and more than 380 whiskies from the Scottish isles to Japan, some of them 30 years old.

It all began as Mickii’s wine and gin tasting bar. When Lancashire Life visited around 2018 it counted 117 gins and 426 wines, and the bottles still line every wall.

Explore the drinks

Shelves filled with wine and spirits inside Tipsy Cows

Recognition

Multi-award winning

Mickii was named Pride of Hyndburn at the 2017 Hyndburn Business Awards for his work in the community. Tipsy Cows has since been honoured as a Shining Star of Lancashire and as Food Guru’s best bar and restaurant of 2023, and Lancashire Life, which featured the bar in its gin-and-wine days, regards it as one of the best around.

The awards are lovely, but the best recognition is the one we see every weekend: people coming back and bringing their friends.

Pride of Hyndburn: Mickii, Hyndburn Business Awards 2017
Shining Star of Lancashire
Food Guru: best bar & restaurant 2023
Featured in Lancashire Life

Community recognition

Oldham YEDS presentation

The Dockhouse Boys joined the YEDS supporters’ group trip to visit former Oldham RLFC player Mickii Edwards at Tipsy Cows.

Mickii was presented with his original playing jersey, his heritage number (1036) and a few other treats from the Oldham fans. The night brought interviews with Mickii and other former players, a presentation and plenty of celebrating into the late hours.

Watch the YEDS visit on YouTube

Oldham YEDS Supporters Group present former player Mickii Edwards with a special presentation The Dockhouse Rugby Show on YouTube

Community impact

Nothing Is Impossible

Alongside the bar, Mickii leads Nothing Is Impossible: free trips and days out for families who need a break, Christmas trips for local pensioners, and a Christmas toy appeal that has become a Hyndburn tradition.

We put a lot of our profits back into the community, and every penny from our Chris Shearer nights goes to the charity. So every visit helps fund the next trip.

Mickii’s own videos show where it all began, from 14 nights sleeping rough in Preston to a surprise mobility scooter for Emma. Watch the stories behind the name.

Discover our charity

Families waving by the Great Harwood clock tower before a Nothing Is Impossible trip

Experience

See Tipsy Cows

A glimpse of our venue, the atmosphere and the people who make it.

More photos on Facebook

Friends smiling around a table with fondue, nachos and cocktails — Fondue, nachos and a good catch-up.

Two guests enjoying bright blue cocktails at Tipsy Cows — Cocktails with a kick.

A member of the team holding a cheese board outside the lit Tipsy Cows shopfront — Evenings on Church Street.

Friends raising their glasses around a birthday table with gold 40 balloons — Big birthdays.

A member of the team holding a tray of newly arrived French goats’ cheeses — New arrivals from France.

Guests chatting around the tables before an evening event at Tipsy Cows — The calm before the evening.

Good company deserves good cheese.

Tell us your date, how many are coming, and anything we should know. We’ll find your table and confirm the details with you personally.

Call 07947 121211 Message on Facebook Prefer a text? Message 07947 121211