.The Manchester Heritage Pub Crawl posters and postcards feature in several pubs in town. The Waldorf has an even bigger one - a Manchester and Stockport version. The pub crawl contains most of the obvious favourites, a few notable exceptions (Rain, Ape & Apple - both brewery owned I guess - Crown & Kettle, Bulls Head, Temple), plus a few puzzling entries:
1. Marble Arch, Rochdale Road - Marble Beers Ltd. sponsor the postcard, surely now Manchester's most popular real ale pub?
2. Churchills, Chorlton Street - no real ale during our visit to this popular mixed pub in the gay village
4. Sinclairs, Cathedral Gates - still the cheapest decent pint in town (Samuel Smiths)?
6. Monroe's, London Road - we and others were refused entry "because it's Mother's Day"(!)
7. Waldorf, Gore Street - landlord has just taken over the at the ailing Town Hall Tavern
8. Smithfield, Swan Street - the quirky open kitchen area sadly no more but keeps a good range of ever-changing ales
9. Paddy's Goose, Bloom Street - another in the gay village, goes way back this one
10. Briton's Protection, Great Bridgewater Street - a true Manchester icon standing resolute as developments have shot up around it
11. Hare & Hounds, Shudehill - full of characters and a great pint of Joey Holts
12. Lass O' Gowrie, Charles Street - definitely one of the best boozers in town
13. Mulligans, Southgate - one of Manchester's better Irish bars and, it's claimed, the best pint of Guinness in town
14. City, Oldham Street - rough-arsed pub back in the day, we'll see if it's changed (edit: not really, but good ale on)
15. Kings Arms, Bloom Street, Salford - well over the river so beyond our boundary
16. Old Nags Head, Jacksons Row - a big old classic backstreet boozer
17. O'Shea's, Princess Street - rather studenty Irish pub, never quite lived up to Mulligans (but it is St Paddy's day today...)
18. Rembrandt, Sackville Street - in the village, so what about proper beer? We'll see...
19. Waterhouse, Princess Street - a Wetherspoons, but unlike most others so not bad at all
20. Old Grapes, Little Quay Street - no real ale on during a pal's recent visit
21. Thirsty Scholar, New Wakefield Street - surprisingly decent these days
22. Wellington, Cathedral Gates - called Shambles on the postcard, popular on match days
23. White Lion, Liverpool Road - sandwiched between Cask and the Oxnoble, looking forward to this end of town for a change
24. Fringe, Swan Street - superb little bar on the fringe (get it?) of the Northern Quarter, rightly popular
25. Castle, Oldham Street - recently reopened and a bit of an Oldham Road oasis
26. Burton Arms, Swan Street - not sure about this one, not been in for years
27. Circus Tavern, Portland Street - small (i.e. tiny) but a good pint and always full
28. Rising Sun, Lloyd Street - like the Nags opposite, an old style backstreet pub
29. Mr Thomas's Chop House, Cross Street - a popular foodie place these days
30. Mother Macs, Back Piccadilly - a hidden gem, unknown to many - yet always packed
31. Town Hall Tavern, Tib Lane - taken over by Waldorf landlord (opening night, 17th March)
32. Bridge Street Tavern, Bridge Street - now the Bridge, was a well-rated foodie place, now re-opened following closure in 2006.
33. Grey Horse, Portland Street - huge compared to the Circus, but not really
34. Marble Beer House, Manchester Road, Chorlton - obviously way outside our boundary (and one of many great pubs in Chorlton)
Some thoughts
ReplyDeleteChurchills-used to have real ale
Peveril-try to get in. It's worth it.
Sinclairs-sadly no real ale now
Smihfield-seating now in old kitchen area.
City-still lively but had a makeover and now has real ale on.
Rembrandt-used to have cask Lees on
Thanks Tyson. The Pev's a great boozer, shame it's keeping limited hours these days. Pretty sure there was no ale on offer in Churchills when we popped in, and the other 4 are yet to do for us over the rest of the year so we'll report back as an when. Cheers
ReplyDeleteVery interesting list of pubs. I visited Poland and the local bars in Krakow 2 months ago - it was a great time.
ReplyDelete