Very much a student venue situated on the corner of Charles Street and Princess Street, this pub doubles up as both a bar and a club, with the club area downstairs and an open, light, airy place up above for casual drinkers. There is also a nice outside area, which was probably previously a fire escape but has now been converted into an alfresco drinking and smoking area. It was quite pleasant when we visited the other night, however I suspect it could be a bit whiffy in the summer with the polluted River Medlock down below. As for beer, once again we were pleasantly surprised to find real ale, albeit in the form of Bombardier bitter only, but beggars can't be choosers and it was better than finding just keg substitutes as can often be the case. Joshua Brooks serves a purpose for the local student community, and is clearly very popular. This is fine by us as it then keeps the next door Lass O' Gowrie more for us old fuddy duddies!
The pub is named after a character in Mrs G. Linnaeus Banks's (Isabella Banks named after her husband in the old fashioned manner) famous old 1876 book, The Manchester Man. It's had a few name changes over the years apparently, such as Sofa Central, but it has returned back to Joshua Brooks since. It was always a place we'd walk past between pints in the Old Garratt (then a decent alehouse) and the Lass (still a great alehouse) on match days. It faces the old Factory Records office, later the Paradise Factory, and now the recently opened FAC251, The Factory, a Hooky venture that seems to be paying off judging by the queues which were snaking down Charles Street on our Thursday night visit.
Sorry to be pedantic, but......G Linnaeus Banks was not Isabella Banks pseudonym - it was the name of her husband. In the standard Victorian fashion she called herself, from time to time, Mrs G Linnaeus Banks (meaning simply "wife of Mr G Linnaeus Banks") . You're not the only ones. They got this wrong on Tony Wilson's grave too.
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