Two gay pubs left to do, and the first of these was the New Union, which in fact looks anything like the stereotyped gay pub you would expect. Big open pub with central bar area and pool room to the right as you walk in, we were pleasantly welcomed by most without issue. That was though all except one flouncing queen in the corner who kept grumbling and mumbling all the time we were there about straights being "in "his pub." This despite a few straight couples also enjoying a drink out of plastic pots (a rather off-putting policy I must say).
As it is, the New Union is a pleasant enough pub, despite its lack of real ale, which clearly appears to be something of a no-no with the gay community for some reason. One can only assume their tastes and palates are somewhat different to us when it comes to ale. We just had the one and got off though, because as much as it was funny to annoy the corner whinger, it really wasn't for us. The pub probably goes back to the 19th century and was the Union Hotel in the 1970 as seen in these two photos from the Archive.
How did he know you were straights? Many gay personal ads specifically say "straight acting".
ReplyDeleteMust have just been a lucky guess i suppose !
ReplyDeletesalegrizzler
I think it's called gaydar?!
ReplyDeleteThis was my auntie and uncles pub in the 60's and 70's. Very interesting, as a kid, we would be told to 'walk straight through to back stairs to go up and dont look around'!!!!! Was renowned even then as a gay, cross dressing pub that had 'turns' on the stage I remember. There used to be a barge on the canal next to it that my dad converted into a restaurant. Happy days
ReplyDeleteThere was the City Barge, was this restaurant?
ReplyDeletehttp://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.com/2010/01/city-barge-canal-street.html
Seen here in the 70s http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=74347