Blue Skies Over Manchester....

A sunny Saturday in Manchester once again, as blue skies welcomed a few of us as we caught up for an old works reunion. And as you would expect both beer and conversation were flowing, whilst unfortunately darker events were apparently unfolding elsewhere in the city centre....

We were enjoying a relatively settled and sunny period in what has been a disappointing summer, and as I boarded a very busy Manchester-bound train at Brighouse station, I have to say that the weather was extremely pleasant. This was another weekend where, due to ongoing work at Huddersfield station, there were more trains running through what seems to be a static embodiment of the rail replacement bus. And so instead of the one train an hour running to Manchester, us locals were being treated to up to 3 an hour, with locations to more exotic places not usually on the timetable like Liverpool, Newcastle, and Saltburn available. 

I usually have a catch up with some of the old work guys once or twice a year, but it had been May 2023 when we had last met up, due to family commitments, holidays, football, or any number of miscellaneous reasons. We'd agreed on Saturday August 3rd several months ago, the first free Saturday the five of us could get together. And so we had confirmed we'd meet at the Victoria Tap, handy for the train or tram for most of us. I was a little late, the train having been delayed a couple of times en route, but I was still the first there.

The Victoria Tap, Manchester

Now I love this little bar, situated in a former railway social club close to the Corporation Street entrance at Victoria Station. There are usually 6 beers available on cask, plus a plethora on tap. The place was quite busy as I walked in, and as usual people come and go regularly here, leaving to catch their train, or embark on their journey into the delights of the city. From today's beer options, I went for a pint of Kaleidoscope, the 4.2% session pale from Bristol-based Wiper & True, which was in fine form (NBSS 3.5), which I started sat at a tall table opposite the bar. The rest of the guys - JC, Fil, Ryan, Jason - filed in in stages, pleasantries were exchanged, and to a man all went for the Kaleidoscope. With room for only two around my perch, we headed out to the outside area beside the tramlines and beneath the impressive Manchester skyline, with new builds off to the side, the view dominated by current and former Co-op buildings from different eras (opening image), which prompted much discussion due to one of our number working for them. 

We moved on. As the only one of the five of us who doesn't live in Greater Manchester, it always seems to fall on me to sort a route and take the boys somewhere new (you may well ask!). So as it was over a year since we'd met I decided we should pay a visit to North Westward Ho which hadn't yet opened when we'd last met. One of the guys realised he'd been here before but for the others it was their first time at this smart bar in a former Thai restaurant at 19 Chapel Walks. The beers, on both cask and keg, were from bar owners Pomona Island, and from a range of 5 on hand pump there was just one choice as far as I was concerned, their 3.8% summer ale, Scorchio, which had been stunningly good when I'd first came across it. I was in that excellent micro pub, Just Beer, in Newark-on-Trent, on a hot day about 3 years ago, and this pale ale was in fantastic condition and really hit the spot, warranting a very rare NBSS 4.5 rating. It feels almost disparaging to say that it was only worth a 4, this time, but it was nonetheless in excellent form, easy drinking and full of refreshing summery magic. If you've not called in North Westward Ho yet, do give it a go, it's one of the smartest pubs in the city centre, but in no way pretentious and the staff are always very friendly and welcoming. 

North Westward Ho, Manchester

It's just a short hop from there to Spring Gardens and Cafe Beermoth, consistently one of the best bars in town, with an always interesting selection of beers on both cask and keg served in a relaxed and laid back atmosphere. Having studied what was on offer, I opted for a pint of cask in the shape of Stone's Throw, a 4.2% collab between the bar and Stockport-based Runaway Brewery who, having been a predominantly keg-only operation when they started out in Manchester, have thoroughly embraced cask in the last year or two. The rest of the guys went for the same, and then for the first time I can remember here, we went to sit outside at one of the tables out front. Now because of the position of the buildings, Spring Gardens doesn't get a lot of direct sunshine but we'd timed it just right, the sun was beating down. The beer, a modern pale ale, was in great form (NBSS 3.5), and ably lubricated our conversation which veered between our shared work experiences, where we're all at now, family, holidays, football, and the usual stuff that five guys talk about when they get together. As we sat and enjoyed our beer, a slow stream of shoppers, day trippers, and others passed us on their respective ways.

Indoors at Cafe Beermoth....

Someone had discovered another former colleague was in town, so there was a suggestion that we go and meet up with them, which rapidly was abandoned when it was pointed out that Six By Nico was a restaurant, not a bar. So we carried on towards the delights of Kennedy Street, where the City Arms is sandwiched between Wetherspoons' Waterhouse and the Vine. We arrived there having noticed in the distance en route a couple of police vehicles blocking off access to Mosley Street. When we arrived at our destination the main door was shut, but someone went in through the other doors directly in front of the bar, so we followed. There were a few people in the bar, with a few more sat at the tables in the back room. It seems the pub was trying to keep a low profile, but we had no problem getting a beer. We opted for pints of Splish Splash from Farm Yard Brew Co, the Lancashire-based brewery whose rather fine beers I keep coming across. This was a 4.5% session pale ale hopped with Citra, Mosaic, Sabro, and Motueka to give plenty of juicy citrus and tropical flavours. It seemed to hit the spot with all of us and I have to say it was the best beer of the day (NBSS 4). We managed to grab an empty table in the back room haven, where we proceeded to put the world to rights. Someone said it had apparently been kicking off in Piccadilly, but the atmosphere in here was chilled and relaxed. We finished our beers, and left, the numbers here were thinning out, and it looked as if the pub was likely to close imminently.

The bar at the City Arms, Manchester

We retraced our steps, but then carried straight ahead on Fountain Street. We passed a Brewdog and then came to a spectacular timbered building. Somebody asked if I'd ever been in and I said I didn't think I had, unusually for a long-established pub in Manchester city centre. And so we ended up going in to the Shakespeare, which was quite a contrast to all that had gone before it over the afternoon. The pub was quite busy, with lights flashing on a number of fruit machines, music blaring out of the speakers, and the Olympics on various TV screens around a large comfortably decorated L-shaped room. Fortunately, there were a couple of hand pumps on the centrally-positioned bar, from which we ordered a pint each of Yardbird, a 4% pale out of the Greene King stable. We grabbed some seats in a corner. The beer was ok but nothing special (NBSS 2.5), but it is a proper town centre pub the like of which you see all over the country, and seemed to be popular with its customers. And the spectacular exterior does confuse things a bit; whilst there has been a pub on the site since 1721, making it one of the oldest in the city, the historical frontage was shipped over from a closed pub in Chester and reconstructed here in 1928. The pub is allegedly haunted too just to add to its historic credentials. 

The Shakespeare, Fountain Street, Manchester (Image from pub website)

We resumed our walk along Fountain Street to Market Street. To the right the normally busy tram stop was fenced off, clearly they'd stopped the service going through Piccadilly today. We carried on High Street, crossing over from the Arndale side on our way towards the Northern Quarter. 

A couple of lads had said they were feeling hungry, so we were making a beeline for the Abel Heywood, Hydes' smart flagship pub and boutique hotel, named after a former mayor of Manchester, situated on Turner Street. We duly arrived and claimed a corner table and viewed the menus scattered around. We filed over to the bar and along with our drinks ordered a range of ciabattas and fries. We'd decided to wash our food down with pints of Lowry, Hydes' 4.7% golden ale named after one of Salford's most famous sons, one of whose famous paintings is represented on the pump clip. Hydes are of course based in Salford these days, having re-located from their former cramped site in Moss Side to a brand new state-of-the-art brewery a few years ago. Our beer had citrus aromas and a fruity flavour with some bitterness from the Citra and Chinook hops. (NBSS 3). Our food arrived and we scoffed in silence, an extra portion of loaded fries that someone had ordered going down particularly well. The Abel Heywood does what is does well, and manages to welcome a wide number of different types of customers through its doors.

Abel Heywood, caught on an evening a year or two back

From there it was a short hop to the heart of the Northern Quarter, where we headed to Fierce Bar on Thomas Street where we were able to sit out and enjoy the ongoing sunshine as early evening took over. This popular bar has been run now by the Aberdeen-based brewery for almost 4 years, having previously been 57 Thomas Street, an outlet for Marble Brewery. When Fierce took over it was something of a surprise as it was and remains their only bar outside Scotland. But it has become a staple part of the evolving Northern Quarter scene and always seems to be popular, whether it's in summer when you can sit out at tables in the street out front or in the colder months when you are forced to seek shelter within. We settled on pints of the 5.0% Fierce IPA from one of the 15 keg lines in operation here (no cask is available), and sat down to enjoy it at our table in the sun as the Northern Quarter crowds passed by on their way to the next bar or eaterie. 

A fearsome bunch at Fierce Bar, NQ

Time was moving on, one of the lads needed to get moving as he was getting picked up, whilst I reckoned a train home would be the sensible option. So we bade our farewells but this time named a date this side of Christmas to have another catch up as it had been a while since we'd last got together, and hopefully we'll all be able to make it! So JC and I walked back to Victoria, past the closed-off tram stop at Shudehill and we parted, JC heading off for a tram to Bury whilst I discovered I'd just missed a train and so had 25 minutes to kill before the next one towards Brighouse. But no worries, this is where the Victoria Tap comes in handy! I headed back there and got myself a half of the 5.2% Aliya, a NEIPA from Shindigger, a beer I'd not had for a while. This a lovely juicy murky keg beer with bags of flavour, created by a brewery who have a different approach to the norm. Starting out in 2013 when they were both students at Manchester University, they class themselves as a shadow brewery. This means they develop their own beers on their own pilot kit in Manchester, and then once the recipes are perfected have the beers brewed on a commercial scale by one of a couple partner breweries based in the North West.

Meanwhile, back at Victoria Tap....

The screen in the Victoria Tap showed the clock was counting down before my train was due to leave, so I finished my beer and headed over to Platform 2. We'd had a good afternoon with some excellent beers in some great pubs and bars. And with more changes on the way within Manchester city centre - a new Tap is due at Oxford Road Station to complete the set in terms of bars at the mainline Manchester stations, Cumbrian brewers Fell acquiring the former Beatnikz Republc/Squawk bar latterly known as the Pelican, and the recent opening of the Rat & Pigeon, a sister pub to the much-feted Crown and Kettle over Piccadilly way, I'll have to make sure I've got things covered should we actually get together again in December....

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