My first trip out of the new year, in which I spent a cold afternoon out and about in Manchester. Not surprisingly a few pubs were involved, including one that has only recently opened....
If I have a spare few hours, fancy a trip out, but have nowhere specific to go in mind, I will tend to take myself over to Manchester. It's 40 minutes or so on the train from Halifax, and there are enough places to visit so that there is always an opportunity to mix things up so you can go to somewhere different than on your last visit. And sometimes there may be a new place to check out, which was the case the other day, and that then prompted a visit to some other places in the same part of town that I don't get to all that often.
It was a bright, sunny, but bitterly cold afternoon when I arrived at Halifax railway station. The train was on time for once, and we whizzed along the Calder Valley, the hills, the towns, and villages bathed in a cold wintry sunlight. I'd booked a ticket to Oxford Road, which involved a few minutes waiting on a cold and draughty Platform 3 at Victoria for a connecting train which was on its way to Manchester Airport. The journey to Oxford Road via the so-called Ordsall Chord may only take 5 minutes but it gives you a spectacular view of Manchester old and new, gleaming tower blocks side by side with the canals and old warehouses.
The reason I'd come here was to visit the Oxford Road Tap, which completes the Tap takeover by Bloomsbury Leisure of Manchester's three main railway stations. It had opened just before Christmas, but this was the first time I'd had chance to visit. I walked out of the station and looked around for the bar.
Could that be it straight ahead? Zoom in a bit...
Yes that's it!
It is a single-storey cabin-like building with a veranda with some outdoor seating, which has been created out of a former cycle hub. I walked into a nicely kitted-out room, light and airy due to the window running along the full length of the building. There are a number of bar stools at front of the bar with banquette seating and tables facing. A further area in front of a the toilet and presumably cellar has a number of high stools with a shelf in front of the window to the right as you go in, and it looks cosy, although on this cold afternoon there was a chill in the air, being a little early for the extra body heat brought by the teatime commuters who no doubt make up a large part of the customer base. The bar ran along the wall opposite the door, on which there were 4 hand pumps with a number of tap lines on the bar back. The beer range was though rather boring, with beers from Bradfield, Kelham Island, and Adnams on the bar. Just for a change (I drink Bradfield Farmer's Blonde regularly at the Dusty Miller at Hove Edge), I went for a pint of the Adnams 4.5% Ghost Ship, which was ok without being anything outstanding (NBSS 3). Much better was the half of Meadows DDH from Weekend Project, a 5.2% hazy pale featuring Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe from one of the keg lines. The bar was pleasant and there was some excellent music playing through the speakers from the likes of Kurt Vile and John Prine. Definitely worth a visit if you are in this part of town.
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| Oxford Road Tap |
If I'd have remembered, I'd have turned left out of the Tap and gone down the steps to the next pub I'd earmarked to call in. But I didn't, and so I carried on down the slip road to the business of Oxford Road, and walked for five minutes round the block rather than the one it would have taken me. The nearest Good Beer Guide pub in the 2025 to the Oxford Road Tap was this one, the Salisbury Ale House, which is situated on a cobbled street off Oxford Road and down from the station, with a railway arch and embankment on one side giving it a somewhat hidden setting (opening image). I walked in to this large pub, which is more or less one room, but the presence of screens and part walls allows it to be broken down into a number of different areas. The beers available included Taylor's Landlord, Theakstons Old Peculier, Robinsons Trooper, and Titanic Plum Porter, from which I went for the most local, ie. Trooper, which I'd not had for a while. I found a quiet corner to enjoy my beer, although quiet wasn't perhaps the correct word, as there was a rock soundtrack playing out of the speakers at a volume that would have made more sense later in the evening when you would have expected there would be more than in the pub than the odd couple and solo drinker that made up my companions. The beer was OK, a little sweet for my taste, if I'm honest (NBSS 3). The Salisbury has traditionally been popular on match days with Manchester United fans. Fun Fact: you used to be able to catch a train from here (well, Oxford Road Station) to Old Trafford where there is actually a station opposite the South Stand. It opened in 1935 and trains operated a shuttle service on match days until 2017, when it was suspended at the request of the club on health and safety grounds. I remember catching it a couple of times to night matches with some of my United supporting friends when I was a student, and spilling out on to a narrow, rather rickety, dark, and dingy platform, so if it was still the same 40 years on I am not surprised. Back to the Salisbury, it is a pleasant enough place, but I can't help thinking that there are stronger pubs that aren't in the Good Beer Guide within the city.
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| Inside at the Salisbury |
I finished my beer and took my glass back to the bar, and headed out into the darkening light. I took a few pictures of the pub from the outside, turned around to see a group of younger lads nearby, one who like me, was taking a picture of the pub! We nodded in mutual acknowledgement and headed our separate ways, me heading up Oxford Street passing the red-brick former Refuge Assurance building which is now a hotel. I had wondered whether to call in Bundobust as I'd not been for a while, then dismissed the idea as I was on a fairly tight schedule and reasoned that was I to get tempted by the Indian food on offer (highly likely!), it would put that at risk. However, with the external gates shut it didn't seem to be open, for now anyway, so I took the sensible option of heading to Bridgewater Street, home to a couple of the city's best traditional pubs.
First up was the absolutely classic Peveril of the Peak. Whilst the former brewery who ran this pub, Wilsons, whose signage is still in evidence, are not generally remembered for the quality of their beer, they certainly bequeathed some excellent pubs, and the Pev is right up there at the top of the list. With its green and yellow exterior tiling and wedge-like shape it looks wonderful from the outside. But go inside to the Tardis-like interior and their seem to be rooms and drinking corridors here, there, and everywhere. There was a nice atmosphere when I walked in to what was a busy pub full of happy people, which was warmer temperature-wise than anywhere I had been over the afternoon.
I'd walked in from the Bridgewater Street side, into a drinking corridor, then I went through a couple of doors into the small, odd-shaped room where the hand pumps are and the bar is at its longest. I ordered a pint of Tiger Rut, a long-standing favourite from years drinking at the Buffet Bar in Stalybridge. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a couple of guys in the corner who were looking across at me and it turned out to be Thomas and Chris from over Bradford way who always join us on the Good Friday pub crawl and often come over to Halifax for a drink. They were several pubs in on a tour of Manchester's finest, and had naturally included the Pev on the itinerary. And the beer here was in the best condition of any I had had all day (NBSS 3.5). When Tiger Rut is on form it is a mighty fine beer.
The guys were planning to visit the Briton's Protection next, which fitted in with my plans, so I joined them on the short walk to the end of Bridgewater Street, where this white-painted fixture of the Manchester pub scene sits proudly, surrounded by huge modern skyscrapers. After a long-running dispute between the pub's landlord and Heineken, who own the pub through their Star Inns subsidiary, which threatened the future of the pub, an agreement was reached between the parties a few months ago which seems to have secured the pubs future.
And what is it makes the Briton's Protection so special? Well, for a start, it is one of the city's oldest pubs, dating back to 1806. It was originally an army recruitment centre as its name suggests, and is was virtually outside its doors where around 18 people died and several hundred more injured in a crowd of up to 80,000 campaigning in 1819 for parliamentary reform in what came to be known as the Peterloo Massacre, on one of the city's darkest days. The events of that tragic episode in Manchester's history are depicted in a series of murals on the walls of the pub, the only such memorial in the city. The pub, which has a timeless look and feel, sprawls over six traditional rooms with many traditional features including tiling, dark wood, and stained glass, a couple of the rooms featuring fireplaces with roaring fires on cold winter days.
The choice of cask beer is left to the pub to sort, although they do take some keg beers from the Heineken list. It does vary though, and it was something of a mixed bag in terms of choice to be honest, and in the end we went for pints of Nebula, a 4% dark mild from Brightside, which to be fair was a very decent drop of a style of beer I don't drink very often. (NBSS 3.5). With one eye on my train back home, I finished my beer and bade the boys farewell as they were catching a later train back.
I retraced my steps back along Bridgewater Street and realised I just had time for a quick half at the JW Lees-owned Rain Bar which is virtually opposite the Peveril of the Peak. This large pub is situated in a former umbrella factory overlooking the Rochdale Canal alongside which there is a patio which is one of the largest outdoor drinking spots in the city centre, not that there were many takers on this cold evening. Inside there is a large ground floor space which is broken up into several different areas. There is a huge bar along which there is a large selection of Lees beers, from which I went for a half of the MPA, which was another good beer which warranted a 3.5 rating. A comfortable pub, but lacking the special character of the last two I'd been in.
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I got back to Oxford Road station to find that my train was delayed by approximately 8 minutes. As we waited for an earlier delayed train to appear before ours arrived, not one but two trains to Liverpool came in first, causing much confusion amongst those waiting, a situation not helped by some rather rude platform staff. The subsequent even longer delay meant I missed my connection at Victoria - where I bumped into my mate Quosh and companion Joe as we passed on the platform steps - and with 25 minutes until the next train to Halifax, I sought comfort with a half of Shindigger Pale at the Victoria Tap, which having now visited all three of the Manchester group, I think is the best of the bunch. All in all though, it had been another enjoyable visit to this fine city....
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