The opening day of a new pub in Manchester provided an excellent excuse to have a wander around what is now another fashionable part of the city, but also one with a rich and fascinating history. And so come and join me and see what I found....
My plans to come to Manchester for a day out were being thwarted at every turn, or so it seemed. The train from Halifax would be half an hour or so longer, due to a replacement bus service from Rochdale. Same from Brighouse. No worries, I thought, I'll go from Huddersfield, and I'll get the 549 bus there from the end of the road. Plan formulated. But no!. I arrived at the main road, to see the bus sailing past. I was contemplating my next move when my luck changed when a neighbour kindly offered me a lift to Brighouse, from where I could get a different bus in to Huddersfield. And within half an hour or so, all was good, I was on a train to Piccadilly and passing through some lovely countryside.
After arriving at Piccadilly, I wandered up to Dale Street and then up Newton Street, soon arriving at one of the best pubs in the city. The Port Street Beer House was quiet when I wandered in, with just three guys sat at a table near the bar and another at a corner table, plus a few more outside in the yard out the back. I couldn't see anyone behind the bar, but I could hear the sound of glasses tinkling. Suddenly, a smiling face popped up, she apologised as she was sorting the glasses out on the shelves below the bar. There were five cask ales on hand pumps on the bar, and from those available which included a couple from Blackjack I went for a pint of Opus Blonde, a 4.5% English Pale Ale from Runaway. Very enjoyable it was too, hoppy but well-balanced and in great comdition (NBSS 3.5). It also only cost me only £3.60 - prices had been reduced for the week to help generate trade (a sign that even a popular and well-supported pub like Port House is feeling the pressure on costs from multiple fronts), plus there was a reduction until teatime with it being a Monday. Bugger, I forgot to ask about CAMRA discount.... I had a very chilled half hour or so here, good beer and a good atmosphere in one of my favourite places in Manchester.
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| Port Street Beer House |
Quite where Port Street sits in terms of neighbourhood these days is a little unclear. Is it still the Northern Quarter, or is it Ancoats? At one time, in the days before the Northern Quarter designation had even been dreamt of, it would certainly have been Ancoats. These days it seems that the border is Great Ancoats Street, but for the purposes of today's tour, I am including it within Ancoats, which like so much of the city has been colonised by the high rise developments that continue to be built.
But this latest phase of development is nothing new for this part of the city. Ancoats is one of its oldest areas, having been recorded in 1320 as one of 8 hamlets within the then then township of Manchester. From these humble beginnings it grew into a thriving industrial area with the first cotton mills being built in the area in the late18th century. The opening of the Rochdale Canal in 1804 led to a rapid development of further mills to dedicated to cotton spinning plus foundries and engineering works to produce the machines required by the industry. Ancoats was described as a "cradle of the Industrial Revolution" and "the world's first industrial suburb", and as you walk between some of the huge mills that still remain in the area - many now converted to luxury apartments, small businesses, and creative spaces - it is easy to imagine the noise and smoke that these industrial behomoths generated.
People were needed to work in the mills of course, and Ancoats became home to a large immigrant population, predominantly Irish and Italian, and by 1815 it was the most populous district in Manchester, with streets of back-to-back terraced houses and court dwellings. For the poorest members of the community, houses were split and cellars were let separately. All this rapid development came at a cost; public health was a concern and a survey found that over half of homes in Ancoats had no private plumbing, and over half of the streets were not cleaned. By 1851 the total population was 53,737, which was larger than towns such as Bury and Blackburn. And Ancoats had no parks or open spaces and the only public buildings were a few churches, pubs, and a dispensary. Amidst the squalor and poor living conditions within Ancoats, the streets could be dangerous for those in the wrong place, with gangs of scuttlers who went by such names as the Bengal Tigers and Prussia Street Lads vigorously defending their turf.
Ancoats' heyday as an industrial and economic powerhouse came to an end as market needs changed and developed. The area subsequently suffered accelerating economic decline from the 1930s and depopulation followed in the years after the Second World War, particularly during the slum clearances of the 1960s. From the 1990s though the area's industrial heritage was recognised and in recent years it has become more gentrified and a trendier, somewhat edgier alternative to the Northern Quarter for the aspiring hipster.
And so back to the trip. The next pub on the list was in its previous guise a favourite of the Ancoats Irish community. This was the former Shamrock on Bengal Street which had opened in 1808 and remained as a pub until it was closed by then owners Marstons in 2018. It was subsequently acquired by Holts although nothing further was heard until the latter half of 2025 when the brewery announced that it would be re-opening after a significant refurbishment under a new name which was to be chosen by a poll.
After a soft launch a few days ago, today was the official opening day of the Spinner's Rest, as the pub has been named, acknowledging the thousands that worked in the local cotton mills. I walked in to a busy pub, with plenty of staff buzzing around. Welcome signs were everywhere. There was plenty of shining brass and polished wood. It smelt new. A fire alarm was blaring, but the fact that nobody was running out, from newly-scrubbed staff to seasoned drinkers with red noses and Holts Bitter to diners tucking in to plates of cheese and onion pie, suggested it was just teething problems. I ordered a pint of bitter from a pleasant smiley girl who pulled the beer nervously, and then had to ask someone to work the till, and it then took a third person to work it out. Teething problems. I took my pint to an empty table in a corner. All the tables were taken with couples of a certain age, several dining, whilst young staff zipped about smiling and asking if everything was alright. I was by the window and it looked out over a beer garden, a rather unusual feature for a central Manchester pub. It was full with couples with kids or dogs or both. A lady tapped away on a laptop whilst a group of battered old likely lads exchanged back slaps, jokes, and opinions over pints of lager or bitter, looking like they were maybe descendants of the Bengal Tigers. My bèer was sadly not the best, end of barrel and not in the best of condition (NBSS 2.5). Teething problems again, no doubt, but I am sure Holts will get it right.
From the Spinner's Rest I walked down to the Crown & Kettle on the corner of Oldham Road and Great Ancoats Street. I passed more interesting buildings including a few historic terraced houses, the like of which you don't see these days in central Manchester.
The Crown & Kettle (opening image) is a wonderful pub although it had been a while since I had last been in here. A historic, Grade ll-listed pub, it was built in 1774 as Ancoats was beginning to develop, on the site of an earlier pub. It has been restored over the years and has a remarkable ceiling and many historic features. More noticeable today though, in recognition of the ongoing World Cup various football shirts were hanging above the main room, something of a change from the days when netting was hung above the room whilst the ceiling was being restored. It was fairly quiet with a few guys sat on high stools assembled around the corner of the right hand side of the central bar, pints in front of them. A couple of girls were behind the bar, which as usual included beers you wouldn't automatically expect to see in a Manchester city centre pub. I went for one of those, the 3.7% West Highland Way from Loch Lomond Brewery, which was quite refreshing and in good condition, although a bit thin and indistinct (NBSS 3). Unbeknown to me at the time a colleague was in the midst of walking the 96 mile trek through rugged Highland terrain after which the beer is named. When I messaged to congratulate him I did acknowledge the fact that I'd taken the easier option.... There was a great chilled out vibe here, with an excellent soundtrack, and with my glass almost empty I went for another pint. This time I stayed local, going for a pint of Ardwick's finest, Track Sonoma, which was in great condition and probably the best beer of the day (NBSS 3.5).
I finished my pint of Sonoma, and set off walking down Great Ancoats Street, turning left when I arrived at Blossom Street from where it was a short walk to the next pub, the Edinburgh Castle. This is a former Whitbread pub that had been closed for years until a major restoration brought it back to life in 2019. It has a spectacular interior with many interesting features, including a long marble-topped bar which runs for much of the length of the room. There were three hand pumps on the bar, one serving a house bitter, the pump clip offering no clue as to its origin. I opted for half of the ubiquitous Taylors Landlord, which was ok but nothing special (NBSS 2.5). The Edinburgh Castle, which has an award-winning restaurant upstairs, is though not really chasing the serious ale drinker, but that said it is a pleasant spot to chill out for a little while.
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| The Edinburgh Castle |
I was quite hungry by now so as I often do these days I tried out something new, this time going Vietnamese in a place on Great Ancoats Street called Viet Shack. Set up by two mates who loved Vietnamese Street Food, this is their second restaurant in the city and whilst not full there was a steady steam of traffic coming in to the place. I went for a bowl of Vietnam's renowned culinary delight, Pho, which according to the menu "entails simmering a blend of chicken and beef bones along with Vietnamese spices for twelve hours to craft the quintessential aromatic broth. This flavorsome broth is then combined with flat rice noodles, beansprouts, and garnished with an assortment of Asian herbs, fresh chilies, and a squeeze of lime." I went for Pho Ga, which is a Saigon style pho with chargrilled lemongrass chicken thigh. I washed this down with a bottle of Saigon Lager, a 4.9% pilsener, and enjoyed a quick, delicious, and reasonable value meal.
Pleasantly full, I set off to the final pub of the day's crawl. It had been quite a leisurely wander and it was almost 7pm as I arrived at Cask Ancoats, which is the sister bar to Cask on Liverpool Road. Unlike everywhere else I had been this is situated in a modern building by the canal in an area of Ancoats called New Islington, a name coined by developers Urban Splash who are behind many of the new buildings that have turned this former rundown area by the canal into a trendy location. The bar is accessed over a bridge and walkway. It consists of one large room but despite having windows all along the front and sides it is still quite dark inside Six hand pumps are tucked away on the left hand side of the bar, whilst there are 20 keg lines served from fonts on the front of the bar. With time advancing I just went for a half of Effortlessly Mosaic from Redwillow Brewery, a 3.8% pale ale showcasing the hop of that name and was a most enjoyable beer to end the days proceedings (NBSS 3.5).
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| Cask Ancoats |
I walked back down beside the canal to Great Ancoats Street, crossed over, and back to Piccadilly Station, a journey of about 10 minutes. My train was on time. and with no stops en route I was back in Huddersfield in half an hour. It had been a most enjoyable trip, wandering through one of Manchester's most interesting areas....
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