The Mitre pub on the left, the Old Wellington in the middle and Sinclair’s Oyster Bar on the right all in Shambles Square. Source: Shutterstock.
Manchester is awash with pubs and bars, of varying type and quality. Suprisingly good back-street old man’s pubs sit happily alongside hipster-populated craft beer joints, just down the road from party-central chain bars. It’s safe to say you won’t stay thirsty in Manchester for long. This guide is more a walk through the city centre and selects only a few (but too many to do it one go) of my favourite Mancunian drinking establishments. Feel free to miss some out! Feel equally free to suggest some I may have either omited or not known about.
Let’s start in Piccadilly Gardens and head round the city and back to Piccadilly Station. As auspicious starts go, this isn’t one of them: Facing Burger King turn left and follow the tram tracks that disappear down Mosley Street. You’ll soon pass experimental cocktail bar The Alchemist on your right (or go in if that’s your thing), but keep walking past the Manchester Art Gallery until you come to Princess Street. A right turn here reveals a rather grand old building. This is Manchester Town Hall but the better view is from the other side. On the right you’ll notice the Waterhouse pub, it’s a Wetherspoons outlet but is quite decent and by far their best in Manchester. However, if you turn right onto Cooper Street and go behind the pub, you’ll find two other pubs next door to the left. The furthest, the Vine, is perfectly good but the City Arms is the pick of these as it stocks a wide range of beers… and good pies!
Returning to Cooper Street and taking the next right (Nicholas Street), walk back across the tram tracks until you come to a rather unappealing pub called the Seven Oaks. Looks can be deceiving as it stocks a wide range of good beers and – on the occasions I’ve been in – has been rather pleasant. Further down this street is Chinatown. I love Chinatowns and Manchester’s is up there with the best. Maybe it’s because it was my first taste of Hong Kong. Either way it’s a bustling oasis of calm. Talking a right at the arch and passing various eateries you return to Princess Street. A short walk on the left is the Old Monkey. It’s quite a characterful city centre boozer run by the Holts Brewery. If you don’t know then, you’ll find the quite affordable – at least!
Turning right at this major junction and walking down Portland Street, you’ll come to another large junction. Turn right onto Oxford Road and take the next right. Those stairs in the middle of the road used to be a toilet block. Now they’re a bar – the aptly named Temple. It’s small but pretty good and has a great jukebox. Further down the street is a Manchester institution, the green-bricked Peveril of the Peak. Somehow I’ve never managed to go in but I’m assured it’s good. But another Mancunian institution awaits just a few steps further down the road. The Briton’s Protection is a stunning old man’s pub with a great selection of beers and a very homely atmosphere.
From here, turn right up Lower Mosley Street with Bridgewater Hall (home of the Halle Orchestra) on your right. Taking the next right, you bisect the swish Midland Hotel and the Manchester Central Complex eventually cutting through to the broad Peter Street on the right. Along Peter Street is the Grade II listed Albert Hall. It’s a beautiful events venue and former Wesleyan Chapel which now hosts Albert’s Schloss. This rather swish bar boasts the freshest Pilsner this side of the Danbue and advertises unfiltered Urquell stored in tanks to keep it Plzen-fresh.
Further west along Peter Street is the junction with Deansgate. This street runs completely down the western side of the city centre from north to south and is a good reference point. Heading north for three streets and turning right on Lloyd Street you’ll spot the Nag’s Head on the right and the Rising Sun on the left. It is the latter that is the best, offering a wide array of ales.It also acts as a cut-through to where we’re heading next. Taking the other exit and turning back to face the pub, you’ll realise how out of place it looks, sandwiched as it is between ugly office blocks. The Rising Sun isn’t the only alien object in this square. That statute in the middle is, bizarrely, of Abraham Lincoln and commemorates the impact the American Civil War had on Manchester’s cotton industry.
Crossing the square towards the right you’ll see a crooked tree at the entrance to a street. Walk down here keeping an eye on the opening view to the right. That fantastic church is another hidden gem in Manchester, in fact it’s called St Mary’s the Hidden Gem if you didn’t believe me. However, before you get there you’ll hopefully see an alleyway under a building. Go down there and keep heading straight and you’ll emerge on John Dalton Street. But fear not, we’re taking the hidden route through the city centre, so cross over John Dalton Street and turn left at the end of this short road. Soon on your right you’ll spot an ornate doorway leading to another alleyway. Through here is a high-end shopping street, King Street, and another alleyway leading to yet another beautiful back-street church. Going around St Ann’s Church in either direction you’ll find St Ann’s Square. Keep going straight. The old stone building on your right is the Royal Exchange Theatre. Cross over the road to a new shopping street, home to the likes of Selfridges and Harvey Nicholls, and you’ll eventually emerge into what looks like the 16th Century.
This is Shambles Square, as you will see in the picture at the top of the page, and it is home to a few nice pubs, but I’d recommend the Old Wellington or Sinclair’s Oyster Bar. To the right is the Printworks. This is home to party bars like Tiger Tiger and the Hard Rock Cafe. While I avoid this area, it is extremely popular especially on weekends. For this walk, we turn right at the Printworks down Withy Grove. At the end of this road is the Arndale Centre car park and Shudehill tram station. Turn right and then left onto High Street outside the entrance to the NCP car park. An immediate right sees you on Turner Street and the first steps into the famed Northern Quarter. The Abel Heywood is a good place to get your bearings of this ever changing, constantly expanding nightlife zone.
The road bends to the left and onto Thomas Street, one of the NQ’s main thoroughfares with interesting bars a-plenty, such as Cain and Grain. It’s impossible to give a comprehensive review of the Northern Quarter as bars pop up all the time. There does seem to be a proliferation of craft beers in this zone though, if that’s your thing. Keeping this walk relatively simple we’ll head right down Thomas Street to the junction of Oldham Street. To the right is the famous Piccadilly Records and the possibly infamous Dry Bar. This place exudes Madchester history and is quite a nice place to relax during the day – as long as you don’t expect Shaun Ryder to pull a gun on anyone. Those days are over, I hope! But continuing on Thomas Street, which has now become Hilton Street and opens up on to Stevenson Square, you’ll see what appears to be a pawn shop on the right of the square. This is Dusk ’til Pawn and is a speak-easy themed bar specialising in cocktails and, yup, craft beers.
Explore the Northern Quarter to your heart’s content and you’ll find plenty of weird and hopefully wonderful drinking holes. Turning south at any point takes you to either Piccadilly Gardens or Piccadilly and you’re back to Piccadilly station.
As I said at the start, there are plenty of pubs that haven’t been mentioned in this walk. Some didn’t fit the route, some were sadly overlooked. Honourable mentions to the following:
Cask on Liverpool Road.
The Knott Bar at the bottom of Deansgate.
The Gas Lamp on Bridge Street.
King’s Arms on Bloom Street in Salford (further down Bridge Street).
Marble Arch a brewery pub on Rochdale Road.
Black Tar Rivers 