please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Our last stop of the day in Manchester was the Angel. I hadn't been here for more than 8 years. It has certainly gone downhill in that time. Gone are the real ciders and with no dark beers, the choice was disappointing - Howard Angel, Saltaire Blonde & Olympus, Bowness Bay Swan Blonde, Hawkshead Blonde, Waen St Clements & Yeovil Posh IPA. I had the St Clements, which tasted off. Billed as Orange & Lemon Cake, it may have supposed to taste sour. The barman assured me that was the case. But I couldn't actually finish it. The one good point was that the pub was one of the few that were open.
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Fairly standard refurbed interior though decent enough place. Got served swiftly despite it being manic busy - had a pint of the raven red which was a good pint.
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The new builds looming over the pub only highlight the peeling external plaster and down at heel external appearance. Inside, its fine - all traditional pub seating and wooden floors.
Good beer guide 2019 entry and you can pop in on the way to the more celebrated Marble Arch.
On a Sunday Tea Time, the number of hand pulls outnumbered punters 3-1. 10 ales on. None heard of. Samples provided. Acceptable condition.
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I thought this place was a bit bland in all honesty. Not a bad pub by any means. From a distance it looks like it will be like a 'basic boozer' type interior. The interior is actually quite bland but reasonably modern feeling. It consisted of a book shelf, a small statue of an angel (on the book shelf), a mirror and a sign about a Chateaux in Bordeaux . The bar itself is the shape of a hook/ a question mark with seating by the bar. On the bar itself there was a lot of ales- Angel ale (house beer), Saltaire Blonde, Acorn Yorkshire Pride, Hawshead Brodie's prime, Liverpool Organic Shipwreck IPA, Liverpool Org Russian Imperial Stout, Saltaire Raspberry Blonde, Super Fortress by Howard Town, Saltaire Decennium Pale. Two pumps had the clips turned around. There were also two ciders- Farmer Jims Rhubarb Cider Andy Vimto Cider, the latter would set you back a fiver for a pint. I went for the Yorkshire Pride at 3.40 an okay beer that was kept at an okay standard, not amazing but not poor either. Bar maid and the woman I presume is the land lady or manager seemed okay as well, although the bar maid had her back turned the whole time I was in, not the most professional way to act. Food menus set out on the tables and the upstairs indicating that it was reserved for diners. Not a bad place necessarily but I don't think I would bother coming back to be honest.
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Great pub, great beers. The beer garden is a bit grim outside with bins, concrete and a view of a busy junction. We went on a rainy day and it was great. Though we still sat outside as my mate wanted to smoke!
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Paid another visit recently and stand by my previous review. Good selection of ales, differing in style and strength, so something for everyone. 11 pumps of which 10 were available, plus an extra 2 for cider.
Décor and general building maintenance is starting to look like it needs some attention - looks like there has been a leak or some flooding especially near the patio doors (piano area). If it gets much worse, the ceiling will be in worse nick than the Crown & Kettle. Gents toilets have also been moved to a porta cabin outside, and has been that way since my last visit which would have been around Easter time. Would be a shame if the building fell into a state of disrepair - it is otherwise an excellent boozer offering a decent selection of real ales.
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Great no-nonsense pub with an excellent choice of beers including an imperial stout.
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Been a few times since my last review so thought it was time for an update.
There are 11 hand pumps at the bar, with 10 available on my latest visit. Plenty of selection and if memory serves me correctly there may have been some ciders too.
Getting a seat can sometimes be a struggle as it is always busy in this pub - at least this is my experience at weekends. There is a piano in the corner and more often than not somebody is making use of it.
A great pub, great ale choice in good condition - always worth a visit.
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Very good, popular pub. Large choice of real ales but sometimes the breweries are not the best choice. Nonetheless, always worth a visit.
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There are some pretty good pubs in the 'Northern Quarter', and this is arguably the best. Proper pub atmosphere and proper (reasonably-priced) beer.
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Earlier visit on opening was a quick ok half in a packed pub pre-match, so really enjoyed a relaxed hour with a couple of soups and some superb beer - White Lion and a Russian Imperial stout from a superb little range. Pianist accompaniment lovely too. Customers were a mixed bunch, but most enjoying the real ales.
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Nice pub, good beer, but like many of the places in Manchester, and the city itself, it should stop getting ideas above its station and concentrate on what it does well. In this case, that's being a proper pub and not some sort of sub-gastro/wine bar.
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A bit out of the way perhaps but well worth combining a visit here with the Marble Arch. Looks a bit dodgy from the outside but perfectly pleasant on the inside, decent selection of real ales and a very enjoyable pint was had in here.
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Just a general comment regarding BITE. Why have they stopped the comments from being uploaded on the home page - even on the live stream?
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Called in here yesterday for the first time in ages. Last time I went it was the Beer House!
Had a really pleasant surprise as it was bustling with Friday night drinkers along with a local former radio shock jock. Can't recall the name of the beer sampled but it was more than palatable.
I shall return. Cheers.
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Good for foodies, okay for drinkers. Wide selection of ale, all relatively well kept, and the prices are in sync with the rest of the City centre. Worth a visit, but the small trek outside of the centre might put off a few.
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This pub is now open on Sundays, as i discovered yesterday after popping in on the off chance to relieve Bank Holiday boredom. Beer fine, several pints of Pictish Maelstrom were drunk as i chatted to a couple from the States.
Still an odd boozer though, can't decide whether it wants to be a gastropub, real ale venue or something else, who knows. As previously mentioned in my earlier review, the place is scruffy and it really does need a good scrub from top to bottom, the gents being the main offender!
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Following Camra's more pub crawls and they have one of North Manchester. This was the 2nd pub of the night and I was hoping to get fed, with it having an upstairs restaurant. In the last pub, they had the City, Chelsea game on several screens. Left they in the shadow of the Blimp and stumbled on this place. Entered and there are a couple of fellas listening to the game on the radio.... They were getting more excited than the fellas who had sky in the last place. Alas, the chef was ill, so I didnt get fed, but the staff were very helpful and assisted in making my choice from a bewildering array of unknown beers.
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The Angel always makes a good stopping off point if you're drinking in this area. Yesterday, it was fairly busy. Beers on were Liverpool Craft Beer ICO, Bob's White Lion, Pictish Delta, Brewdog Trashy Blonde, Hawkshead NZPA, Exeter Darkness, Bollington Bollington Nights & Coastal Erosion. The cider was as usual from Hecks. I believe it was the Farmhouse. Good pub.
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Good pub with a wide range of beers from independent brewers. Additionally, you don't need a mortgage to buy a pint.
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first visit this afternoon , only one regular in but excellent choice of good quality ales and young bloke behind the bar and regular were very friendly
i will defo be going back
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great pub with friendly locals and staff.
Large range of real ales of both light and dark - which one of the customers asked me what I preferred before i made my selection !
A must on any Manchester real ale trail.
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Beers were excellent but seating is rather limited and a bit scruffy. I'd heard this area might suffer from "development" and the place might be lost - I hope not!!
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I paid my first visit to this place last week. Really good pub. Four light and four dark ales on offer, good barmaid, friendly regular to whom I had a chat. Couldn't ask for much more really.
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I went in this pub for the first time in a long time yesterday, its a lot better since reopening, brighter, cleaner, and very friendly staff, the beers were very good quality, its back on the list of manchester real ale pubs for me.
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This pub is a disaster. Needs a complete overhaul: more staff, space to sit down and a bloody good clean.
Oddly though, the ale is drinkable, shame about everything else!
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Didnt actually get a chance to taste any of the menu that was written on a scrap bit of paper, but after my husband walked down there to ask if we needed to book and told we didnt, we walked over half an hour later and were told to wait ten minutes for our table. After sitting and waiting for 40 minutes, one of our party had to go and ask how long the table would be, just to be told that there was no available places as we didnt book. No apology and was told we could wait for a further two hours after to eat. I do not reccomend even bothering with this pub.
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This pub has improved dramatically over the last 6 months, and I now frequent it more often than the pub just up the road.
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Visited this pub in August on the way to Rochdale to see the mighty Colchester. Good range of ales, especially the local ones, had a couple of excellent pints. Pitifully poor service, with a scowl. When we left and said thanks and goodbye we were completely ignored. Maybe he was just having a bad day but it's that sort of attitude that puts you off. Four of us, two pints each and not worthy of a civilised response - that'll be the first and last two pints I have there! Far better to walk a couple of hundred yards to the Marble.
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Good range of local ales, well worth a visit.
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Quiet for a Saturday night but a good pint of Hornbeam . They had about five or six Ales on. There was a guy playing the Joanna who was a cross between Les dawson and Eric morecambe in style. Still a bit different. Too close to the excellent marble for you to want to stay too long, but still a 7 out of ten.
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Good range of beer in a pleasant pub. White Lion from Bobs Brewery in Ossett always available.
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I agree with nokegthanks. This place is not really trying hard in some respects. Amateur service, although the beer I had was great. Is it relying on people coming here when the marble arch is full? Just lacks a bit of character. Could do well though with a more visible landlord presence/pub identity.
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Oh dear!!
Range of ales on adequate. Now the bad part. Cramped, dirty and full of people you would rather avoid and i don't mean chavs, but southerners out of their depth and the mancunian dross.
The good part. The Marble Arch is only yards away. Take the walk!!
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Great to see this place flourishing in its post- Beer House guise. Enjoyed an excellent pint of Howard Town 'Mill Town Mild' yesterday. There's a friendly welcome, a real fire (still needed in mid-May!) and an interesting food menu as well as a variety of ales and real ciders. Well worth a visit whenever in the Northern Quarter.
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Unassuming pub with a warm welcome, friendly staff and customers and a good range of real ales and ciders. We only had time for a couple of drinks here. But everybody went away happy. Bob's 41 South & Ostara, Hornbeam Black Coral Stout, Pictish Mancy Mild and Liverpool Organic 24 Carat Gold were all on alongside Hecks Sweet and Hecks Porters Perfection. Would definitely go back when in the area.
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Paid another visit to the Angel and it's fair to say it's back to its best as it was when the Beer House. The gastropub pretensions have been dropped and the pub is just generally far more laid-back. A fine real fire and piano add to the atmosphere, but what stands out is the selection of microbrewed real ales, mostly from the local area. Tried a Liverpool Organic Pale Ale and a Southport Golden Sands on a recent visit, both very good and reasonably priced at �2.30. Much improved and definitely back on my hitlist. Will be visiting more often, rating improved.
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Bit busy when I visited, got a table however, National Winter Ales Festival being probably gave it a boost, had a low gravity with great taste. There was a lot of rushing about by the staff fulfilling food orders, so I guess that's a good part of their business.
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I stuck with the Harviestoun Ola Dubh too, just the half pint mind you - nice whisky taste. Pub was full up with the Winter ale festival refugees so I couldn't see much of it but the ale selection was pretty good.
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This pub has got more real ales on this year, and a good selection of micro breweries. Food prices a little steep and not the usual pub grub menu. Enjoyed the Harviestoun Ola Dubh despite it's 10.5% strength and the Brown Cow Sessions at 3.6%. Wanted a new brewery beer from Redemption, but it had just finished. However we heard that there was another cask on, so along with a few others we went back for Redemption Urban Dusk, excellent at 3.8%. Worth looking in and close to Marble Arch.
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The food was nice, the service was good, the beer was in really good nick, although they did seem to have a lot of Christmas beers on in mid January. The place was almost empty and seriously lacked any atmosphere, the only entertainment being the drunk sitting at the bar. The coal fire was very nice though as it was perishingly cold outside -10C, yes -10C in Manchester centre.
It was a nice pub, has potential but hasn't found it yet, a good charismatic landlord behind the bar and a few punters and it'll be laughing.
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The gastro side of the pub now seems to have retreated a bit and it now feels more like a pub that when it first reopened. Now has 8 handpumps, on Tuesday 6 were serving ale and two real cider. I had a Shaws Ashton Masher and a Stringers West Coast Blond, both were in good nick as was the other halfs Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. It's getting back to where it was again.
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First time in here since it was the beerhouse, and a pleasant surpise. Thought it had gone all foody but that seemed to be upstairs. Downstairs was nice pleasant pub, friendly bar staff and about about 10 different beers on
Pint i had was very nice (only one as part of a crawl), but will deffo be back shortly. At �2.40 a pint werent too bad either for well kept beer. Certainly one to stick on the real beer crawlers list
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Very good range of well kept ales (I think there were eight handpumps including a real cider). In a great area for a real ale pub crawl too. Apparently does some good food too but I didn't see or try any.
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A second visit and again well kept beer and cosy atmosphere. Busy again though 2 people were serving behind the bar.
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First visit to the new (er) venture from the previous Beer House. The layout is similar though feels alot more warm and homely. 6 beers on including a house beer from Facer's - which at 4.9% (didn't taste that strong mind) must be a contender for one of the strongest house beers around? Other breweries featured included Dunham Massey & Boggarts. The beer quality was good. Only one chap behind the bar. When myself and friend arrived a group of about 8 chaps were soon following us in through the door and still hadn't all been served until we had finished our first halves of beer!
A pub re-added to my Salchester Crawl when in the area
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Called in following a trip to the Marble Arch. Seems to have changed hands since our last visit in October 2008. They�ve taken the blinds out of the front window so it feels more open and airy as there is some light coming in. 3 or 4 real ales on, ours was lively, but good (the barman filled an extra half glass up for us so we could top our pints up � very kind and thoughtful!). Plenty of people eating, but we just stuck to beer. Quiet enough to get a bar stool and worth a look in if you�re passing. Definitely one to add to the M4 crawl.
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Called in for the first time yesterday since it reopened. Quite nicely furbished inside and two decent cask ales on.
alexw - 20 Aug 2009 19:41 |
Called in again in May when in the area and felt it was better than the previous visit, and a better ale selection. Found 2 new beers for us here both in good condition. Interesting menu but we had eaten.
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PS - I'm from Lincoln but my best mate lives in Warrington so this pub is a regular when I come up to vist. Our real ale bar crawl include The Angel, Marble Arch, Smithfield Hotel, Bar Fringe and the Crown and Kettle. Hope this is of use!
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I went in this pub last September after the World Squash Championships at Sports City just down the road and after a visit to the Marble Arch beforehand. It didn't look much from the outside or when we walked in, but once inside it was a great local with decent real ale. We went in for one just to try the place, but ended up staying for ages. Worth a try if you're in the area and there are also some great real ale pubs nearby.
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Good beer served by friendly, attentive staff.
Good quality food well presented at mid range prices. Worth trying out.
anonymous - 13 May 2009 14:24 |
Called in for the first time and had an OK beer but no food. It was busy but we did get a seat by the door. Not as good as some of the other pubs in the area, but one to call in just to check whats on when passing.
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To be avoided. Starters took an hour to arrive without apology and when the bill arrived extra bottles of wine had been added to our bill and only some of these were ungraciously removed. We were charged for twice as much wine as we had drunk and when we asked for proof of what we ordered we were refused. For a place with a supposedly honest approach to good food and drink this was a suprisingly cynical experience. Food was really underwhelming and a much better pint to be found a few doors up at the Marble.
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Have called in a couple of times recently and whilst it's not the Beer House anymore it's still a decent enough pub for a drink. The foody side doesn't overwhelm it and there's still plenty of room to sit/stand whilst drinking. Down to 4 handpumps but it's been fairly quiet when we've been in so I doubt that it could support any more at the moment. Beer was pretty well kept as well. One to watch as it's got a chance of getting back to it's best.
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Good. Someone is trying hard but it's so tricky getting the balance between drinking and eating.. Beer not as good as food.That's why only an 8!
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Went in when it first reopened and was pleased that it was not turned into a trendy gastro pub. The staff are friendly and the beer in excellent condition with ever changing beers, pump clips of past beers being put above the bar. The old crowd are popping in as well as new, so a good mix of people. Well worth a visit.
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On my first visit since reopening , serving at the bar was a low priority for the four staff hanging around. Beer so-so.
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Very different from its previous incarnation as the Beer House, but at least it's still here. The ales were a decent selection and were up to standard. Possibly trying a bit too hard- candles on tables and food looked a bit pretentious-but like I say it's a decent enough place to pop into for a pint. Glad it's reopened.
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Blackboard outside suggests this place leans toward food but enter to find a proper pub layout at the front and what seemed to be the eating area with solid heavy wood tables beyond bar round corner to rt. Four handpumps but just one clipped for Pedigree when we arrived, however the young barman said he�d have on another two in 5mins, and was as good as his word, adding Jennings Cumberland and Rossendale Pennine Pitch Porter to the mix. He said that all 4 pumps were usually in action and some ex pumpclips decorating the bar seemed to confirm a decent policy of rotating guests from micros such as Phoenix & Rossendale (Pennine). They could do with more clip decoration around the rather plain naked walls as you enter, although the furniture here was pleasingly pub traditional. The staff were young, friendly and seemingly happy in their work, which is such a rarity these days, and another big bonus is that they open 11:00am Sundays, serving breakfasts &/or, ahem, beer!
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Went for meal on a Thurs night, service was good and food was generous and reasonably priced. 3 cask ales available, with chalk board showing what they had coming up also.
Karmiliet Trippel also available on draught.
Good mix of drinkers and people in for food.
Very close to Marble Arch Pub, which is probably the best pub in town.
Good stuff and will go again.
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Recently opened on the old site of the Beer House and just a stones throw from Manchester's best pub (the Marble) the real draw here is the chef - a certain Robert Owen Brown formerly of The Bridge,and Lounge 10 - and a legend in this city amongst foodies.
His cooking did not disappoint, generous helpings of rustic British food the way it should be done - deceptively simple yet delicious. Black pudding, rabbit and old school puddings are on the menu
The interior hasn't changed much since the old pub was shut down a few years ago and needs updating, and the service is settling in, so slow at times.
But the heart of a great pub is there.
We tried the local Dunham Massey Big Tree Bitter which was superb, and the wine list looked interesting and inexpensive. They also had a Belgian blonde beer on (that wasn't Leffe.)
We'll definitely return.
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