Black Lion Hotel, Salfordback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
This pub is now part of the Pieminster brand so I was expecting a lot more last Friday when all four cask pump badges were turned around. On enquiring why they were the excuse was they had only just been tapped. With a beer festival at the left bank and not a million miles away I feel there was no thought put into this, and they missed out on the real ale brigade. Come on guys up your game!
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My third pub in this corner of Salford, & the worst. While the Egerton Arms was bustling & the Rover's Return, though empty, was at least welcoming to its sole customer, this place was grim & business like. A pint of Landlord was 3.50, close to the most expensive pint I had in Manchester. No smiles, no chat, only a couple of folk in, not a pub I will rush back to.
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l used to go in the Black Lion back in the days when we had loads of trade union and left wing activity meetings upstairs in the 70s and 80s........l moved away for a while and last year heard it was opening again .........
We had a campaign in Salford concerning the boundary commissions plans to abolish Salford as a Parliamentry seat.....The proprietors Mark , Jenny and Barry offered us the room to use as a base which we did,,,,,,,we also held our fundraising events and some members had personal parties there as well.........
The atmosphere and service was also good and the staff helpful .....
When they started to show films and plays upstairs l attended on a regular basis and still do,,,the plan to put food on was the icing on the cake........l am a veggie and have never had any problems getting a fine meal along with my meat eating friends...
There are now regular film and music nights and Kino films use it on a regular basis for their screenings.
The drinks available is pretty good too, whether you like non alcoholic or real ale you will be catered for .........In just over 12 months it has come on in leaps and bounds and a great place to visit.............hoping the crowds which seemed to have deserted a lot of pubs in recent years will find their way back as well...............there have been massive improvements since Future Artists took over..........give them your support folks..........john catterall ....salfordjc
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the black lion recently started food without a hygene certificate and was recently awarded a certificate after the fact.i am afraid to say their food hygene rating is number one which i am sure if you read the standard for this is very poor namely lack of awareness for food hygene with the need for major improvements in this area and other issues to be taken into consideration you can check this out on the food standards agency website as i dont know whether they have their certificate displayed in a noticable area.so just be aware of these issues before you choose to eat there
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I called in again on Sunday, mainly to check out the food. They offer a Sunday roast, with a vegetarian option too (home made cheese and onion pie). Very palatable but rather limited portions considering the price (�6.95).
The two beers on this occasion were Taylor's Landlord and Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. Both tasted oddly bland and the Landlord was hazy. I agree with gunninm, this is not going to be a temple for fine ales. It may take off as a centre for community arts, in the upstairs rooms, but as a pub it's struggling to find its way. The flooded floor in the gents' toilet certainly doesn't give a good impression.
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With some regret I have to agree with the recent negative comments about the real ales selection since it re-opened
The people who have taken it over are locals and hats off to them for trying to make it a community pub.
It was never going to be 'New Oxford 2' and nor should it try to be.
If you like real ales, stick to the Oxford and Crescent
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Even after Tim's concerted efforts and extensive refurb, the place unfortunately never really "took off".
Can't say I've stepped foot in the place since its re-opening. After the below comments, I'm not that desperate to do so anyway!
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The last two comments provide food for thought, my fellow alehounds. This particular hostelry had the potential to add to an ever growing band of real ale pubs in the locality, but has obviously failed due to circumstances.
I fear it will revert back to a keg only shithole eventually, shame really........
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Well, I've just got back from downing a couple of pints in the Black Lion, and I'm struggling to recognise Roy22's description. I don't doubt him, that may well be an accurate description of the pub on a Saturday night, but it's also an accurate description of most city centre pubs on a Saturday night. Early evening on a Tuesday in February was very different.
The pub had half a dozen drinkers, all perfectly civilised, some low key music on the juke box and two cask beers on offer. Again they were Jennings' Cumberland Ale and Rooster's Yankee. I stuck with Rooster's as I don't often see it this side of the Pennines and it was good stuff. The pub now offers bar food as well as drinks: just sandwiches early in the week, more substantial fare from Thursday to Sunday. I didn't try the sandwiches but they looked decent (French stick things with cheese or ham).
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Reopened........but don't bother!
The closure of the Black Lion in Salford, over a year ago, was a tragic loss. Tim Flynn, the excellent landlord of the nearby New Oxford, had done wonders in his brief tenure. But rumour has it that impossibly high rents charged by the owners forced him out.
So when we heard it had reopened a few months ago, we were interested. It was however, a big dissappointment. Calling in on a Saturday night, we found it to be as rammed full and raucous as any other tasteless Deansgate pub. The clientelle were young, perhaps in their twenties, and the music playing was what you'd expect for that for that target group. There was nowhere to sit, whilst the bar was surrounded by many more customers.
Of the four or five handpumps, only two were working, One was Jennings Cumberland, usually a mediocre brew which announces 'tied pub' to the world. The other was Roosters Yankee, which we were intending to try. But as the football song chanting at one end of the bar grew louder, we realised that this was a place we were never going to use, and left.
So if you want yet another loud nitrokeg pub filled with kids, give this a try. Otherwise, keep walking....
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I'd planned to do a mini pub crawl along Chapel Street and could not believe the number of pubs closed. At one point I counted 5 derelict pubs in a row before finding one open. What a terrible shame. The Black Lion appears to be the latest victim.
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Closed! Got here Fri 30th July, after a nightmare 4+ hour coach trip, in serious need of refreshment. Turning the corner to find the place closed was like a smack in the mouth.
The Black Lion had maintained a wonderful range & quality of real ale lately. The place was beautiful and the bar maids always charming. Only lacked one thing - sufficient customers. Damn shame.
Roy22 - 20 Aug 2010 19:15 |
What a shame that this place never really took off. One less real ale place to go to. R.I.P. The Black Lion.
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CLOSED!!!
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A pub that hasn't quite taken off yet. Fair range of beers when i called in yesterday, Moorhouses and Shaws being the main ones on offer, sampled two of them and they were in good condition. Unfortunately this boozer lacks atmosphere, being far too pristine for my liking. Still it is an improvement on what was a rough, keg only pub that few people ventured into a couple of years ago.
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First visit to this corner occupying pub. Was steadily busy compared the recently visited Crescent & Oxford. 8 ales to choose from ( 2 from Vale, then from Moorhouses, Salamander, Leyden, 2 from Empire and another...) the Salamander and Vale VPA were very good. Didn't try the food but seemed to doing a brisk trade. Plenty of different seating arrangements to choose from.
A good addition to my "Salchester" pub crawl when I visit the area.
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Called in here for the first time last night having tried a few of weeks ago when it was supposed to have opened but hadn�t. I�m pretty sure there are 8 handpumps not 6. Phoenix Black Lion bitter is the house beer and Jennings Cumberland is also a permanent, all the others are changing guests. I had two beers from Empire Brewery, Albion and Red Line the other half had two halves of the Black Lion. All were excellent. Decor wise it�s all very smart, but it doesn�t really look like it�s finished yet as several of the walls are bare. It was a filthy night last night and the pub was pretty quiet at about 6 p.m. but we liked it. It will certainly be added to our Salford crawl along with The Crescent, New Oxford and Kings Arms.
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Popped in on a Sunday afternoon. Extremely quiet but its early days yet. Definately has the look and feel of the New Oxford.
I've only been once before I think - many years ago and it certainly has changed for the better.
Six handpumps with a wide selection of beers, including a porter.
Menu looks very interesting, but chef was off the day we visited.
Bery friendly and knowledgeable barmaid.
Will certainly go back.
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OK, well here's our opinion on this newly opened sister pub to the nearby New Oxford.
It's been tastefully restored, I'd say that plenty of money has been spent, with lots of dark wood and mirrors in evidence. The pub occupies a corner position (between Blackfriars St and Chapel St), the room taking on a crescent shape as a result, and with a quite ornate bar in the centre position. One half seems to have been set out with food in mind, though I doubt they'd stop drinkers sitting there if desired.
The welcome from the barmaid was friendly, and we found a good five or six real ale hand pumps were on. A few of these were lower gravity (nice to escape the 'silly' strong ones often found), and we thought the two we tried were fair quality if not wonderful. The menu appeared fairly standard pub food, which was slightly surprising as it looked like the place had more serious food ambitions.
Admittedly this was a Sunday lunchtime, and this pub has been open only a few weeks, but it was too quiet to have any real atmosphere, and as CarlUrmston rightly said, it did have that 'new pub' feel to the place. A handful were gathered around the central bar area (swearing a little too much for my other half's comfort), with no spread beyond that and likewise no-one in the substantial dining area either.
We love the New Oxford, and suspect that in time The Black Lion will gain customers, atmosphere and no doubt get its cellar on top form too. But for now, the New Oxford is still very much ahead on all these fronts.
Roy22 - 19 Oct 2009 19:45 |
Like other BITERs I had been anticipating the reopening of this pub for some time. The New Oxford up the road has been a great success so signs were good. I managed to pop in last night, so here goes. It's a large imposing crescent-shaped brick building that occupies a whole corner on Chapel Street, Salford's main thoroughfare. This area has suffered numerous pub closures and despite token attempts at yuppie flats spilling across the river it's still a pretty uninspiring area (although to be honest I find yuppie areas the least inspiring of the lot.) Despite this, it's only 100yds from the boundary with Manchester and 5 minutes walk from Manchester city centre. Always a mediocre pub for as long as I can remember, it's good to see new life. It's been comprehensivley done out and has that clinical 'new pub' smell which will hopefully soon fade. One large, long room centred on the bar with a sort of room off to your left, but it's all opened out really. Not many original features, although the gantried bar is quite attractive, with dark wood and back mirrors. Quite spartan and minimalist with a few old pictures and small brewery mirrors on whitewashed walls, and lights a tad bright- a bit of a let down considering the grand exterior. That said, is often the case with newly-opened pubs. Seems to be quite an emphasis on food (isn't there always these days) but it'd be a stretch to call it a gastropub- it isn't, thankfully. Good selection of ales as was always likely, with two from the local Hornbeam microbrewey (Dark Temptation and Seduction) and 2 from Northumberland- Summer Gold and Les Ferdinand. Also Dazzler from Northern Brewery. Something to suit every palate I think, and all from microbreweries. 2 disused pumps suggest more good things to come. Good selection of continental beers in bottles also. My 'seduction' was nice ,a hoppy session beer that went down well. A few people were in, but it wasn't mad busy. Service polite and friendly.
To be honest I found it a bit clinical, but it's opening week and I imagine character will be added over time. It's certainly better than it used to be and should prove to be a good addition to the burgeoning Chapel Street crawl. Not yet a must visit- has the potential- but definitely worth a try.
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According to the Manchester Evening News (Page 15) it opens today. (2nd October).
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Tim took me mate round the pub, looking great apparently, think the shutters are down now, and I think it's opening same time as Bolton beer fest.
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No it didn't. It was closed last night and still had boarding up at the windows, there were lights on though.
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Opening on the 23rd of September apparently.
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Pub has been bought by the guys from the New Oxford. Expect good news very soon.
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Waiting for the re-opening!
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This pub is great, they have STROH 80, the finest power-drink in the world
anonymous - 23 Sep 2005 17:02 |
This has got to be the friendliest pub in Salford or for that matter Manchester. I have lived in and around Manchester & Salford all my life. I have often walked straight past the Black Lion, as I have always thought it to be a really rough pub. A friend once asked me to meet them there and I reluctently agreed, how happy I am I did. This pub is like a Pandoras Box - full of surprises. The pub has just had a refurb (Sep 2004)which has changed the whole look of the pub. The Staff are extremely friendly. They have entertainment throughout the week and I have recently heard that they are currently undergoing a refurb in the bar upstairs which they are calling The Zenith Six Bar (I believe after a Jazz Club that used to be held their in the 50s & 60s). Take my challenge and see for yourself! When you do say hi to Robert the Manager (how funny is he?)
Ged - 5 Oct 2004 18:34 |
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