retiredmartin

Back up to Manchester for my 3rd night of ticking, and a couple of newbies out in the east (or west, depending which way you’re facing) of Greater Manchester.

My base was the easyHotel just off Piccadilly Gardens. A brave choice, but with my Booking.com Genius level rate of £35 (on a match day, too), one I couldn’t refuse.

My lad Matt lives in a flat two streets away (you can see it on this map),

but didn’t bring me a coffee in the morning. The lack of coffee making facilities is the only downside to the easy life.

£35 brings you a small room the basement, so folk walking along Newton St can peer in and see Baa Baa Toure guarding my GBG.

I left Baa Baa in charge while popped east to Hyde North, where the names get weirder.

The Victoria is labelled as my first ever Dukinfield Guide entry, though potentially it could get labelled as Hyde North, Newton Wood or even Greater Denton now that Denton is taking over Tameside.

Now, I didn’t quite do Dukinfield (which is easy for you to say) justice on my flying visit. For a start, I missed the Moravian Chapel’s stunning interior;

The Victoria is just as stunning in its own way,

and adds to the Guide’s impressive collection of one beer back street boozers. The folk who criticise the GBG rarely use it that much, and far from a list of “our favourite beer shrines” it now includes a motley collection of pubs.

It’s a stone’s throw from the Village Hotel with its spa and health club, but I bet you don’t see many of their guests in here escaping the gym.

Just Dizzy Blonde on the bar, Stevie Wonder on the radio,

and a HUGE dog sniffing my crutch (“crotch” ?).

The lady pouring my beer is a classic cheery Cheshire east Mancunian, who tells me that Shadow likes ice cubes (NOT the rapper) and once failed an exam to be a police dog because he was car sick.

I’ll be honest, that’s all I could possibly want from a pub visit in 2021, but I also get a cool, smooth Robinson’s, “Me & Mrs Jones” and a sense of community missing from the virtual world.

Aren’t pubs great ?

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