A HOLT IN THE VICTORIA TAP

January 2024. Victoria Station. Manchester.

Some Universities teach pointless subjects, like philosophy, and French, and football studies. The very best of them run courses on Pub Blog titles, where I learnt you can substitute halt for Holt when you order a pint of Cheetham Hill’s finest.

After than disastrous Saturday afternoon in Preston (never mind the beer, I reckon 4,273 calories, not proud) it was time for a period of reflection, and 0.0 Guinness in a Bass glass.

Out of a can, rubbish. In a Tiny Rebel glass, OK. But in a Bass pint glass, Guinness’s non-alcoholic offering is decent, with that little widget in the can adding some froth. Wouldn’t drink more than one, though.

So a week off the pubs. But by Friday I was needing to be in a Merseyside boozer eavesdropping on deluded Liverpool fans, so I picked St Helens for my Big Day Out.

One ticket to Hyde via Piccadilly, one ticket to Prescot via Wigan, two ticks.

It meant a bit of a sprint from Piccadilly to Victoria, but I’m your man for a 20 minute sprint, even stopping for the Northern Quarter art.

Arriving at Victoria I find I’ve 8 minutes till the train, which is bound to be late, so chance to finally visit the Victoria Tap (on Long Millgate, says What Pub, wherever that is).

Tandleman hints at a third Manchester Tap in his latest excellent post, and I can exclusively reveal it will be at Weaste. But I didn’t tell you that.

The Vic Tap is smaller than Piccadilly, but feels perfectly formed and gains a mark for being open before noon. My luck with small pub opening hours won’t last the day.

It’s the place for a quick half rather than a session, but that’s what station pubs are for. A great little addition to Manchester’s constantly changing pub scene.

Quite an Old Skool cask line up; Bradfield, Adnams, Brightside…

…and Holt.

Holt ? With the Hare & Hounds and Lower Turks Head a mere 3 minutes jog away at Shudehill ?

Well. why not ? Use the cask lines to showcase the best of British cask. And at £2.20 a half (unsolicited dog lick – free), not too bad at all. Cool, crisp, gone in 60 seconds. NBSS 3.5.

Pick up your copy of Opening Times,

take your glass back, realise the platform has changed AND is on time, and fumble for your mobile ticket.

Let’s GO.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

13 thoughts on “A HOLT IN THE VICTORIA TAP”

    1. Interesting question. Not yet, bar the time the internet cut out before the ticket actually downloaded to my phone and I thought I might be fined. Battery life is a big issue and availability of charging points on trains is very patchy.

      The paper Travelcards I still have to get when travelling to London with the underground included always seemed to fail at the ticket barrier so I’ll be glad to leave those behind.

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      1. A recently retired neighbour worked on the railways and had been getting passengers pretending that they had a ‘ticket’ on their mobile phone the battery of which had now ‘gone’ in an attempt to fare dodge.

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      2. I saw a boy and girl, late teens, nip in the loo on the Sheff-Derby leg and not get out until the guard emerged with a key somewhere near Tamworth. Opinion was divided on whether they were fare dodging or had more interesting motives, but given it was the only working loo they were always in trouble.

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  3. I popped in for a pint not long after it opened last year. A fellow customer asked the woman behind the bar what happens if they need to change a beer at the top of that very tall board. She just laughed, but I’m still wondering about it myself.

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    1. Maybe something akin to what happens at the Pot Still in Glasgow when someone wants a whisky from one of the higher shelves.

      They have a bottle of English whisky there incidentally. It was still in its cardboard box, cellophane unopened, gathering dust when I last looked.

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