retiredmartin

February 2024. Manchester.

Tickers gotta tick, tick, tick, tick etc.

And what better to tick after the whole GBG than the rather wonderful Guide to Manchester Beer (Matthew Curtis/CAMRA).

Loads of great pubs to revisit, lots of southern Manc bars I’ve never been to, and the best thing of all is there won’t be a new one each year with 400 new entries in it !

Actually, hitting a static target rather than a moving one sounds too easy; I bet Chris Dyson has already done it.

Let’s start with the Millstone. I met Stafford Paul at the start of his latest Heritage Pubs trip, already on his second pint of Lees.

A reminder that there’s loads of central Mancunian pubs I’ve never been in (the Waldorf, for one), the Millstone is perhaps the most famous, tucked among the crafty places like Fierce on Thomas St.

“Lively city centre pub catering mainly for older clientele. It hosts regular singing evenings performed by the locals.” says What Pub. It’s the sort of pub that Blackpool used to do well (Thwaites’s Empress comes to mind).

There’s cellar awards for the Lees one the wall, and this was a cool, tasty pint that would grace any GBG pub.

“Manchester’s Favourite Night Out” it says, but it’s the 10am opening that’s attracted Mr Mudge (above, at the bar) and the feel is closer to the Jolly Angler (RIP) than the boisterous pub it will become by afternoon.

Paul has never been here before, either, and I sense he’s as charmed by the proper seating, Yates’s signage and morning drinkers as I am.

Not sure what he makes of the soundtrack,

though it veers quickly from 90s Scouse indie to 70s Motown.

What Pub directs me to the lovely little room at the back converted from an office,

where you can see where legendary Mancunian beat band Oasis started out.

As we drank up a couple of local lads, meeting up with their Dad over from Ireland, asked me to take their photo, and I said I would as long as I could take theirs.

I hope the photo I took for them was better than that one.