May 2025. Altrincham.
Another GBG tick ! I might complete the Greater Manchester section of the Guide yet (one left in Shevington, tourist tips welcome).
At least Altrincham is easy on the tram, though I’m filled with increasing unease by the presence of United fans queuing at the stops on the trip south. On my only visit to Old Trafford, doing the 92 grounds, I’d endured a claustrophobic journey with folk returning from a friendly with Inter.
So, despite always promising myself I’ll do Alty properly,
(Theakston in the Station Hotel, why ?), I opt for A Quick Tick, and then get distracted at the first hurdle by the art in George Street.
Altrincham’s new GBG entries have been called, inter alia, Rustic, Pi, Jack in the Box and Costello’s, so the Old Roebuck represents a return to traditional pub names.
It’s a pub that challenges your perception of modern Altrincham. Oh look, Paul (either Paul), beers you’ve heard of.
Comfortable and unfussy, I wondered how it had escaped my attention before.
Writing this feels a bit like “contractual obligations”, a rushed pint of end of barrel Golden Best in a sweary (Chelmsford level) bar where I knew I was never going to start a conversation or stop for that pint of Wainwright I should have had the first time.
I felt a bit subconscious about taking my glass back barely 6 minutes later, normal folk don’t do that, do they ?
Bet you I go back and do it “properly” before the year is out.
retiredmartin 