STATION TO STATION. HEATON CHAPEL TO LEVENSHULME

October 2025. Heaton Chapel to Levenshulme.

I’m no fan of night driving these days, it’s almost like I’m approaching middle-age or something. And with my usual cheap option for train to Manchester scuppered (no service to Hyde) it suddenly made sense to stay over in Great(er) Stockport for City’s glamour game with Bournemouth, particularly with Mrs RM joining me to say hello to Matt.

Sunday means hotel prices halved (except in Wigan, as per Simon Calder), and the Innkeepers Lodge on the A6 a couple of miles north of Stockport has been a reliable option for 2 decades.

It used to have a Toby Carvery attached (American visitors love them) with cask but now it’s one of those posh Miller & Carter steakhouses with keg, and I had to leave Mrs RM clear instructions not to leave us destitute by ordering a large glass of wine.

A perfect spot for safe parking and a 10 minute trip into Piccadilly by the No. 192 or rail from Heaton Chapel station, which I thought you’d like to see.

Beautifully furnished by the Friends of the station (see also : Glossop),

though while the art celebrates Holt the advert is for a beer that will soon be considered “boring”.

The art is better than the service, but at least there’s an electronic display that records the continually escalating delay in the train’s arrival, and a cheer when we reach the stage at which you can get Delay Repay.

Mrs RM stays on to Piccadilly and goes to inspect Matt’s flat; I hop off at Levenshulme for a pub that will inevitably have “Hop” in the name, as prescribed by the A6 Pub Naming Legislation.

Ooh, The Street With No Name, always a winner.

If Heaton Chapel is quaint Victoriana and florist shops, Levenshulme (pronounced “Levee”, as in the Led Zep song), is rather grittier.

In truth, I hardly know the place, bar a visit to Fred’s (RIP) and the fantastic Blue Bell (oddly for Sam Smiths, alive and well). NB Photo from pre-phone ban days.

It’s only going to be a flying visit between trains today, after that delay, so no time for the lovely Union, “resolutely on keg-only beer for many, many years“.

But my target pub is resolutely cask, and resolutely analogue.

Unknown's avatar

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.

28 thoughts on “STATION TO STATION. HEATON CHAPEL TO LEVENSHULME”

  1. “…the atmosphere created on match days has been described as the next best thing to stadium ambience.”

    Various parallel descriptions spring to mind. “…the atmosphere created in King’s Cross station at rush hour on Friday evening has been described as the next best thing to a stampede at a cinema fire.” etc.

    Oh, and Timothy Taylor’s Golden “Best”

    Like

    Reply

    1. That said, there are quite a few football pubs, which are rather good on non-match days, such as the Strawberry at Newcastle, Navigation Middlesbrough, Fox And Pheasant Chelsea, Romilly Cardiff…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Romilly’s a football pub on matchday? I’ve never been on a matchday, just couldn’t imagine it, but then it’s the nearest ‘normal’* pub to the ground I guess.

        *by Canton standards.

        Like

      2. Yes Rhys, the Romilly is just that, but still has no intention of being mistaken for a Pontcanna pub I’d say 🙂

        It seems to get coach parties on match days and evenings.

        Like

      3. Well that’s genuinely fascinating Etu.

        The first of those is legendary, the rest less so (though of course I know the Romilly).

        Stamford Bridge is particularly poorly served by GBG pubs.

        Like

  2. Martin, re yesterday’s Cliff Richard first concert thing, I’ve done a bit of digging and it seems mine was 19th November 1981, which would’ve made me 9. My only real recollection of the whole sorry thing was, about half way through the show a radio-controlled K-9 from Doctor Who came on stage and danced with Cliff; and, having found the setlist, it was quite likely during the song ‘Sci-Fi’.

    My only other Cliff anecdote is that I once saw him in a branch of Mothercare, of all places…

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

      1. Yep, fun memories. Looking back, it may have been the only concert I ever went to with Mum. She wasn’t a big music lover, apart from Cliff and Tommy Steele. The only other one I recall her going to was when my Dad was playing in an orchestra at the Albert Hall in 77, and I didn’t go because I was too young or something. My sister was allowed but not me, and it wasn’t fair! Rankled with me for years!!

        Like

      1. Hehe, would’ve been around late 2000. We were in the big Mothercare in Weybridge buying a pram, not long before our son was born and, as we walked towards the checkout I saw him. My not-yet-wife said something along the lines of “what the **** is he doing here?”

        My reply was something he’d probably sue me for 🙂

        Like

  5. “particularly with Mrs RM joining me to say hello to Matt.:

    Heh; mothers.

    “and I had to leave Mrs RM clear instructions not to leave us destitute by ordering a large glass of wine.”

    So it’s not just me then. When my wife and I take a walk around the Tyee Spit (between Campbell River (the river, not the town) and the Pacific Ocean, we stop at an oceanside place for their ‘happy hour’. I get a pint of craft beer for $5.50 (taxes included) and they have a six ounce house white or red for the same price. Needless to say, my wife has grown fond of Malbec, so her six glass of wine is literally twice the price!

    “and a 10 minute trip into Piccadilly by the No. 192 or rail from Heaton Chapel station”

    Here’s me thinking ‘that’s pretty darn close to London!’; but I checked and realised you meant Manchester. 😏

    “Beautifully furnished by the Friends of the station”

    (looks up)
    Is that actual ghosts?

    “and a cheer when we reach the stage at which you can get Delay Repay.”

    😊

    “I hop off at Levenshulme for a pub that will inevitably have “Hop” in the name, as prescribed by the A6 Pub Naming Legislation.”

    (slow golf clap)

    “Ooh, The Street With No Name, always a winner.”

    Wasn’t there a song about that? And, possibly a movie?

    “NB Photo from pre-phone ban days.”

    Heh.

    “But my target pub is resolutely cask, and resolutely analogue.”

    Meaning they have furniture made from HMS Resolute?

    Cheers

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. My bad. I believed you (honest!), I’ve read how you can no longer do that In Sam Smith pubs.
        ( I need to use more emojis) 😁

        Like

      1. Yup, good value indeed.

        My darling wife used to be a fan of Cab Sauv but has recently migrated to Malbec. I even indulge her in a 375ml bottle of ‘organic’ Malbec from Argentina for drinking at home.
        (She has wisely asked I don’t buy any wine with more volume as she has a tendency, at times, to open one and will continue to drink the whole thing. This way, she knows when to stop) 😉

        Like

Leave a comment