December 2025. Manchester.
Walking back from the City v Hammers match I got a text from Matthew; “Fancy a beer ?“, which is exactly the sort of thing you hope a child will grow up to ask you.
Quosh had recommended a new brewery tap under the Piccadilly arches (“ANOTHER one ?“), only a 5 minute deviation from the station. If you see Ian you’re in the right ballpark;
just take the next right down Temperance Street.
Steelfish only opened this month, and will no doubt join the trail of brewery taps (Sureshot, Balance, Track, Cloudwater) that lead to the Etihad.
Not just their own beers, it seems;
I’m met with a cry of “It’s Martin” at the bar, which is worrying as I’ve tried so hard to maintain anonymity.
It’s that cheery Mark aka Fried Coleslaw, Chairman of Trafford & Hulme CAMRA, who are still looking for a brewery liaison rep for Heineken.
Mark assures me you only have to drink a pint of Heineken a day to get that gig.
He’s enthusing about the beers here; I’m rather taken with that schooner glass.
The barrel of the much vaunted Greenhop Bitter had to be changed. I should have let Matt, arriving to find he’d have to wait for beer, choose his own. He’s more familiar with the railway arch craft bars than I am, having done the tour and bought the T-shirt.
Two pints of Greenhop. Note how different these two look;
You don’t care either, do you ? You’re more interested in a cheese and onion cob* to match the ones in the Blue Boar or Wellington.
Matt stayed for a second pint, the hazy pale the pick of the two, but temperature and condition of both was top notch. But it’s that cob that gets the 5.
*Bap/batch/barm etc.
retiredmartin 
So is “Where’s Martin?” to become the UK equivalent of “Where’s Waldo?”. There’s a distinct similarity, even if only one is a fashion icon.
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But which one is which?
On a more serious note, does the world need yet another, man in a shed brewery?
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Heresy Paul !!!
CAMRA says we need as many small INDEPENDENT breweries as possible to appreciate the wide range of beers available blah de blah
I don’t think the Steelfish beers seem that different from anybody elses beers, but they’re well conditioned and the cheese cob is great.
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I thought it was “Where’s Wally ?”.
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The original British version was, the Yanks had to change it. Created by a man called……Martin.
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Don’t trust them. Folk called Martin, I mean.
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Yes Martin, “CAMRA says we need as many small INDEPENDENT breweries as possible” and that we’re all “angry that independent brewers continue to suffer at the hands of pub companies and global ‘brewing’ giants”.
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Are there any pubs on Temperance Street these days?
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Small breweries that serve beer !
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Full marks for the cheese cobs, though. There should be a campaign to make them more widely available, rather than flooding an already over-saturated market, with yet more identi-kit beers 🍻
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Where’s the best simple pub grub near you, Paul ?
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Paul, I don’t think the Black Country’s ever quite had a monopoly on them.
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