Raise a glass to licensees behind our favourite pubs
LANDLORDS AND LANDLADIES TELLS US WHAT MAKES THEIR BOOZERS SO SPECIAL
COOL craft beer bars and cutting edge places to eat are all well and good.
But when you fancy a pint sometimes the only place that will do is a proper good old-fashioned boozer.
Luckily, Greater Manchester is blessed with dozens of brilliant traditional pubs, much-loved by thousands of drinkers.
But they would be nothing without the licensees who ensure they run smoothly.
So here we raise a glass to some of the most important people in our region – the landlords and landladies who run six of our best pubs.
We asked the licensees to tell us what makes their pubs so special.
And so, in no particular order...
WITH 39 ales on tap and 120 different Belgian beers in the fridge you’re spoilt for choice at the New Oxford.
Landlord Tim Flynn took over the then boarded-up boozer in Salford’s historic Bexley Square 11 years ago and quietly set about transforming it into one of the city’s best pubs - and a Mecca for beer-lovers.
Now the New Oxford, which dates from the 1860s and featured in the 1941 film Love on the Dole, is a firm favourite with locals, students, lawyers, doctors and stars such as Mark E. Smith and Maxine Peake.
Tim said: “We’re a real ale, continental style pub – a straight-up drinking pub.
“The atmosphere and the range of beers are what makes us so popular.
“Most nights we’re packed. We get a real good mixture of clientele and the atmosphere is fantastic.”
The boozer of choice for George Best and generations of office workers taking a break from the grindstone, the Vine is a city centre institution.
Instantly recognisable by its glazed green-tiled exterior, the Kennedy Street pub is split across an old weavers cottage and a warehouse and is said to predate the nearby town hall.
With up to seven cask ales and 100 whiskies and gins on offer across its three rooms, it’s easy to see why it’s still thriving.
Landlady Rachelle Stringer said: “It’s been here for donkeys years and it’s just a great pub.
“We’re like a home from home for our regulars, but we also get lots of professionals in from the offices and the town hall, shoppers, theatre-goers and tourists.
“The other night we had an American airline pilot, a South African comedian and an Australian sportsman stood at the bar – the banter was amazing.
“The atmosphere is really friendly, the staff are great and we just have a really good laugh.”
There can’t be many pubs in Greater Manchester with a more spectacular backdrop than the Crown Inn.
Tucked in under the Stockport viaduct, an iconic symbol of the Industrial Revolution, the 19th century boozer has also been at the forefront of the real ale revolution.
Starting life at the end of the 1800s when three adjoining cottages were knocked together, which explains why it has three front doors, the Crown began concentrating on real ales