The Trafford & Hulme Branch Pub Of The Season for Spring 2014 is The Vine Inn, Manchester.

Situated on Kennedy Street, just off Princess Street near to the Town Hall, The Vine is one of the city's oldest pubs sporting an impressive tiled frontage and stained glass windows. The pub is an excellent example of how a pub can offer a real sense of community built around it's regulars despite being right in the heart of the city, yet still offers a warm welcome to the many visitors to our city who cross its threshold. Much of this is built around long time landlady Rachelle Stringer whose enthusiasm for life and people is infectious to both staff and customers.

Locals and visitors alike have long been able to sample excellent ales from the two handpumps crammed onto the bar of the small ground floor servery, with Timothy Taylor's Landlord and Wychwood Hobgoblin having been the only permanent ales. However, December 2013 saw the biggest change at the pub since the original ground floor bar was expanded into the building next door in the 1970s. That expansion created the upstairs area and a cellar bar which in recent years has served as the pub's restaurant and function area but late last year, the cellar bar was transformed into Malt & Cask - a pub within a pub.

The Trafford & Hulme Branch Club of the Year 2014 is Flixton Conservative Club, deservingly retaining the title they gained last year. 

Rather than resting on their laurels, being crowned last year’s Club of the Year seems to have inspired Flixton Conservative Club to endeavour to reach even higher levels. This drive to continually improve is one of the reasons why the club has again been selected as Club of the Year.

It has been an impressive 12 months for a club which was probably not even on most CAMRA Members radar this time last year. It’s apparent that those who have visited the club since have been suitably impressed , reflected by the fact that the club went on to finish a very close Runner-up in the Greater Manchester Regional Club of the Year 2013.

The Trafford & Hulme Branch Pub of the Season for Winter 2013/14 is The Wharf situated in the Castlefield area of Manchester.

The City Centre is fortunate in being able to boast a number of top quality real ale outlets with some notable ones located around the perimeter of Castlefield.

However, for a long time, a foray down into the actual Castlefield basin was a rather unrewarding experience for the cask ale drinker. Thankfully, that situation changed in July 2012 with the arrival of The Wharf. 

Huge credit should be given to owners, the Brunning & Price Group, for taking on a derelict and somewhat uninspiring building and turning it into a real feature of the area (the building was purpose built in 1998 to house the Jackson’s Wharf pub which closed in 2005).

The  Wharf consists of two floors, the top level is set up to provide a more formal dining experience whilst the ground floor, with its various little alcoves and cosy corners, offers the customer that “proper pub” feeling.

In a time of many pub closures, the Best Newcomer award celebrates that all is not doom and gloom in the pub world and that amongst the closures, we are also gaining new or re-opened outlets which are well worth waiting for. The runner up in this category was Pi (Altrincham) which opened on Shaw's Road near Altrincham Market last October. Sibling to Pi (Chorlton), the Altrincham branch continues the same successful formula of friendly service, great selection of real ales and an almost unsurpassed range of world beers, with great gourmet pies for when you are peckish. However, in what could possibly be considered cruel irony, Pi lost out to a new bar which is its Chorlton sibling's new nearest neighbour. Font (Chorlton) opened in March this year in the premises of the former Iguana Bar which had been closed for two years. With eight cask ales and a massive 25% discount to CAMRA members, Font has helped draw more people into what was already an excellent strip of pubs and bars along Manchester Road from the Sedge Lynn at the south, past Pi & Font to deNada at the north end.

Chorlton can also boast the winner of the Most Improved Pub or Bar award. Although some may consider that The Jackalope would have been a contender for the Best Newcomer award having only taken on the moniker in February, the Barlow Moor Road bar remains under partly the same ownership as its former name Escape. However, the transformation in this small bar since Lee Gorton joined Rob Loader and decided to revamp the bar has been remarkable. Although Escape offered one or two real ales and quality was usually reasonable, Jackalope now offers four ales from some of the hottest names on the local and wider brewing scene with Salford's First Chop being near permanent alongside RedWillow, Arbor, Magic Rock, Fyne Ales and more. A regular line up of live music and other events has helped draw in the customers to keep the ale turning over regularly and making sure the place is rarely quiet. There's even the regular "Jackgammon" nights - while poker tournaments have been a recent fad in pubs, how many have tried backgammon tournaments to bring the customers in?
In a complete contrast, the runner up in the Most Improved category is a traditional back street local. Since Yvonne Hartley took over The Railway on Chapel Road in Sale, the once lacklustre pub has seen a turnaround in its fortunes. It is busier with locals returning, has more atmosphere and is turning over more real ale meaning that the quality of the offering is much improved. The work of Yvonne and her team is testament to the importance of good management to traditional pubs and how there is hope for any seemingly dwindling pub in the right hands. If other landlords want to see how to improve their pub, they could do worse than look at what is happening in Sale.