News & Features

Sale Sports Club has a new steward who will be familiar to many local drinkers. Gwen Partridge was the landlady of the Briton's Protection for many years until departing a couple of years back.

Once described by Elbow's Guy Garvey as "a sharp-witted, elegant and glamorous northern angel" she joins the club, located on Clarendon Crescent just off Dane Road, with a growing reputation for good real ale having hosted two successful beer festivals. Trafford & Hulme CAMRA wishes Gwen every succes in her new role.

Altrincham's Old Market Tavern was recently listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). As a result of the protection this affords the pub, owners Punch Taverns have given notification to Trafford Council that they intend to dispose of the pub.

As an Asset of Community Value (ACV), this means that local community groups (not just CAMRA) have a chance to consider buying the building. Any community group interested in purchasing the pub would need to notify Trafford Council of its interest by 12 April in order to trigger a 6 month moratorium period when the group would need to make arrangements to complete a purchase.

CAMRA understands that Punch's sale does not at this point threaten the future of this great pub as we've been advised that the current tenant is looking to buy the pub from Punch. Although the lease negotiated with previous tenant, the late John Glover, gave the OMT a level of freedom over its' beer purchasing that is almost unprecedented in 'Pub Co' agreements, taking the pub completely out of Pub Co control should only make the pub's future brighter. CAMRA would welcome the change of ownership and would hope the OMT can continue to be one of Altrincham’s most valued purveyors of quality real ale and continue as a great asset to the local community as a venue for live music and other community events.

Urmston's Britannia closed on 4th April for tranformation into Punch Taverns' Champs Bar & Grill Format. The US themed sports bar concept began in 2012 when Punch bought the branding of a bar on Sheffield's Eccleshall Road and opened a new bar under the format just down the road. A second Champs opened in Sheffield in 2013 followed by further rebrandings of former traditional pubs in Liverpool, Washington, Southport, Wisbech and Ilford.

The Flixton Road pub which has had many different names in recent years including Mambo's and 'Juicy' is, at time of writing, totally gutted as part of the refit. All but two of the bars in the format sell real ale so hopes are high that Champs Urmston will be a welcome addition to the town's evolving ale scene.

Altrincham's The Orange Tree re-opened on 26th February 2016. The new leaseholder is Adam Greaves.

Four cask beers are on offer, all priced at £2.80 a pint. The core range for now is Adnam's Ghost Ship, Sharp's Doom Bar, Greene King IPA and Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. There are longer term plans for one or two guest beers and a real cider or perry.

The back room  (the one that leads to the beer garden) has a wood burning real fire.