News & Features

Chorlton Challenge 2016
Friday 18th & Saturday 19th November 2018

The Chorlton Challenge is the annual survey of Chorlton's 28 pubs and bars which serve cask ale - an increase of two on last year.

Spread over two days, the challenge is to visit all 28 pubs but if you can't make the full weekend just drop in when you feel you can to support your local pubs. If you know the area then it may be a chance to visit pubs you don't regularly go to.

All times approximate.
If lost call 07979 350863 or 07879 880972

Click here for map of pub locations

The Old Abbey Inn is a pub which many people have no idea exists. Despite only being a few minutes walk from Oxford Road, it’s location tucked away in the centre of Manchester Science Park has seen it typically only open weekday lunchtimes to serve office workers. However, now the pub has been taken over by a group seeking to make it the heart of a new community.

Roots Kitchen Co-Op is a collective of cooks, foragers, brewers and musicians who launched the renamed Old Abbey Taphouse with a weekend of events in early October, following a two month long refurbishment. Upstairs at the pub hosts to a recording studio & rehearsal room with a well being studio due to open in November.

Food at the pub will be ethical and sustainable - organically grown & reared, traditionally processed, naturally refined without waste minimised. Visitors can expect slow cooked one-pots, seasonal salads, wood fired bakes, sourdough platters, and raw puddings.

Newcastle’s Brinkburn Street brewery brewed Galivantes Porter for the opening weekend, named after the resident house band, the founders of which are part of the collective running the venue. An in house micro-brewery is planned.

New opening hours are Monday - Thursday 11.30am - 11pm; Friday & Saturday 11.30am - 3.00am; Closed Sunday.

Kitchen Times : 11.30am - 3.30 pm Monday – Saturday and 5.30pm - 10.30pm Wednesday – Saturday

For more information see theoldabbeytaphouse.co.uk, www.facebook.com/abbeyinnmcr/ or follow @old_abbey_msp

Dave Barlow and his team at The Brook, Brooklands have won the JW Lees Cask Ale Pub of the Year Award for 2016. The team wer delighted to regain the title they last won in 2014. This award marks that The Brook has sold the most consistently excellent quality cask ales throughout the whole of the JW Lees estate.

And just to make their day even better they also won the JW Lees Top Cellar award 2016 for selling the most cask ale per square foot of the pubs floor space.

Dave and his team always offer a great welcome to all of their customers so why not go in and congratulate them in person.

Flixton Conservative Club has been named CAMRA Greater Manchester Club Of The Year for the second year running. The club which is on the corner of Flixton Road and Chassen Road between Urmston & Flixton has retained the title it first took in 2015, beating off six other private members clubs from across CAMRA Greater Manchester's branches.

The club has been named Club Of The Year by Trafford & Hulme branch for four consecutive years and after winning the regional title, the club will now go forward to be judged against 15 other regional winners for the National Club Of The Year title.

Mystery shopper judges visited all the finalists over the summer, scoring each club on a range of attributes including the range and quality of beer & cider, customer service, warmth of welcome, and value for money. Judges praised Flixton Conservative Club for the devotion of its staff, the wide range of beers on offer and the warm welcome extended to non-member visitors.

Club stewards Nigel and Sharon Porter have transformed the beer range at the club from two real ales when they arrived five years ago to six on the bar at one time and the club is reaping the benefits with membership flourishing. Nigel said "Feedback I get from the committee is that many new members cite the beer as their main reason for joining the club with others stating that they come here because they find it a welcoming, safe and secure place to enjoy a good beer".