The Trafford and Hulme Winter Pub of the season 2018 is the Church, Flixton.
It is a long established and busy community local. It stands next to the Norman church of St Michael’s and looks very much like a typical country pub, although it is on the fringe of a large and well developed urban area. Over the years the pub has expanded almost seamlessly into adjacent cottages. Inside it is a friendly and busy pub with a variety of different spaces inside, reflecting the small rooms of the original cottages.
Cask ales have always been important at the Church and the present managers, Joanne and Lance Amison make the most of their ability to pick interesting and unusual beers from small independent breweries. On a recent visit the bar featured Blackedge Brewer’s Gold, RedWillow Stateless and Acorn Yorkshire Pride alongside the more mainstream Sharp’s Doom Bar. The beers tend to be of session strength and from North of England breweries but they are never predictable. Card-carrying CAMRA members can claim a 10% discount on cask beers.
They also host a variety of community activities throughout the week. Tuesday is Poker Night. Wednesday is Open Mike Night. There are quizzes on Thursday and Sunday nights.
Don’t miss the pub’s “mystery object”, the so-called Shell. This is a strange and antique piece of ironmongery, attached to the corner formed by the pub wall and the wall of the churchyard. It’s been there for at least a century and is thought to be a deterrent to anyone tempted to use that semi-sacred corner as a pissoir, to borrow a French term.
