Pub & Club News

By the time you read this, the Quarrybank in Timperley will have re-opened after a major refurbishment. The pub closed at the start of June with it's Bloomsbury Lane location turned into a building site for three weeks. 

Meanwhile, there have also been changes at Sale's The Moorside. Most striking is the changes to the outside area where the formerly open plan patio adjacent to the car park has been remodelled with individual tables segregated from each other by partitions to create what are almost alcoves in an outside area. The partitioning has also been carried on inside.

Travellers on Church Road in Sale will have noticed that the long closed and decaying Wagon & Horse was finally demolished in early June.

The Greyhound in Ashley has re-opened after an extended period of closure.

Sad news in Altrincham where it has been announced that the team of Chris Clish and Gabby Burns-Smith are to return The Orange Tree to owners Enterprise Inns. While the pub has been busier than it has been for many years, they duo have reluctantly concluded that their simply isn't enough trade to keep the pub on. With their track record of success at The Beech Inn, the fear has to be that if this team can't make the pub pay, where will Enterprise find a team who can? Hopefully they will put it on the market at a fair price and give somebody the chance to run it as a free house.

Media City's The Dockyard has been serving real ales and much more beside to the staff of BBC, ITV and the many other companies based at the Salford complex. They have now expanded with a second Dockyard bar in Manchester city centre opening just after Easter.

Taking over the former Café Rouge unit on Left Bank in Spinningfields (at the Manchester end of the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Irwell from Salford's Mark Addy)., the new outlet follows much the same design concept as the original - what might be called industrial chic - but on a more generous budget.

The Dockyard sum themselves up as 'A proper pub, serving proper food and proper ale' - the latter being served from 8 hand pumps on the L shaped bar. Four pumps dispense Thwaites Wainwright (now brewed by Marstons) and house beer Dockyard Ale (a rebadged Thwaites TBC). A separate bank of four pumps server the guest ales which on opening weekend were Seven Brothers excellent IPA, SIBA gold award winning Brewsmith Bitter, Tweed Hopster and Brightside Odin. Purely in the interests of journalistic research, we tried all four and can report that quality ranged from very good to excellent.

As well as the two Dockyards, Owner Steve Pilling owns the Red Lion in High Lane (south of Stockport) and two Damson Restaurants in Heaton Moor and Media City. Dockyard manager Joe Foster tells us that Steve has a passion for local produce and this extends to the ales on the bar so those four pumps will always see local micros featured. Joe had no hesitation in signing the pub up to CAMRA's LocAle scheme on the spot.

The food menu is moderate without being minimalist - classic burgers share with a selection of 'butties' ranging from ham & cheese through to a fish and mushy pea butty, complemented with a selection of ribs, wings, salads and a pie of the day. Sunday roasts are also served.

With its beer range, prices a lot lower than some of their Spinningfield neighbours and an extensive outside area on the banks of the Irwell, the Dockyard looks like a welcome addition to Manchester's pub scene. Find out more at dockyard.pub and on twitter at @DockyardSpin

Broadheath's The Navigation has re-opened after an extensive refurbishment.

No walls have been knocked down or built but it is all new furnishings and freshly painted walls for the pub which stands on the corner of Navigation Road & Manchester Road.  The new Landlady, Julie, took over the last September and has spent the last couple of months trying to obtain the clientele that she wished for.  Julie has 26 years experience in the trade.

Hale's The Moose bar has expanded their operations with a new bar in Chorlton. Imaginatively called The Moose, Chorlton, the bar opened on Beech Road in just in time for Easter and when T&H CAMRA called on Good Friday, was already proving popular. The bar is yet another addition to Chorlton's incredibly vibrant real ale scene with two handpumps on the bar.

The Moose, Hale was recently named runner up in Trafford & Hulme CAMRA's Best Newcomer Award in recognition of their commitment to bringing cask ale from independent breweries to an area where despite a vast number of bars and restaurants, real ale has only appeared at the Robinson's & Sam Smith's pubs in the town. Chorlton with it's multitude of local ales will bring a new challenge to the team.

At the Chorlton outlet's opening the cask ales were Brightside Brewery's Amarillo and a second 3.7% beer with a paper pumpclip named "Moose Ale". Although the pump clip didn't give any clues to the origin of it, the bars' beer menu indicates it as Moose Ale,  Blackburn - which would make it from Daniel Thwaites. The menu also listed a third beer from Porthmadog's Purple Moose Brewery - given that there were only two pumps, hopefully this indicates that a third is not far away.

Given that the company has its roots in Hale's The Little Deli Company, is no surprise that food comes in the form of a variety of cold platters, sandwiches and similar charcuterie based fare.

Morley Cheeks heads to Hale

In a coincidental reverse move, Dominic Clancy, owner of Chorlton's Morley Cheeks has opened a new bar-restaurant in Hale. The Stockyard opened on 27th February, replacing the former Amba bar on Ashley Road. Sadly, unlike it's Chorlton sibling there is no cask ale. Given that Morley Cheeks has given prominence to local beers with a house beer from Privateer and regularly featuring the likes of Seven Brothers and Beartown, it was disappointing to see Stockyard's menu advertising keg Boddingtons as "brewed at the famous Strangeways brewery in Manchester", when in reality that brewery closed 10 years ago and the current product is believed to come out of the Anheuser InBev factory in Samlesbury, Lancashire.

Trevor staying as he is

Across the road from The Moose, Chorlton - we understand that the proposed refurbishment of The Famous Trevor Arms has been put on hold for the foreseeable future.

Embrace is a new café bar cum nightclub on Stamford New Road (formerly the site of Uluru, Cushion & The Flamin' Galah). They opened back in November with the tag line "The House of Spirits" and a drinks menu dominated by cocktails & draught beers from London's Meantime Brewery.

However, in March, the range expanded to include locally produced beer with the addition of a single handpump on the bar. They are free of tie and can therefore source whatever beer they like but initial offerings have been from Bury's Brightside Brewery, including Manchester Skyline and Odin.

There is live music every weekend (Friday or Saturday) and a wide range of other events. Food mainly consist of cold platters, pies and wraps but as the warmer months come along, the bar plan to make use of their roof terrace to host evening barbecues. CAMRA salutes bars like Embrace which may not have beer as their focus but still appreciate that a good quality real ale is something that their customers will appreciate and offer their customers the choice.

Embrace have a website www.embracecafebar.co.uk , Facebook Page & Twitter feed

Meanwhile the Station Hotel, an on-off outlet for many years, has returned to the real ale fold. It has recently featured two beers which aren't that common round these parts - Theakston Old Peculiar and Theakston XB. Quality has been reported as good. We hope to catch up with the new tenants shortly to hear their plans for this oft overlooked pub which has an excellent location opposite the recently re-opened Altrincham Interchange.

Many fans of live music have long had to suffer mass produced national lagers if they wanted a beer while watching their favourite bands at venues like Manchester Arena & Apollo.

Now they can look forward to something more flavoursome to accompany the tunes with the news that Manchester University Students Union have teamed up with Bury's Brightside Brewery to launch their very own beer.

Academy IPA is midweight, modern IPA which is brewed from a blend of four fruity American hops. It is available on cask, keg and in bottle conditioned form and the really good news is that it is available now in all four of the Student Union's Academy music venues as well as the Students Union Bar on the ground floor of their Oxford Road building.

The Students Union Bar will be selling the cask conditioned version as a permanent real ale in the recently refurbished bar. The bar is open to the general public11 to midnight Sunday to Thursday & noon until 1am on Friday & Saturday.

Academy 2, Academy 3 & Club Academy (all of which share the Students Union building) will offer the bottle conditioned version. The main Academy One venue also has the beer in keg form - filtered but unpasteurised - as well as bottles. The launch of the beer coincides with the 25th anniversary of The Academy which opened it's doors with a concert by Manchester legends The Buzzcocks way back in October 1989.