17/02/23 - Geocaching the Historic Pubs of Manchester - #2

Discovering the historic pubs of Manchester through Geocaching for a second time.

Round 1

How I love these.  

A geocaching pub crawl, where I can put my fate in the hands of someone else and let them choose where I am drinking. This is the second of three Manchester Adventure Lab Caches (ALC), demonstrating the oldest of Manchester's drinking establishments. An ALC is simply an online treasure hunt, where you have to visit a set of co-ordinates to answer a question.

The first two on this trip of five take moving house to a new level.

I was intrigued by the Shakespeare in Fountain Street, after reading a Manchester Evening News article. The building dates from 1656 and started life in Chester, before being moved to its current location in 1928. Like canal building, you would have loved to see the faces of the workers who were tasked with making this happen.

A former resident of Chester

I did see comments to the article saying what a dreadful pub it was. After a promising welcome, everything went wrong.

Warm Welcome by the Bard

The smell was off a thousand fried meals. The music was deafening. The beer bad enough for me to consider joining the temperance movement. Greene King customer care did reply to my Untappd associated tweet, but did they really care?  

Ropiest cask I've had for a long time. Spider senses were right to go for a half.

Massive hit of vinegar on the nose. Then the palette 🤣 - Drinking a Scrum Down by @greeneking @ The Shakespeare — https://t.co/AGX5Q6UX4N

— Mappiman (@Mappiman1) February 17, 2023

Move on to the The Old Wellington in Cathedral Gates. Built in 1552 and Manchester's only surviving Tudor building. Following the IRA bomb in the 90's it was moved - along with Sinclairs Oyster Bar - timber by timber 300 yards towards the Cathedral.

The Old Wellington, nestling behind Sinclair's

Manchester's oldest building

Its more of a challenge to find indoor seating than outdoor, where there is a massive patio - always thronged in the summer. The ground floor is tiny, but if you can brave the stairs and keep on moving past a first floor restaurant, you can drink in the rafters. Just mind your head on the beams.

Another poor pubby experience. Uninterested staff, stuffing a short measure of Tiny Rebel Cwtch into a London Pride glass and charging £6.30 for the privilege. He took the hint of my unimpressed eye and topped it up to a still not quite pint level.

But I'm here for the history, I tell myself. Here's a bit more.

And possible the answer to the ALC

I need a proper pub - and Hydes do what Nicholsons cannot, and provide.  I'm sure the Lower Turk's Head in Shudehill was always closed during previous visits. To be fair, with the exception of the the wonderful external tiling, it still has a slightly down-at-heel air. Hard to tell if the above window foliage are weeds or pot plants gone to seed. But trust me, it is gorgeous inside.

Dating from 1745

There's much to discover and its only reading now that I find out it has an upstairs bar, with an external terrace. Something to remember for the summer - Holts Bitter in the Manchester sunshine. I was too impressed with the tiny pew seats opposite the downstairs bar to go exploring. Upright, narrow and with a table, the size of which I have not seen since Edinburgh's Bow Bar. Sitting in the high back chair was akin to a ride at Alton Towers.  

A great place to watch the pub filling up with the Friday evening crowds.

Blurred, but you get the point.

Onwards, to possibly my 2nd Favourite Manchester drinkery. Temple Bar maintains top spot but The Castle in Oldham Street has just as good a juke box. Maybe you can actually control this one, but I needn't have asked for change. Someone had put on The The's Perfect Day on arrival and I couldn't have agreed more. I managed to get a bar seat, as I awaited the company of my daughter. Throw in Titanic Plum Porter in perfect condition, bar chat with strangers and I could not have been happier.

View from a bar

With my daughter arriving in 30 mins, I had time to reflect that when I first started to get to know Manchester in the late 90's, a taxi driver would not drop my brother and I off in Oldham Street. Two 6ft, 15 stone lads in their twenties. One military trained, the other an expert in dBaseIII/Clipper. He took one look at us and decided that we would be safer in the Walkabout.

Photos and Untappd checking take second place to conversation but I do have a final clue to get at the nearby Crown and Kettle. The place famous for it's crumbling ceiling and certainly a place I visited many times before - its the only current Good Beer entry on this particular adventure.

Great thing about Flickr, is you can link to other people's photos

A great range of beers but should I have been concerned that the bar man warned us that a pint of Elusive Brewing 4.7% Miles Per Hour would be prohibitively expensive?  At such a middling ABV, I had to question its apparent cost.

Its made with real oranges, was the reply.

I probably needed to move onto halves at the point anyway.