Legendary city centre boozer named one of the best beer gardens in the UK

No phones, cheap pints, and bags of sunshine – that’s the USP of Sinclair’s Oyster Bar, and now it’s earned itself the title of being one of the UK’s best beer gardens.

This legendary local pub has placed in an impressive eighth place on a new list of the nation’s top outdoor watering holes, beating beachside boozers and countryside pubs.

Sinclair’s Oyster Bar is the only Greater Manchester pub to make the new list published by Big 7 Travel.

They celebrated it for its ‘old-school pub characteristics’, which is a pretty fair summary of this local legend.

As well as a strict no-phones policy, encouraging its inhabitants to keep devices in their pockets and have a chin wag over a Taddy Lager instead, the pub is also serving pints at some of town’s most old-school prices.

This is one of the few places in town where you can still get a pint for less than a fiver, with its humble selection of beers and stouts priced from £3.50.

It’s also cash-only, and housed in a fascinating building that dates back to the 18th century – though it didn’t always stand in its current location on Exchange Square.

The pub has actually been rebuilt twice – once in the 1970s, being raised up by five feet to match new street levels during the construction of the Arndale Centre; then again in 1996 after the IRA bomb.

The 3000-pound bomb that changed the face of Manchester left the little pub with only minimal damage, but left it (and its neighbour, the Old Wellington) in need of a new home.

So these centuries-old buildings were popped up on stilts and moved 300m down the road, meticulously reassembled over 11 months like a giant LEGO set to form the new square beside Manchester Cathedral.

You can read more about Sinclair’s Oyster Bar’s fascinating history HERE.

As for the present day, the pub’s suntrap outside terrace is forever heaving on match days, when football fans from across the globe pack around its picnic tables.

Big 7 Travel wrote: “Known for its old-school pub characteristics, including being cash-only and a no-phones policy, this historic pub – whose origins date back to the early 18th-century – is well known for serving cheap and easy-drinking Sam Smith’s beer, making it the perfect spot to socialise with friends in the city.

“The beer garden is also a complete suntrap, so when the sun’s shining in Manchester, there are few better places to spend an afternoon than Sinclair’s.”

It has placed in the top 10 of the guide’s list of 30 beer gardens in the UK, which has also named a couple of spots in the Lake District and Peak District.

Read more

• The best beer gardens in Manchester for when the sun is shining
• The incredible history of Sinclair’s Oyster Bar in Manchester
• Lavish Gay Village restaurant MAYA has announced its closure after just two years

Featured image: The Manc Group