Now, here’s a thinker: What’s the most peculiar pub you’ve ever seen, visited or heard about in Manchester?
Temple Bar – the former Victorian toilet that turned into a the drinking den of choice for the city’s creatives – is a candidate.
The diminutive Circus Tavern on Portland Street, which boasts about being “The smallest bar in Europe [with] the biggest welcome in the world” is another.
Behind Closed Doors (which has 90s p*rn screening on the teles inside) and The Washhouse (which masquerades as a laundrette right up until the point where you manage to gain access indoors) are two other contenders.
But if we go way, way back to the 1970s, there’s a clear winner.
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The North Westward Ho! was a boozer on board a ship at Pomona Docks – fitted with seven bars and a wardroom ready for private shows and functions.
The ship was originally moored down at Cornwall for years, but was purchased and moved north during the seventies before being given the green light for an alcohol licence.
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According to Pubs of Manchester, it got a 12-month makeover that fitted the boat with a “plush bar and restaurant, offering six bars, bass ale, late licence and disco.”
Even more extraordinary was the fact that an RAF jet was “parked next door to act as an overflow venue, complete with dancefloor.”
North Westward Ho! was representative of an era where experimenting with new, unconventional nightspots was proving increasingly common. Even the football league was doing it; assembling a specially-made disco train and hiring it out club supporters so they could bust shapes to loud music en route to the match.
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Pomona Island today – Ian Taylor / Geograph
Piccadilly Radio youth presenter, Rikki Wright, published a book back in 2017 that celebrated some of the city’s classic venues – and North Westward Ho! made the cut.
“The ship’s steps were tricky for women in heels or platforms to negotiate, and it wasn’t unknown for those having had a good night on the Cherry B to fall from top to bottom, and yet, the drunken body bounces, so most of the fallers seem to have walked away with nothing worse than a bruised bottom” Rikki writes.
“Bruises were sometimes also the result of sliding down the banisters, in moments of wild abandon, and for the taller clientele, the result of heads coming into contact with low beams. The gangplank was likewise not easy to navigate after one too many Babychams…”
David Dixon / Geograph
It’s hard enough to remember what a night out in Factory looks like right now, so the prospect of boogying aboard a ship is absolutely mind-boggling.
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The bobbing nightclub lasted several years before closing in the early eighties.
Pomona docks have since been filled out by the twinkling skyscrapers of Media City, whilst the island itself is undergoing development – with plans to create 2,500 homes across 26 acres.
Feature
Manor House Hotel & Spa – The magical garden spa near Manchester with TWO swim-up bars
Daisy Jackson
There’s an increasing number of garden spas popping up around the UK, where you can soak and relax out in the open air.
But a lot of them are missing the key ingredient – the gardens.
That’s what makes Manor House Hotel & Spa over in Cheshire so special. It feels like it’s been built as garden first, spa second, in the way that pools and hot tubs seem to have been slotted in between established trees and flower beds and shrubs.
It’s like stumbling onto the set of a romantic period drama, but with state-of-the-art spa facilities concealed into the grounds. I’m half expecting a sopping wet Colin Firth to emerge from a hot tub.
And although the square footage of the garden spa is relatively small, it’s this clever landscaping that makes it feel like a never-ending maze where every turn reveals a new place to lie down.
There are covered, swinging beds in a herb garden. A sauna concealed as a potting shed. Private bookable hot tubs behind a hedge.
And then the real whimsy – the secret garden. Opened just last year, this corner of the spa is home to a blisteringly turquoise heated pool, surrounded by charming sage green ‘sheds’ (which are actually a series of cosy indoor relaxation pods).
The Secret GardenOne of two cold plunge poolsThe relaxation sheds in the secret gardenA huge heated poolThe Secret Garden’s sauna
There’s a second swim-up bar here, because why stop at one, a cold plunge pool with spring flowers wrapped around it, a lawn for sunbathing if you’re lucky, and a traditional Finnish sauna overlooking it all.
It doesn’t stop there – weave along the footpaths and you’ll come across a sunken, circular hydrotherapy pool, a cosy summer house with noise-cancelling headphones you can plug in to, a gently heated panoramic laconium, hammocks, squishy sunbeds, swing seats, and so much more.
The adjective that keeps coming to mind is ‘pretty’, but that almost feels too flippant for how gorgeous the spa garden is.
And you might think with it being an outdoor garden spa that it would be a waste of time in bad weather – but you’re wrong.
Manor House has built subtle shelters which look more like garden pagodas over a lot of the facilities here, including part of the main pool and swim-up bar, and most of the double lounge beds.
The main pool and swim-up barThe Potting Shed saunaA classic cold plunge tubThe hydrotherapy pool
But even beyond that, your classic spa facilities like the saunas and salt steam chamber have been constructed in out-buildings, safe from the infamous North West weather, AND there’s a sizeable indoor pool, sauna and steam room back inside the main hotel building.
The metal cold plunge tub is exposed to the elements – but if you’re being brave enough to dunk in this, a little drizzle is the least of your worries.
They’ve got an enormous list of treatments on offer here, whether you want to be scrubbed and rubbed into a new person, or give your skin a real boost with a facial. Once you’re done with your treatment, Manor House has built a cosy relaxation lounge, where you can pull the curtains across your own private booth to sip a cup of herbal tea and unwind.
Private relaxation booths for post-treatmentMezze lunchDinner in the StablesBreakfast the next dayThe Salt ShedDrinks from The Bothy Bar, a swim-up bar in the secret gardenThe indoor poolThe Stables restaurantBedroomsCovered beds in the herb garden
Alongside all that relaxing, a typical spa package at Manor House may include an afternoon tea, a brunch, or a mezze platter lunch, with a glass of fizz served to you in the Pool House.
And if you go for the overnight, you’ll be sinking into a huge plush bed, full from a refined British gastropub dinner in the hotel’s cosy restaurant space, The Stables.
Manor House is currently running a full Spring Renewal Spa Escape, for the ultimate taste of everything that’s on offer while the gardens are in full bloom.
The Manor House Spring Renewal Spa Escape package
An overnight hotel stay
A 60-minute Collagen Renewal Ritual (a soothing, exfoliating back massage, followed by a luxurious collagen facial)
Full access to the spa, with 18 spa experiences, on both days of your stay
A delicious three-course dinner in the Stables restaurant
Five Greater Manchester-based music artists you should listen to | April 2026
Danny Jones
Ay up, you lot – we’re back with another box office batch of music from in and around Greater Manchester for you to get your teeth stuck into.
We’d like to think you know the deal by now, but if not, here’s a quick rundown for you…
Every month, we look back on the local bands and artists, either hailing from or now based in the area, that are spending regular time in our rotation.
It doesn’t matter if they’re still just young prospects or they’ve been at it for decades: if it’s good and it’s been in our ears, it goes on the list. Ready? Let’s go, then.
Five Manc bands and artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. Harry Lyon
First up is April’s cover star: the wonderfully talented Harry Lyon, who is another born and bred and now quietly plying his trade here in Greater Manchester and already showcasing a great level of versatility early in his career.
He moved to the city from Sheffield not too long ago, and his creative output has only ramped up since he got here. Toying with everything from alt-pop/indie to straight singer-songwriter stuff that wouldn’t sound out of place on the radio, his often R’n’B-esque vocals mean he can turn to multiple styles.
We actually lucky enough to bump into him in person earlier this month over in Stretford, and you’ll be glad to hear he’s also as sound a person as we hoped he’d be; he even teased a new single on the way, but for now, we’ll recommend ‘Violet’, ‘Backwards’ and the piano version of ‘While We’re Still Young’.
In fact, he does acoustic versions for most of his songs, and a fair few of them genuinely rival the originals in their own way.
From an up-and-comer to some Manc veterans that often get overlooked in the shadow of their even longer-standing and more well-known predecessors, but we’re going to go out on a limb and say something controversial here… We think we might prefer Black Grape to Happy Mondays.
Before you bite our heads off, let us explain: while the Mondays are obviously way more iconic and had a huge influence on the overall Madchester scene, we would argue that their progenic spin-off are almost a more honed evolution of at least some of what the Ryders and co. first created a buzz around.
Not only do the likes of ‘Kelly’s Heroes’, ‘Nine Lives’, ‘String Theory’ and more have so much more guitar in them (which will always score extra points for me), but more importantly, there is so much more successful experimentation with different instruments, cultural sounds and blends of energy.
It can be hard to know where to start, but those three examples aren’t bad options, and ‘In The Name of The Father’ is also such a vibe – we’re hoping we see it on the setlist for Outwards Fest next month.
BLACK GRAPE play Outwards Festival on Saturday 2nd May 😎
For fans of Sports Team, Spangled, Deadletter, and pretty much any current post-punk pioneers, these former students who originally hail from Cambridgeshire but have come up in and around the local rock scene have been making a splash for a little while, and now it feels like things are hitting a fever pitch.
Sometimes the idiosyncratic lyrics put you in mind of rising Oldham star, Seb Lowe; there’s even one intro that could be the start of a more upbeat and melody-forward King Krule, and you even get notes of Slaves/Soft Play at times. Whatever you hear, personally, you won’t find a bad song – we haven’t yet.
As the lyrics on ‘Are You The Best Yet?’ state, some of this stuff literally makes our knees go weak. We can’t remember the last time a band came around that has you eagerly awaiting the inevitable guitar break, let alone when you fully lock into one and pull a face (we’ve all got our own).
They’re so, SO good, and they help prolong some songs that, while brilliant, could feel more like fast-paced flashes in the pan without them. It all amounts to something extra and ups an already healthy dose of swagger: that’s definitely what you get on the recent ‘Cambridge Is On Fire’ and most of their tracks.
In at number four is another one to watch within the genre. Some industry figures have equated them to the likes of the Amyl and the Sniffers, Lambrini Girls, Viagra Boys, and so on, but we think there’s a much cooler sense of darkness going on with their approach – however familiar the repetitive guitar playing and aggressive, shouty vocals may be.
Luckily, their discography – not unlike that of their aforementioned punky peers – isn’t that extensive just yet, so you can easily work your way through all their releases soon enough, and they’ve also got a big gig at White Hotel coming up just after they drop their debut LP, Hodge Podge. Watch this space…
Our present picks would be ‘American Boy II’, ‘Marina’ for the foreboding sense of build and that central riff alone, and you simply have to listen to their latest single, ‘Creeping Offences’, which, understandably, is the best track in terms of production they’ve dropped yet.
We want to see them live before passing any decisive judgement, but we like what we’re seeing so far.
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5. A Certain Ratio
Now, we’ve touched on electronic-influenced alternative group in Black Grape, but what about another truly influential act from within that fluid space? Probably one of your bands/favourite DJ’s favourite artists, whether you know it or not, A Certain Ratio were tastemakers long before even they knew.
If the previous two are post-punk, then these lot are the funkier forerunners, known for their trademark muted strumming patterns, heavily distorted, codified and multi-layered mixes, ACR have been going nearly half a century now, and they were doing all this stuff long before virtually anyone else.
You’ll inevitably fall down a bit of a rabbit hole listening to their stuff, but ‘All Comes Down To This’ is a good starting point, and ‘1982’ has always made us think of what a Doctor Who-themed rave might sound like.
Oh, and purely because it still sticks with us as an eye-opening first listen, it really doesn’t get much better than this one:
And once again, that’s all she wrote.
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We hope you dive into at least some of these names over the long bank holiday weekend, as three uninterrupted days of listening couldn’t have timed any better.
The Manc -
24th September 2020 
