Great pubs all share a few key ingredients that make them a town or city’s favourite drinking den. A good selection of pints, an atmosphere that represents its community and maybe even a 300-year historical timeline of surviving world wars, terror attacks and a complete rebuild from the foundations up… Oh wait, that might just be the one pub.
Now, if you’re a fan of boozers with old-school traditional values and a complex history, Sinclair’s Oyster Bar is the time capsule of a watering hole for you. Tracing its roots back to 1720, this Grade II listed building was a Tudor institution, and it’s fair to say it has stood the test of time.
The half-timber structure has had its fair share of career changes over Manchester’s evolving generations. Nowadays we pop in for a pint, your great-grandfather might have got his cuffs altered and his great-grandfather would have picked up his pork chops for tea – straight off the pig.
Alongside The Old Wellington Inn next door, this area was known as ‘Shambles Square’, originally used as a middle-aged butcher shop where live animals were slaughtered and sold on the spot, pretty grim.
It later became a drapers shop selling fabrics for local tailors, but you’d do well to find a fitted suit in here these days and the closest you’d come is the Arndale over the road – which funnily enough is where the pair of pubs both used to stand.
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As an industrial hub, this part of Manchester was heavily targeted by German bombing in WWII, and in 1941 weathered over 450 tonnes of bombs over two days during the ‘Christmas Blitz’ creating one of the biggest mass blazes the country has seen since The Great Fire of London in 1666. 272 tonnes of bombs were dropped on the first night and 195 the following evening making Manchester the 11th most targeted area in Britain. But it would take more than the Luftwaffe to bring Sinclair’s Oyster Bar to the ground.
Sinclair’s Oyster Bar in Manchester has a fascinating 300-year-old history. Credit: The Manc GroupSinclair’s Oyster Bar is full of history. Credit: The Manc GroupSinclair’s stairs – which would have previously been in situ across town. Credit: The Manc Group
The area around it was eventually rebuilt in the 70s and is covered by modern buildings we see today, but the tale of survival added another storyline just before the turn of the century. In 1996, the buildings survived a 3000-pound IRA bomb that tore through nearby Corporation Street. With it formally being nestled amongst thick concrete buildings and its ‘built to last’ foundations, the historic little plot only succumbed to minimal damage.
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This close call resulted in Sinclair’s and the Old Wellington needing a new permanent home. It doesn’t sound like the easiest feat to move a group of 300-year-old buildings a stone’s throw across a bustling city centre but when it’s worth it – it is worth it.
The plan was proposed by civil engineer Martin Stockley and architect Ian Simpson to raise the buildings on 15-foot stilts, move them 300 meters and angle them 180 degrees to form the new square in the shadow of Manchester Cathedral.
To add a little bit of necessary complexity to the manoeuvre, the 18th-century structures had to be dismantled into over 10,000 separate parts before being photographed, labelled and meticulously reassembled over a painstaking 11-month period. It sounds like a really tedious LEGO set but for industry professionals, just imagine the feeling of putting that last piece in.
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These days Sinclair’s Oyster Bar is a ‘Digital Detox’ pub where phones aren’t allowed. Credit: The Manc GroupSinclair’s Oyster Bar still does a VERY cheap pint for Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Sinclair’s and The Old Wellington have slotted in nicely in the modern day with their distinctive architecture cutting through the monotony of the glass and sandstone surroundings.
Now, the architecture is all well and good but setting foot inside these days we’re here for the pints. This Sam Smiths pub serves up a humble selection of beers and stouts at the best prices. You won’t find a Stella Artois, a Madri or some Jungle Juice Pale IPA in here, just traditional British-brewed lager.
It boasts one of the cheapest beers in town at around £3.50 with one of the best beer gardens about – which is frequented by football fans, first-time visitors and locals alike.
The boozers uphold the values of old with its proud ‘digital detox’ slogan encouraging its inhabitants to keep their phones in their pockets and have a chin wag over a Taddy Lager and a pack of dry roasted nuts.
We’ve found some of the best Chinese food in town – being served out of a snooker hall
Danny Jones
Yes, you heard us right: we’ve stumbled across one of our favourite new places for Chinese food just on the outskirts of Manchester city centre – it just so happens to be served out of a best-in-class snooker hall.
And that really is just the tip of the iceberg here.
Some of you may have heard about and/or seen it already, but we’ll admit we were a little late to the party when it comes to Club 200, a.k.a. the pool, snooker, darts, mahjong club and more, which has so many different things rolled into that it’s really more a Russian doll than a Chinese restaurant or sports venue.
The hook speaks for itself: a place where people spend just as much time practising with chopsticks as they do their cues, as it really isn’t a gimmick, as some pessimistic folk would have you think – the food is banging and so are the vibes in general.
Not only is this quite literally the best snooker club in Manchester – complete with everything from classic American billiards and Chinese 8-ball to king-size snooker tables that the Ronnie O’Sullivan has played and won on, to a special AI system you won’t find anywhere else – it is SO much more than that.
Whilst the backroom was packed with everyone from casuals to those looking to get their pro certification via the official Q Tour, and lads in the front were practising their arrows, as co-owner Simon admitted they get almost just as many darts regulars these days, a storm was cooking up in the kitchen.
It would be unfair to say this place doubles as a bar and restaurant, because we really couldn’t get over how well put together this menu was.
‘Café 200’s food offerings involve classics like fried rice and chow mein dishes, to the kind of sides you could expect from your local Chinese chippy, but it’s even more authentic exports that really impress.
For instance, the beef ho fun seemed to be a big hit with everyone; we loved the salty seafood udon as well (a great chew on those noodles), and we know plenty of people still searching for proper Hong Kong-style French toast – they might just find it here.
Speaking of the special administrative region, which has a twisting and turning but nevertheless rich culinary culture all of its own, that last dish had us hopping with joy.
You’re looking at baked Portuguese rice: a Macau speciality rooted in the region’s colonial history.
We’ve never quite had anything like it before, even in all of our years eating this kind of cuisine around the 10 boroughs, but we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
And then there’s everything else they do, from karaoke and bingo nights to catering for birthdays and other functions, or even just serving as a cool, somewhat tucked-away spot to watch the footy and other live sport come the weekend.
You can tell this place has built up a real community over the last 18 months or so, and while the food speaks for itself, it’s the sheer abundance and variety going on that makes it especially charming to so many.
Speaking of jack-of-all-trade venues, we stumbled across a similar multi-talented one over in Salford not so long ago, too…
‘Manc the Biff’: the Co-op Live crowd made the Clyro boys welcome on debut
Danny Jones
It feels like we’ve been waiting a long time to welcome Biffy Clyro back to Manchester, and they really didn’t disappoint on their Co-op Live debut.
Here’s our review of what was a proper rock show.
After a strong lineup of support acts with The Armed and Soft Play (formerly Slaves) injecting plenty of early energy into the crowds, already knew two things: the Scots wouldn’t disappoint, and a Manc crowd NEVER lets you down.
We knew everyone was on top form from the moment the Kilmarnock icons stepped out on stage under a swathe of blankets to the opener from their latest album, Futique.
Once the curtain was eventually lifted during ‘A Little Love’, which has quickly become one of the most popular singles for some time, you could see the sea of fans below start bouncing.
Rolling into the likes of ‘Hunting Season’ and Only Revolutions classic, ‘The Captain’, those bounces quite quickly turned into a healthy-sized pit, and those up in the stands with us finally got on their feet.
That was maybe our only complaint: we love seeing a seated section pretending they’re in standing from their start, but we get it and each to their own, of course.
In fact, the same goes for the rest of the session players joining them on the road this year.
One thing we weren’t expecting was quite how cool the production levels were going to be. We’ve never been Biffy fans for their creativity when it comes to toying with stage design or lighting rigs, but they threw in some fun effects regardless.
Highlights from the night included ‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’, ‘Bubbles’, and ‘Black Chandelier’, though we were sad not to hear ‘Victory Over The Sun’, and it was especially gutting that one of our favourite tracks from the new record, ‘True Believer’, didn’t end up on the setlist.
Again, you can’t have anything – we’re just glad we got to be there and see a truly great British rock band proving that they are well and truly an arena-level band.
Lastly, even after all the years and an X-Factor cover trying its hardest to take the credit away from them, ‘Many of Horror’ is still an unbelievable rock ballad, and d’ya know who is an unbelievable rock band? “Biffy. F***ing. Clyroooooo.”
Harry Quick -
23rd August 2024 
