At last, the boozers are open. Even better, we can finally sit inside them.
Hopefully, this means no more battling it out against the elements with our anoraks and brollies – although those scenes did make us very proud of our fellow Mancs’ commitment to their locals.
Still, if you’re planning a big one it can soon add up price-wise. Especially if you’re paying over a fiver per pint, which has pretty much become the norm for anywhere selling craft beer in the city centre.
Suffice to say, after a year of not really going out and just over a month back at it, we’ve all been feeling a bit skint.
But there is some great value beer out there for the drinking – if you know where to look.
We asked, and you delivered. If you know of any more, let us know @themanc and we’ll add them in here.
Sinclair’s Oyster Bar is well-known for its cheap pints / Image: Wikimedia Commons
Sinclair’s Oyster Bar, Shambles Square
The most suggested pub on the list by a mile, this black and white Samuel Smiths boozer off Shambles Square is one of Manchester’s most iconic. Famously moved after the 1996 IRA bomb to its current spot just a few yards down, it wins hands down on both value and aesthetic. Note to tourists, they don’t actually sell oysters here.
2 pints at £2.20. Dark mild and Alpine lager.
The Courtyard, Chester Street
The cost of Carling at this popular student bar has increased by a whopping 5 pence a pint since the start of the pandemic whilst other spots in town have put theirs up by several pounds. It’s also huge, with plenty of tables inside as well as in its namesake courtyard.
Carling, £2.60
Hare & Hounds, Shudehill
With completely intact interiors dating back to 1925, this pretty pub is considered to be of some historic national importance. Popular with Manchester’s mature drinkers and sports fans, it’s got regular entertainment on here and pre-covid was quite well known for its karaoke.
Two pints at £2.70, Holt Bitter and Mild.
The City Pub, Oldham Street
This grade II-listed one-room pub at the top end of the Northern Quarter is full of characters in the day but typically quieter in the evening. For a time you could find some good real ale here, but it left the CAMRA fold in 2018 due to falling sales and now is very much keg over cask.
Joseph Holt Smooth £2.00, Boddingtons £2.10 (on happy hour, prices increase by 50p after 6pm).
Abel Heywood,Northern Quarter
This bar and boutique hotel is named after a former mayor of Manchester, as is, coincidentally, the town hall clock ‘Great Abel’ which can often be heard chiming across the city centre. Close to the Arndale, it’s a good, quiet place to head for a cold one when you’ve had enough of shopping.
£3.45 Hydes Original Bitter.
Seven Oaks, Chinatown
Located just off Mosley Street, this classic pub is a favourite of city centre locals, bored shoppers and off-duty bartenders alike. It also runs a ‘husband creche’ on the weekend.
Seven Oaks ale, £2.50
Trof, Northern Quarter
One of the Northern Quarter originals, due to its slightly hidden location in the midst of many new bars and restaurants, Trof is shamefully easy to forget about nowadays. At £3.50 a pint for its house lager it’s definitely stretching the boundaries of ‘cheap’ but deserves a shoutout nonetheless – much like its brilliant roast dinners.
Trof Lager £3.50 (on happy hour 4pm – 8pm, Monday-Friday).
Brickhouse Social NWS, New Wakefield Street
This New York-themed diner and bar boasts a pool room, roof terrace and ‘day of the dead’ themed basement club. Find it just off Oxford Road.
BH Lager, £2.50
The Footage, Oxford Road
Formerly known as the Grosvenor Picture Palace, this student haunt still retains many of the charms from its cinematic heyday. At £3.45 for Carling, it’s pushing the boundaries of what we can really consider cheap, but their craft beers can be bought for £3 during happy hours with a choice of Punk IPA and 4-5 rotating guest beers.
£3 craft beers (on happy hour, Tuesdays and Thursdays).
The Friendship Inn, Fallowfield
Another great student drinking spot, The Friendship’s got a great sun trap beer garden with seating that goes all the way around the pub. Indoors, there’s plenty of big screens to catch the football on, too.
Holston Pilsner £2.10 (on happy hour, 12-6 Monday to Friday)
The Victoria, Withington
This cosy little Victorian boozer in Withington mixes students and locals quite happily, with a big screen for sports and a popular pool table inside. There’s a good weekly quiz here on Thursdays and live Motown nights on the first Saturday of the month, plus a nice little beer garden out back that catches the sun in the afternoon.
£2.50 Holston
The Red Lion, Withington
Another very decent Withington pub, this one’s set just off Wilmslow road heading towards The Christie. Spacious inside and out with some cute little nooks and crannies, it boasts a large terrace area overlooking the bowling green and some decent pub grub.
2 pints at £3.05. Manchester Pale Ale and and Dark.
The Blue Bell Inn in Levenshulme has some good beers at great value / Image: Geograph
The Blue Bell Inn, Levenshulme
A very smart Samuel Smith’s pub, The Blue Bell Inn was fully refurbished to a high standard around 2006. Spacious inside with a large garden to the rear, it’s at the heart of the community with a variety of groups using the pub to raise funds for local improvement projects. There’s even a knitting club.
2 pints at £2.20. Dark Mild and Alpine lager.
Featured image: Pixabay
Feature
You can sleep in a luxury train carriage at an old railway station in Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
There’s an Airbnb listing in Delph where you can stay in a classic converted train carriage, and it’s even situated in an old train station, so someone buy my ticket ASAP.
Get ready to have the best train experience of your life, as the only cancellation you have to worry about is booking the day off work.
The Carriage at The Old Station is a two-person character property in Delph, Saddleworth that offers you the chance to live out your vintage fantasy by stepping back in time on a luxury static train coach.
It may be situated at an old station, but the interior is refreshing and light with mint blue beams, fuchsia cushions and a royal red carpet and curtains.
As well as a majestic interior, this carriage has an equally impressive amount of amenities, including a Bluetooth sound system, board games and its own indoor fireplace.
This Airbnb is fairly new too, with only 44 reviews to its name – the first only dating back to September of last year; don’t say we don’t find you some absolute gems.
Inside the Airbnb that’s an old converted train carriage.The interior of this Airbnb listing is bold and impressive.
One user even stated, “We regularly stay in five-star locations and this surpassed five-star easily! We highly recommend a stay here.”
While another opened her review with three simple adjectives that we also feel perfectly sum up this train carriage property perfectly: “Opulent, indulgent, extravagant”.
It should come as no surprise that this place is beautiful inside and out, as in the description, host of the property Nigel states he’s a retired designer.
The train carriage stay is also close to a proper country pub, The Old Bell Inn, as well as the Diggle canal walk if you fancy a stroll and a pint before tucking into bed in your old train carriage for the night.
Even the bathroom has pops of colour throughout.You could stay in this train carriage at an old train station.
If you’re after boarding The Carriage at The Old Station and having a fabulous overnight stay or mini holiday of your own, you can find the Airbnb listing and everything you need to know HERE.
Review | Dua Lipa had Anfield levitating on her first night in Liverpool
Thomas Melia
British-Albanian performer and prolific pop star Dua Lipa is halfway through her first-ever international stadium tour, and it’s nothing shy of a spectacle – night one in Liverpool living, breathing, levitating proof.
To say I wasn’t singing more than half of this setlist verbatim would be a lie; the setlist for Lipa’s Radical Optimism tour is stacked with hits upon mega hits.
Her commanding single ‘Training Season’ kicks things off and besides getting the whole stadium hyped up, it sets the tone for the night ahead, one Dua has full control of, and also features a firework or two.
Within 15 minutes of stepping onto the stage, the unofficial anthem of Anfield’s resident football club and recently re-crowned Premier League champions, Liverpool FC, was played.
Dua Lipa performing ‘Physical’ at Anfield Stadium.Smiles all round at the ‘Radical Optimism’ tour in Liverpool.Credit: Audio North
In fact, ‘One Kiss’ was met with an unmatched electric energy that she ended up playing it again later on, because why the hell not?
This isn’t just a song: it’s a beast. When you’re playing a song that’s spent eight weeks at No.1, has 2.5 billion streams and at an arena with a legacy like Anfield‘s, there was simply no way these fans were going to be tame.
Similarly, partway through the second act, Lipa had the audience wrapped around her fingers once more as she played the dance-inducing smash ‘Levitating’. In that moment, we were all her “sugarboos.”
This was a proper crowd-pleasing moment. To be honest, they all were.
As we strut our stuff into the third act, we’re met with another dancefloor filler, ‘Physical’, fans were ready and waiting to chant “let’s get physical” with the superstar.
The fourth act, on the other hand, was much more relaxed. Ms. Lipa took some time to show her love to some of the album’s deeper cuts; I greatly appreciated being able to belt out “How looong?” as she played ‘Falling Forever.’
She finished this segment with the song that started it all, one she’s never forgotten to play since bursting onto the music scene back in 2015: ‘Be The One.’
Dua Lipa and Dave McCabe (The Zutons) performing ‘Valerie’.The superstar taking pictures with fans at Anfield.Liverpool is in for a treat if the second Dua Lipa show is even half as good as night one at Anfield.
Dua, let us tell you something, you’ll always be the one.
The encore felt like the epitome of all things Dua Lipa. It’s like when you hear that one ABBA megamix that has you shouting, “Oh, I know this one… and I know this one too!”
And rightly so, with a back-to-back, four-song medley spanning from ‘New Rules’ and ‘Dance the Night’, to ‘Don’t Start Now’ and ‘Houdini’. Perfect, perfect, perfect.
— DANIEL is calling..☎️💜 (@daniel__SG) June 24, 2025
After this medley, night one of the ‘Radical Optimism’ tour was over, but we and the fans were certainly left feeling radically optimistic.
Come on, how can you not be when the timeless classic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ by Whitney Houston is soundtracking your concert exit?
I have one last question for anyone who hasn’t splashed the cash for one of her shows yet… if you’re not watching Dua Lipa live, then ‘Whatcha Doing’?
Lipa had the crowd well and truly in her fingertips.Dua gave quite the performance in Merseyside.An increasing master of not just pop songs but stagecraft too. (Credit: Audio North)
Georgina Pellant -
4th June 2021 
