Wander through Spinningfields along the banks of the River Irwell and you can’t fail to spot the derelict Mark Addy pub.
Abandoned for years, today the sunken eighties riverside wine bar is a shell of its former self – but it wasn’t always this way.
This boozer was once a popular pit stop for punters after a few drinks and a bit of ‘British tapas’, and owes its name to a famous Salfordian swimmer who saved more than 50 people from drowning on the spot where it still stands today.
For his valiant rescue efforts, Mark Addy – whose dad was a boatman – made history as the only civilian to be awarded an Albert Medal (Victoria Cross) from Queen Victoria.
Unfortunately, though, it appears taking his name wasn’t enough to save the pub from the same fate.
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Underwater on and off for years, owners here have come and gone – with the last known, Elle R Leisure, seeming to surrender the pub back to the river after hinting in 2017 that it could return ‘one day’ after a full refurbishment.
Six years on and it looks more derelict than ever. Although it hasn’t been officially confirmed there will never be any more development on the site, it feels unlikely.
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From the outside at least, it appears the Mark Addy never quite recovered from a serious episode of flooding in 2015 that left an estimated £200,000 worth of damage. Or another that left it entirely submerged in 2021.
Wrecked by a swollen river that burst its banks and seeped into the bar under its doors, in less than 12 hours the water level had risen from ankle height to entirely submerge the bar.
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Image: @MancSwanky
Image: Sean Hansford
Whilst the glistening New Bailey district has sprung up around it, the bar, its terrace, and everything inside has slowly surrendered itself back to the control of mother nature.
Its attractive domed glass entrance and huge bay windows, once a key attraction, were possibly part of its downfall as the river washed in through every available nook and cranny.
The water came quickly and reached everywhere – submerging the main bar, the cellar, the office, and a newly-fitted kitchen. The worst part, though, is then-owner Allen Caldwell wasn’t even insured for the damage.
Having taken over the pub a year prior with a few friends and paid for a full refurbishment, he had sunk some serious money into the business.
Still, its history of flooding meant he couldn’t get cover and ultimately the wreckage was so great that he surrendered the lease to Elle R Leisure Directors James and Sarah Ramsbottom.
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Given that James’ father Jim had originally opened the pub back in 1980, at the time the transition seemed like a cyclical one.
Jim, after all, was credited with turning the former boat passengers’ waiting room into a successful wine bar with a lauded cheese and pate counter reportedly the talk of the city. So who better to bring it back to life than his son?
However, six years on from the announcement nothing more has happened with the site. And now we’re not sure it ever will.
In its glory days, the pub was famed for its jukebox, its bistro-style terrace overlooking the river, cracking pints of Boddingtons and – for a short stint – the fine cooking of renowned Manchester chef Robert Owen Brown.
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An early champion of nose-to-tail dining, a revised menu under Brown’s stewardship celebrated heaps of game, off-cuts and offal, all in the style of traditional British pub grub. We’re talking stuffed pigs trotters, madiera tripe on toast and pigeon crowns.
However, despite receiving rave reviews from critics, Brown’s iteration of the Mark Addy was also short-lived.
Like the abandoned pub that takes his name, Mark Addy also ultimately fell victim to the power of the river.
Despite living and working by it for most of his life, and saving numerous people from disappearing into it, it was his heroics that finished him off.
Over the years, he had become famous for his gallant rescues – receiving a letter from the Prime Minister, an award from the Queen and the equivalent of £30,000 in todays money as a thank you from the people of Salford – but ultimately died age 52 after saving over 50 people from the river.
It was whilst watching the Manchester Whit Walks that a cry rose up that a young boy had fallen in. Diving in after him, Mark did rescue the lad but fell ill afterwards because of the toxicity of the river. Things had changed somewhat since his youth.
A born Mancunian and an adopted son of Salford, after his death a lifesize oil painting of Addy was commissioned and can still be seen hanging in Salford Art Gallery today.
It would be fantastic to see the pub that takes his name brought back to life once more but, for now, at least, both cities are still waiting.
Featured image – Eamonn & James Clarke
Food & Drink
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
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Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK
Danny Jones
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Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?