A popular Greater Manchester’s pub has been highlighted as being home to one of the best beer gardens in England.
With ‘Step Two’ in the government’s roadmap to lifting England’s current national lockdown now well underway – which crucially allowed hospitality businesses to reopen for outdoor service for the first time in three months – and the sunshine showing up to go along with it, there’s no doubt that many of us will be heading to our favourite local beer gardens.
This is why renowned travel website Big 7 Travel has decided to rank its top 25 beer gardens in the country, ordering them based on editorial opinions and experiences.
And one Greater Manchester pub has earned itself a place in the coveted rankings.
Ramsbottom’s very-ownEagle + Childcame in at number 21 on the list, with praise going to its unique “edible beer garden” where it grows its own fruit and vegetables, and its incredible views over the historic market town centre and across to Peel Tower.
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Eagle + Child
Revealing what made the Bury-based beer garden so special, Big 7 Travel said: “Glen Duckett, the mastermind behind Ramsbottom’s Eagle + Child, had a different sort of vision for the one-acre of disused land when he acquired the pub back in 2011.
“The Edible Beer Garden.
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“Today, you can order your tipple of choice outdoors and sit surrounded by pots and planters of veg, fruit and herbs all used to cook up a delicious storm in the kitchen.
“There’s also the Messy Play’ for kids under 10 too, with willow weaving workshops, basic horticulture training and lots of games”.
Weekend plans at the ready, here's our pick of the best beer gardens in England 🏴 🍻https://t.co/ENQZ2i1gSk
Sadly though, despite restrictions now allowing the venue to reopen its commended beer garden, ongoing necessary maintenance work has lead Eagle + Child to make the decision not to open its doors to the public until 17th May.
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There’ll still be plenty of sun-filled days to make the most of it this summer though.
Elsewhere on the Big 7 Travel list, Eagle + Child is joined by fellow North West-based pubs The Pump House in Liverpool, and The Cartford Inn in Little Eccles, Lancashire in the top 25.
One of Manchester’s grandest restaurants has finally reopened TWO YEARS after fire
Daisy Jackson
One of the most historic restaurants in Manchester has reopened at last, two years after a fire forced its closure.
Mount Street Dining Room & Bar – which many of us may remember as Mr Cooper’s – stands within the Grade II-listed Midland Hotel.
The grand dining room dates all the way back to 1903, when it opened with the hotel as the Grill Room.
The restaurant was at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution and was frequented by railway travellers, perhaps best-known for hosting a lunch between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce in 1904, who went on to form the world-famous Rolls-Royce brand.
The Midland’s restaurants has gone through several changes in the decades since, undergoing a major £14 million refurb in 2020 to relaunch as Mount Street Dining Room & Bar.
Its interiors are inspired by the hotel’s early 1900s art deco and railway heritage, with a menu that focuses on locally-sourced British produce.
But the restaurant has been shut since early 2024, when a fire damaged the entrance and trellising around its main entrance on Mount Street.
The beautiful bar areaA glimpse of the menu at Mount StreetCocktails and British food
The Midland has finally managed to get the restaurant back open again this month, with a new food and cocktail menus, which aims to offer refined but simple British dining.
Expect dishes like pork and black pudding bonbons, white onion soup with crispy potatoes, smoked British salmon with lemon gel and dill mascarpone, and slow cooked beef daube with confit garlic mash.
Plus desserts such as rice pudding with Anise glazed pearsand Bakewell pudding with cherry syrup.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen inside this beautiful, storied dining room – and it looks just as beautiful as we remember.
Emily Sergeant -
15th April 2021 
