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The Manc -
26th April 2020
The Manc -
26th April 2020 News
A Greater Manchester Wetherspoons has been revealed as ‘one of the UK’s most beloved pubs’
Danny Jones
Whatever you make of them, Wetherspoons remains the biggest pub chain in the UK and millions of Brits drink in them every week; in fact, as it turns out, one of their Greater Manchester locations has just been revealed as ‘one of the most beloved pubs’ in the country.
The J D Wetherspoon name is one you’ll typically see at least once if not more in most towns and cities and given that they boast more than 800 across the UK and Ireland, their dominance of the UK drinking scene remains pretty steadfast.
Although many have railed against the massive franchise over the past few years, with thousands famously flocking to use the ‘Neverspoons’ app within just a week of its launch back in 2020, an estimated 20.5 million visit every six months.
The point being, ‘Where is the nearest Spoons?’ is a very common query online and punters still regularly search for them on Google Maps – quite literally, as it happens, as the latest data from the tech giants has revealed just how popular one particular Manchester location is. Drum roll, please…
Marking 20 years of Google Maps’, those behind the website and app pooled together their stats on the best-loved pubs nationwide and, yes, Manchester’s very own Moon Under The Water managed to make the top 20.
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The busy Deansgate boozer, famous for rowdy weekends and being one of if not the only Wetherspoons we know of that includes a built-in dancefloor (perhaps the only one full stop) is certainly a memorable watering hole – provided you don’t drink so much you struggle to recollect much of anything.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Wetherspoons, they actually take up half of the list with various venues up and down the country, including four of the top five.
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Other names that made the cut were Waxy O’Connor’s London, which once had a space in Manchester’s Printworks; England’s so-called oldest pub, the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham, as well as few other storied London public houses.
For context, this list was compiled strictly by using data directly from the search engine. The top spots are based on places that have the most reviews and a rating over 4.0 stars on Google Maps and those locations were then calculated by the number of reviews and average review rating taken into account.
Read more:
- Manchester’s Freight Island is expanding into the Newcastle
- The UK’s top 50 gastropubs have been named, and the North West has shone again
- A US comic is getting endless bad reviews online because his name is close to JD Wetherspoon
We’ll admit, of all the brilliant Manchester pubs and bars we know and love, we were quite expecting to see a simple Spoons beating them all out on the list.
Meanwhile, as part of the wider 20th-anniversary round-ups, Google also shared the likes of ‘best’/most-searched restaurants in the country, as well as some of the most popular Italian spots.
The only nod Greater Manchester received was among dining spots, with Turtle Bay’s Northern Quarter venue coming in at number 10.
So, what do you reckon then: are you a fan of Spoons and, more specifically, The Moon Under Water, or do you only support independent pubs and bars?
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Featured Images — The Manc Group
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New ‘cheaper’ annual bus and tram ticket launching in Greater Manchester next month
Emily Sergeant
A new annual bus and tram ticket allowing customers unlimited travel for less than £5 a day is launching next month.
Merely weeks after the historic move seeing all the region’s buses return to local control at the start of the year, and following the unveiling of ambitious plans to bring all rail services in Greater Manchester onto the Bee Network shortly after, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has now turned its attentions onto pricing.
In a bid to build on current annual offering of Bee Network bus tickets, TfGM has now announced that a new ticket annual ticket covering both bus and tram journeys will be launching just over a month’s time.
Launching 23 March, get unlimited bus and tram travel from £2.75 a day with a new multi-modal annual ticket. 🚌🚃
— Bee Network (@BeeNetwork) January 28, 2025
Spread payments monthly or annually – at no extra cost – with your local Credit Union.
Find out more: https://t.co/WXbvSb4KQ6 pic.twitter.com/1r2rAd2M9v
Customers who purchase the annual ticket when it launches are set to save 15%, when compared to buying 13 28-day tickets – with the overall price depending on the numbers of Metrolink zones chosen, ranging from one to all four zones.
You’ll also be able to spread the payments monthly or annually too, and at no extra cost, all with the support of a Credit Union loan.
According to TfGM, keeping fares low like this is “a key part of the Bee Network”, but it has only been made possible by Greater Manchester becoming the first area to bring buses back under local control in 40 years.
As well as the existing Bee Bus annual ticket, this new multi-modal annual ticket will also sit alongside the existing Metrolink annual travelcard, which provides unlimited travel for tram passengers through their chosen zones, as well as the new £2 ‘hopper’ fare that allows passengers to use multiple buses within one hour and the reduced seven and 28-day and annual tickets.
The new ticket will be available from 23 March, which is the same day as the launch of the highly-anticipated London-style transport system, allowing passengers to tap in and tap out on Bee Network buses and trams.
Read more:
- Andy Burnham urges Greater Manchester residents to ‘switch to the Bee Network’ in 2025
- All Greater Manchester buses are now under local control following ‘historic move’
- Plans to bring Greater Manchester’s rail services onto the Bee Network unveiled
The move will see a maximum daily cap of £9.50, and weekly cap of £41 for unlimited bus and tram travel anywhere in Greater Manchester – with off peak options costing even less.
Featured Image – Bee Network
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