Historic Manchester pub The Briton’s Protection is facing a serious threat to its way of operating that could put everything its owners have worked for at risk.
Long considered a Manchester institution, the specialist whisky pub boasts more than 360 bottles of the beautiful amber nectar on its back bar and draws in customers from across the globe for its rare collection of Jack Daniels – the biggest of any pub in the city.
It’s also featured in the CAMRA good beer guide, thanks to the efforts of owners Alan Hudd and Mark West, who’ve worked hard to develop relationships with local brewers to offer punters a rich and varied cask offering.
Image: The Manc Group
In doing so, they’ve carved out a specialist niche for the pub. It was even nominated for an award due to the fact last week.
But now, all that teeters on a precipice as they enter into a battle with Heineken-owned landlord Star Pubs, who they say want to take back control of the pub and ‘strip away’ everything that makes it unique.
ADVERTISEMENT
Having struggled through Covid with minimal government support, it is the last thing they need right now.
Speaking to The Manc, owner Allan Hudd said: “I just think it’s a massive shame that Star pubs want to take this pub back after putting 10 years of my hard work into to make it what it is and offer a great whisky and local cask ale which is something they won’t be able to offer – our USP will be stripped away.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Image: The Manc Group
During the darkest moments of the pandemic, the pub’s owners feared The Briton’s Protection might never reopen. Now they’re facing the possibility of losing it all over again.
The pub is currently run as ‘market rent only’ (MRO) – meaning only rent is paid to landlord Star Pubs & Bars and alcohol can be sourced by owners from elsewhere.
In spite of this, the owners buy a number of products from Heineken as well as purchasing more unique items elsewhere – something they feel makes them model tenants for the MRO model.
However, it now seems that Heineken is not happy with the arrangement as they have refused to renew the lease – instead suggesting that owner Allan set up his own limited company and become a ‘self-employed manager’ under its Just Add Talent talent scheme.
But without the local cask ales and diverse whiskey section that pulls punters over to this out-of-the-way part of town, it’s very hard to see how the pub would be able to stay in the black – for Allan, or anyone else who was to take it on.
It’s also hard to see that anyone would want to go there without the special offerings that currently make it so unique.
It’s a devastating proposition and one that The Briton’s team is now gearing up to fight in court.
ADVERTISEMENT
Image: The Manc Group
The news that the landlord would not renew their lease came as a shock to owners, who had been told if they paid all outstanding rent and the next quarter upfront there would be no issues moving forward with a new contract.
On the basis of this agreement, £170,00 was paid – only for The Briton’s owners to be issued with an eviction notice a week later that stated Star Pubs wanted to take The Briton’s Protection back into its managed portfolio.
If Star Pubs was successful in returning the pub to its fold, this would remove the ability of any future management to buy from outside Heineken’s supported products – putting an end to the unique whiskey and craft ale offerings for which The Briton’s Protection has become known.
The closest ‘local’ ale that would be available, we’re told, comes from 60 miles away. As for the whiskey, if Star Pubs were to succeed the over 360 bottles in The Briton’s collection would be reduced to little more than 10. A sad state of affairs indeed.
“They’ll just go to The Pev”, says Allan, if they come in and find nothing more than the same two or three beers they can get anywhere else on tap.
ADVERTISEMENT
The pub is launching a public campaign to fight back this week, with the support of CAMRA, Labour MP Lucy Powell, Manchester Whisky Club and the Peterloo Society.
Image: The Manc Group
A spokesperson for CAMRA told The Manc: “We feel it is scandalous how Heineken / Star Pubs are treating one of its best tenants in what must be, the most famous pub in Greater Manchester.
“To do what they are wanting to do to Allan after has fought so hard to keep this pub going through thick and thin and a pandemic is truly criminal.
“Heineken just do not understand either the pub or its customers with its significant offerings in both real ale and whiskeys from such a landmark pub. They should be helping to preserve this pub and keep their word on previous agreements.
“They should also be raising significant objections to the proposed 20+ story block being proposed to be built next door and the ludicrous “in fill” on the other side of the BP. We all need to start preserving our historic pubs, Heineken are just so wrong and should be ashamed as to how they treat their tenants.”
ADVERTISEMENT
CAMRA’s Pub Protection officer Steve Ingham added: “CAMRA has […] pledged to support the business partners in their efforts to reach an equitable agreement and safeguard in any way we can the continued existence of the pub in its current form, the offer of traditional well kept beers and their wide range of whiskey’s for which they have an enviable reputation.
“Pub companies often forget that they are only custodians of their ‘assets’ for an ephemeral period and that past and future generations have and hopefully will continue to enjoy this special place which has its own heritage apart from even any special protection we afford them.
“Thankfully the BP is a Grade 11 listed building and that at least continues to protect the fabric of the building against unsympathetic treatment.
“CAMRA will rigorously monitor the unfolding planning application and the treatment of the tenants at the BP.”
A spokesperson for Star Pubs & Bars said: “Briton’s Protection is a beautiful, historic Manchester pub that appeals to both locals who love real ale and visitors looking to experience a traditional Mancunian Great British pub.
“We believe in its future and, now that the lease is coming to an end, we feel this is the ideal opportunity to review how the pub will be operated going forward to ensure its long-term sustainability.
“Briton’s Protection is the perfect fit for our Just Add Talent model, and we plan to build on the current offer whilst continuing to support the pub’s historic status and maintaining its focus on serving an interesting range of real ale and ciders.”
ADVERTISEMENT
A petition has been set up by the pub’s owners to try and save the pub. If you want to sign it you can do so here.
Feature image – The Manc Group
News
Peaky Blinders confirm title and release date of upcoming film
Danny Jones
After what feels like an age since it was first announced, Peaky Blinders and Netflix have finally confirmed the title and release date of the upcoming feature-length film.
It was revealed that the global streaming giant secured exclusive rights to the movie last year, and it has now been revealed that it will also be released in selected theatres before it hits the platform.
With production on the long-talked-about project getting underway in September 2024, we’ve heard little else from creator Steven Knight, who has also been booked to deliver the Oasis reunion documentary chronicling their Live ’25 world tour.
However, we now know not only the official title of the film, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, and that it will be dropping early next year. They’ve even shared the first poster.
Clearly referring to the series’ most famous lead character, Thomas Shelby – played by now fully-fledged Hollywood A-lister Cillian Murphy since 2013 – the teaser shows him sat astride a horse, not to mention covered in a fair amount of dirt and/or blood.
Alongside the suit and the trademark newsboy cap with blades inserted in the brim (the calling card of both the fictional and the real ‘Peaky Blinders’), it’s quite a classic look of Tommy’s.
Scheduled to release in limited cinemas on 6 March before arriving on Netflix on 20/3/2026, this will not only be the first film in the wider franchise but the first to air separately from the BBC.
While its parent network is still involved as collaborators on the flick, this is the first instalment in the IP to be distributed directly by Netflix after they bought the rights to release the show in the US.
Another look at a seemingly older Tommy Shelby (Credit: Publicity picture via Netflix)
As for The Immortal Man, both new and returning members of the cast include:
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer, 28 Days Later)
Rebecca Ferguson (Dune, Silo)
Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, The Hateful Eight)
Sophie Rundle (After the Flood, Gentleman Jack)
Ned Dennehy (Culprits, The Peripheral)
Packy Lee (Blue Lights)
Ian Peck (His Dark Materials, Robin Hood)
Jay Lycurgo (Steve, Half Bad: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself)
Barry Keoghan (Saltburn, The Banshees of Inisherin)
Stephen Graham (Adolescence, A Thousand Blows)
Speaking in a full press release, Murphy said: “It seems like Tommy Shelby wasn’t finished with me. It is very gratifying to be re-collaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders. This is one for the fans.”
Returning four years after the end of the mainline series, but catching up with Tommy at the outset of WWII in terms of the actual timelines, Netflix say that the Shelby patriarch “is driven back from a self-imposed exile to face his most destructive reckoning yet.”
Safe to say we cannot wait to be back in the world.
In the meantime, you can find out more about the next season(s) of Peaky Blinders coming to the BBC very soon down below.
Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live, Manchester – tickets, times, setlist and more for ‘intimate’ UK tour
Thomas Melia
The red-headed, guitar-strumming, lyrical genius, also known as Ed Sheeran, is back, and he’s heading to Co-op Live for one night only as part of his current UK tour.
‘Bad Habits’, ‘Shape of You’, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, Sheeran has built quite an impressive music catalogue over the years and amassed a whopping 60 billion streams while doing so.
The UK music heavyweight scored his ninth number one album with Play, all while adding two more top ten hits to his discography with ‘Azizam’ and ‘Sapphire’, driving his overall top ten singles total to 43 – that’s ‘Perfect’.
Last week, Sheeran dropped his latest musical addition, Play (Deluxe), which features 14 brand new tracks, and lucky fans who have tickets to these upcoming shows will be eager to see which ones he adds to his setlist.
Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live, Manchester – all the key info you need to know
Ed Sheeran is performing a run of ‘intimate’ shows in the UK (Credit: Press Shots via Petros Studio)
Now he’s bringing his huge hits to Manchester’s biggest indoor entertainment venue, Co-op Live, just across from the ‘Castle on the Hill’, Etihad Stadium, which Sheeran has performed at on eight occasions.
If you’re patiently trying not to get your hopes up, thinking about tickets for Sheeran’s latest gig while simultaneously saying ‘I Don’t Care’, think again.
All you ‘Beautiful People’ after tickets to go see Ed Sheeran when he plays out at Co-op Live on 7 December, you’re in luck as there’s a handful waiting to get snapped up HERE.
Ed Sheeran setlist
Prepare yourself, but with 43 top ten hits next to his name, it’s no surprise Sheeran’s setlist is quite a lengthy one; here’s what he performed at his Paris show earlier this month:
Give Me Love
Castle on the Hill
Shivers
Sapphire
The A Team
Don’t
Boat / Life Goes On
Galway Girl
Nancy Mulligan
Old Phone
Celestial
One / Photograph
Thinking Out Loud
Eastside / 2002 / Cold Water / Little Things / Love Yourself
I See Fire
River / Peru / Beautiful People / I Don’t Care
Camera
Slowly
Perfect
Symmetry
Bloodstream
You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
Shape of You
Azizam
Bad Habits
Afterglow
Merry Christmas
What are the stage times for Ed Sheeran in Manchester?
Co-op Live has a strict curfew of 11pm, meaning you can ‘2step’ to this chart-topping superstar’s tracks and get tucked up in bed before the early hours of the morning.
Anyone attending can expect the doors to open from 6pm, and not one but two very special guests as the support acts: contemporary Irish band, Biird, and folk duo, Nizlopi, who Ed Sheeran has been a big fan of for a long time now.
You can hear more about his connection with the group down below.
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre and until 1:00am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live. You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.
Getting there by car and parking
If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue, but this must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU, and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide come event day, though estimates will obviously vary:
Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes through the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Georgina Pellant -
24th March 2022 
