Hulme’s party pub has been crowned the Community Pub of the Year by the Trafford & Hulme CAMRA branch.
The flagship venue of STEAM Hubs and Pubs C.I.C (Community Interest Company), it was specially designed to be a safe space for the community when purchased in 2018.
Four years on, this latest award proves more than ever just how well the team there is doing that job.
So much more than just a pub, the accolade is well deserved for this ‘community hub in a pub’, which regularly runs club nights and live music gigs, pub quizzes and community feasts at its historic site.
mage: Old Abbey Taphouse
mage: Old Abbey Taphouse
It also does a lot for its vulnerable neighbours. During the pandemic, owners Frankie and Rachele ran a successful Taphouse TV Dinners campaign that saw the pub deliver nearly 3,000 two-course dinners to people who were struggling in the local community.
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As well as being a site of importance to the local community today, it also has historic roots that stretch back hundreds of years.
The taphouse is the last remaining building of what was once the Greenhey’s Estate, and the pub’s beer garden is on the former Victorian Road.
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The team behind it also collects stories from the local community about the pub’s history, which it shares on its website.
In tribute to the spirit of the pub, which is committed to providing a safe space for all, local historian Geoff Brown revealed that its reputation for inclusion and solidarity stretches back decades – even if it took a bit of a rocky road to get there.
The Old Abbey Taphouse was one of the first in the area to remove its colour bar, following a campaign by anti-racist activisits boxer Len Johnson and scaffolder Wilf Charles in the late 1940s.
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Sharing a newspaper cutting from the time, he reveals the reality of that early push for equality in the words of those who fought hardest for it: “We campaigned then in the pubs for the freedom of people to be able to go in without discrimination and we had a big campaign against the Abbey pub in Park Street, Moss Side, who refused to serve coloured, Blacks and we forced a test case and got that lifted and that had a big effect.
“Len … ordered two pints and they said we don’t serve Black men… I insisted they would serve him or no-one else would get served. So they brought in the police and they asked us to go – we created a tremendous problem inside the pub. “Next day I went to see the Lord Mayor and the Bishop of Manchester and got statements that they deprecated this action and … we put on a mass picket of blacks and whites from the Communist Party and progressives – some 200 people – so the ban was lifted in a matter of two or three days.”
It’s great to see the beloved local boozer getting the recognition it deserves.
Feature image – The Old Abbey Taphouse
News
Teen sentenced after deliberately driving into a female police officer in Stockport
Emily Sergeant
A teen who deliberately drove into a female police officer at a retail park Stockport earlier this year has been sentenced.
Harvey Bell was at a retail park on Wilmslow Road in Cheadle back on 25 January 2025 when he seriously injured a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer during a shocking incident – which left the officer requiring hospital treatment.
At the time, the 19-year-old from Knutsford was present while police were investigating reports of class C drug use in a car park.
Police parked in front of an Audi and the officer signalled for Bell to remain stationary and turn the engine off, but instead he reversed, and as the officer approached the front windscreen, Bell drove at the officer, knocking her to the ground.
He then proceeded to drive over her legs with both sets of wheels, before heading out of the car park at speed.
#JAILED | A man who deliberately drove into a police officer in Stockport has been jailed.
Harvey Bell (12/08/2005) has been sentenced to 31 months in a Young Offenders Institute and was disqualified from driving for two years.
— Stockport Police (GMP) (@GMPStockport) June 4, 2025
Bell was subsequently arrested the following day and made no comment in his police interview, but then went on to plead guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, as well as possession of cannabis on 27 March 2025.
The teen appeared at Manchester Crown Court this week where he was sentenced to 31 months in a Young Offenders Institute, and was also disqualified from driving for two years – which will take effect when he is released.
“What [Bell] did to me is permanently in the back of my mind, every call I go to, I feel the apprehension, the fear that any incident, no matter how innocuous it appears, can end with being assaulted or hurt,” the officer explained in a powerful victim impact statement read in court.
“This is an unseen result of Bell’s assault on me.”
She continued: “I know that Bell’s abhorrent behaviour is an exception, and the majority of the public we serve do not wish us harm, but assaults on police need to stop. An attack on a police officer is an attack on us all.
“Bell is a danger to society and had total disregard for my life.”
Featured Image – GMP
News
IKEA announces decision to close popular Greater Manchester site
Emily Sergeant
It’s the end of the road for one of IKEA’s popular Greater Manchester sites.
The Swedish furniture giant has announced its decision to close its ‘Plan and Order Point’ over in Stockport in a couple of weeks time.
The store – which is located in Stockport town centre’s Merseyway Shopping Centre – launched to huge success back in March 2023, and at the time, was the second of this ‘test and trial’ format to open in the UK, becoming a smaller space dedicated to kitchen and home planning, as well as ordering items.
IKEA says the closure comes as a result of ‘valuable learnings’ which plan to take this conceptual format in a direction to ‘better suit the needs of UK customers’.
IKEA is closing its close popular Stockport site this month / Credit: Jon Super (via IKEA)
Since the opening of the Stockport Plan and Order Point, IKEA claims it has seen an increased demand for Click and Collect services, a desire by customers to shop a smaller selection of home furnishing accessories, as well as the ability to return goods to physical IKEA units, and this is all something which the current location is unable to offer.
Learning from this change in consumer habits, the company says its future Plan and Order Point openings – including in those in other northern cities like Hull and York – will offer these services.
IKEA says it also remains ‘committed’ to trialling new formats, such as its upcoming small stores, one of which will open in nearby Chester later this year.
Luckily for IKEA fans, the retailer has confirmed that its major Greater Manchester store in Ashton-under-Lyne, as well as the neighbouring store in Warrington, will remain open as normal, offering all the services available at Stockport and more.
The Swedish furniture says the closure comes as a result of ‘valuable learnings’ about customer needs / Credit: Jon Super (via IKEA)
In addition to the upcoming opening of a smaller store in Chester, IKEA has revealed that the North West continues to be an area of interest for future expansion.
“After careful evaluation, we’ve made the difficult decision to close the IKEA Plan and Order Point at Merseyway Shopping Centre,” explained Salma Azad, who is one of IKEA’s Area Managers.
“In the two years since opening, we’ve taken valuable learnings, including how our customers prefer to meet IKEA, and we’ll take these insights into future openings, to serve shoppers in a more impactful way.”
Thanks to last year’s Click and Collect expansion, Stockport residents can now pick up purchases from Tesco Extra Stockport and Tesco Extra Stretford, as well as the Manchester store and the upcoming small store in Chester.
Stockport Plan and Order Point’s final day of trading will be on 16 June.
Georgina Pellant -
1st September 2022 
