‘Old school’ pub The Ancoats Lad to reopen its doors this summer
The traditional Manchester boozer is reopening on Oldham Street under a new name and new ownership, but pretty much everything else will stay as it was
Five months after owners bid it a heartbreaking farewell via a letter plastered to its shutters, tiny Oldham Street boozer The Ancoats Lad is being given a new lease of life.
At the time of its closure, landlord Phil Bell seemed firmly set against selling the micropub on or getting someone in to manage it, saying “to be truthful there was only one ‘Ancoats Lad’ and together we made it ours.”
Howver, after being introduced to local lads Joshua Stones and Perry Morrissey through a friend of a friend, it appears all he needed to find the right person to pass it on to. “Someone local, someone of the same ilk,” the pair tell us.
Joshua and Perry will reopen the pub under a new name in July, but are keen to stress that they “don’t want to lose Phil’s crowd” and have been working pretty hard to ensure that it will still cater to loyal regulars in much the same way it did before.
Long known as a place that ‘encouraged awkwardness’ with ‘old-school’ customers, the miniscule pub, sandwiched between Gullivers and Chakalaka, will reopen as The Mancunian next month – with a hyper-local offering to reflect its new moniker.
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Drinks will come from the likes of Salford Rum, Manchester Union Lager, Manchester Gin, Shindigger, Seven Brothers and more. “Pretty much everyone you could think of”, Perry and Josh tell us, adding they want to keeping everything as traditional and Manchester-based as possible.
They’ve even spoken with Phil on what they should stock, telling us: “[he] let us know which ones was the big sellers, a bit of what the Ancoats lad used to drink.”
Their attitude of preservation extends to the decor, too, which will only see small changes made – with new murals from local artists Quebek and Dave Draws, a fresh lick of paint and a few new pictures of the city to mix in with the old.
Those who’ve visited the pub before will likely know its former-landlord kept a lot of memorabilia on the walls from over the years.
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These will stay as they were, say Perry and Josh, who are working with local photographer Manc Wanderer (aka Nathan Whittaker) to add in more modern images to show “how the city’s changed now.”
Image: Google Business
Image: Google Business
Image: Google Business
Josh and Perry also tell us they have their eyes set on “where all the old pubs and lost pubs of Ancoats are”, adding: “this is our foot in the door to get back into town.”
It’s not their first foray into hospitality. Perry already has another pub The Treeehouse in Bury, which he opened just before the pandemic hit, and his family has a long history of owning nightclubs in the city centre – including the famous Ampersand and Paparrazi.
He also happens to be a cousin of Morrissey’s, who he says he is “trying to get down” to the pub for its reopening.
With a great appreciation for the dying breed of traditional boozers, the pair say that once they get The Mancunian up and running they hope to take back some more of these lost venues – stealing them away from the trendy cocktail bars that have run amock in this part of town for the past however-many years.
God speed, we say. There’s something to be said for a great traditional boozer, and, sadly, they’re becoming a less and less of a frequent sight nowadays – not just in the Northern Quarter, either, but across the country.
The Mancunian’s official reopening date is set for Saturday 16 July.
Feature image – Google
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Spike in antisemitic incidents reported after Manchester synagogue terror attack
Emily Sergeant
A new report has revealed that there was a rise in antisemitic incidents reported following the Manchester synagogue terror attack.
In case you need a reminder, the shocking knife and car attack took place on 2 October 2025 on Yom Kippur – the holiest day in the Jewish calendar – at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, and during the incident, two men sadly lost their lives during the attack – Adrian Daulby, 53, who was shot dead by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) while trying to stop the attacker from entering the synagogue, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, a worshipper who also helped stop the attacker.
The attacker was named as 35-year-old Jihad al Shamie – a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent who lived in Prestwich – who at the time was on bail for an alleged rape, before being shot dead by police.
In the wake of the attack, the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said 40 antisemitic incidents were reported on 2 October last year, and a further 40 were reported the day after – more than half of which involved direct reactions to the deadly attack.
These were the highest daily totals in 2025.
A spike in antisemitic incidents were reported after the Manchester synagogue terror attack / Credit: Google Maps | GMP
Three of the reported incidents on 2 and 3 October involved ‘face-to-face taunting and celebration of the attack to Jewish people’, according to the CST.
39 of the reported incidents were antisemitic social media posts referencing the attack, abusive responses to public condemnations of the attack from Jewish organisations and individuals, or antagonistic emails sent to Jewish people and institutions.
The Manchester synagogue attack was the first fatal antisemitic terror attack in the UK since the CST started recording incidents in 1984.
Overall, 3,700 anti-Jewish hate incidents were recorded in 2025 – which is said to be up 4% on the incidents recorded in the year before – and the CST revealed that this the second-highest annual total ever recorded.
There was also a spike in reported anti-Jewish hate incidents following the Bondi Beach killings in Sydney in December of last year too, the CST said.
Dave Rich, who is the director of police at CST, told Sky News in a statement: “We need a more robust approach to the kind of extremism that drives antisemitism.
“Jewish people in Britain used to be able to go about their lives without ever thinking about antisemitism, and now it’s the topic of conversation around every dinner table. That’s new.
“It feels for a lot of Jewish people like we’re in a different world now, the atmosphere is different, the climate has changed for Jewish people and the amount of antisemitism is part of that.”
Featured Image – GMP
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Trailer released for new romcom Finding Emily set and filmed all across Manchester
Emily Sergeant
The first trailer for a new romcom that’s set and filmed all across Manchester has been released.
The film, titled Finding Emily, tells the story of a lovesick musician, played by Spike Fearn, who meets his dream girl on a night out, but ends up with the wrong phone number, and so teams up with a driven psychology student, played by Angourie Rice, in a bid to find her.
Together, the unlikely duo spark a hilarious campus-wide frenzy that tests their own hearts and ambitions along the way.
The film – which is directed by Alicia MacDonald, and based on a screenplay written by Rachel Hirons – is produced by Working Title Films, is set in the fictional Manchester City University, and is due to be distributed by Focus Features and Universal Pictures across the UK and internationally this spring.
The talented ensemble cast groups together big names like Minnie Driver with rising stars like Ella Maisy Purvis, Yali Topal Margalith, and Kat Ronney, as well as other established actors including Timothy Innes and Nadia Parkes.
Filming took place in Manchester between August and September 2024.
The two and a half-minute trailer has been shared with the world today, and when we say it’s a Manc film, we mean it… we quite literally lost count of how many of our city’s famous locations can be spotted in just the trailer alone.
The trailer has been released for new romcom Finding Emily set and filmed in Manchester / Credit: Universal Pictures & Focus Features (via YouTube)
There’s everything from Manchester Central Library and Piccadilly Records, to Canal Street and the Gay Village, the Northern Quarter, the Crown & Kettle pub in Ancoats, and even the Emmeline Pankhurst statue in St Peter’s Square featured for all to see, alongside what’ll, presumably, be dozens of other famous locations.
Oh, and not to mention, if you keep your eyes peeled when watching the trailer, you can even see a small clip of Stockport band Blossoms playing a gig in there too.
Georgina Pellant -
29th June 2022 
