It’s that time again, the Six Nations is just around the corner and we can practically taste the pints already. That being said, we thought it only right to put together a list of where to enjoy those pints.
With the tournament kicking off on Saturday, 4 February, we don’t want you scrambling around to find places showing the Six Nations in Manchester; we just want you to sit back and enjoy the games.
So, without further ado, here is our list of the best places to watch the Six Nations in Manchester:
1. Guinness Fan Zone at Escape to Freight Island – Mayfield
Guinness and the Six Nations go hand in hand — I mean, their name’s literally on the trophy — so what better place to start than the official Guinness Fan Zone at Escape to Freight Island? It’s the biggest outside of London and it’s got plenty more on offer than just the games:
Next up, a tried and tested favourite of any punter who frequents sports bars in Manchester. Shooters Bar inside the Bierkeller at Printworks. Showing the Six Nations every year, this place always draws in a big crowd so best get your booking sorted early HERE.
You’d be forgiven for thinking a place called Calcio only shows football, but au contraire mon frère (one for those few France fans among you): this new hotspot just on the edge of Northern Quarter and not far from Piccadilly has all kinds of sports, tonnes of retro games, plenty of pints and some seriously whopping burgers. Give it a try.
As far as Irish bars go, you can’t go wrong with Mulligans. A go-to for sports fans and punters in general, not to mention Guinness’ second home in Manchester, this traditional Irish pub sandwiched just across the road from Spinningfields will be showing the games and promises live music every night. It’s always good craic in here.
No list of Manchester sports bars would be complete without Tib Street Tavern, one of the most popular in NQ or the city centre in general, for that matter. With booths for you and all your mates to pile into, massive screens filling the walls and solid grub, this place is packed out noon till night, so give ’em a ring to sort your seat whilst you still can.
6. Waldorf – Piccadilly
Now, if you’re looking for something right next to the station so you don’t have to walk far for your first pint or, equally, can make a quick exit if the result doesn’t go your way, the Waldorf is the one for you, Spanning aross multiple floors with the upstairs usually dedicated to rugby fans, you’ll catch many a face watching the sport in here most weekends. Again, it fills up quick so bag yourself a table while you can.
Another all-time classic Manchester sports bar, The Directors’ Box just off St Peter’s Square in the city centre has plenty of pints, an absolutely mint menu full of sharing platters perfect for watching the game with your mates, as well as a pool table to keep you occupied during the breaks. Book HERE.
Whether you’ll be cheering on Ireland or not, Kiely’s is prime location to watch the Six Nations. Yet another place for Guinness lovers and showing live sport all week-round before the rowdy live music kicks off in the evenings, we’ve spent many night in here and can heartily recommend it for the rugby.
9. BOX – Deansgate
One of the newest bars on this list, BOX on Deansgate brings a real sense of the American sports bar culture with shuffleboard, giant steins of booze, banging food and TV on every wall — including a big 360-jumbotron screen so nobody misses a second. Even with two large floors, this place packs out quick, so we would get booking your place now.
Last but not least, Mancunians have made memories in the one and only Walkabout. The massive pub, club and local nightlife institution has plenty food, pints and screens to cater to the hordes of punters. Better still, with its Australian roots, there’s a real love for rugby in here, whether you’re an England fan or otherwise. Book you place HERE.
So, if you’re still wondering where to watch the Six Nations in Manchester, that should be plenty of options for now. It’s one of the biggest competitions on the sporting calendar so we’re looking forward to similar festivities to the kind we saw for the World Cup.
It may be a fairly frosty February but we’ve never been the type to let the weather put us off going out and having a good time.
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The first match between Wales and Ireland starts at 2:15pm on Saturday, 4 February, with England facing off against Scotland at 4:45pm that same day. Who do you fancy for it this year?
The five-a-side app that’s helping people find pick-up football games in Manchester and all over the UK
The Manc
Having a kick about is one of life’s simple pleasures. Just grab a ball, your boots, some mates and you’re good to go, right? That is until the inevitable excuses pop up on WhatsApp with an hour to go and suddenly you’re scrambling for a ringer to keep your so-called ‘weekly’ five-a-side match alive.
Another night is followed by the usual “Sorry, maybe next week” message and you’re left wondering why getting a footy game going with few friends isn’t as easy as it was when you were younger. If only there was an app for that…
For those in the know, there is one name that’s actually helping make sorting a regular five-a-side night or even a quick pick-up game in and around Greater Manchester that little bit easier and more social than ever.
Footy Addicts, the football-based social networking platform, are on a mission to make the beautiful game easier and more inclusive across the region and the UK at large.
The app, founded by self-proclaimed footy addicts Konstantinos Gkortsilas, Danny Taeidy and Jonathan Suarez, aims to make quality football matches — be it a straight-forward five/seven-a-side game or a bigger affair — happen across Great Britain and, if they carry on how they’re going, the world.
When you sit and think about it, it’s one of these ideas where you wonder, ‘How hasn’t this been thought of before?’ From the first unofficial pick-up game back in 2010 to what has now grown to a community of over 210,000 users across 140 active locations, the proof is in the pudding.
Not only is the demand obviously there but it just goes to show how important opportunity and accessibility are when it comes to playing the game so many of us love.
Footy Addicts’ biggest goal is ensuring that wherever you are, you’ll only be a button away from a game — and the stats don’t lie. Now growing by a rate of more than 5,000 new users each month with players from over 200 different countries, it just goes to show how a simple kickabout can help enrich diverse communities a game at a time.
Whether you are a first-timer, Sunday league Messi or ‘could’ve gone pro if it wasn’t for my knee’, there’s a spot on the team sheet for all abilities.
Just to highlight some of the regulars in the Manchester scene, this could be your squad lining up alongside you next time you stick a bib on under the lights: lifelong Burnley supporter James is still going strong at 70 and nutmegging students. You can’t drag him away from the pitch.
Marc used to ply his trade in the Premier League but now gets his football fix in a more casual setting and Nadia is a semi-pro female footballer who’ll happily show up the best of them.
The importance of running around after a ball for an hour or so is far more than the scoreline; it’s like therapy for the mind and body. The escapism, confidence and community that blossoms when you step on a pitch is what keeps the world hooked on the beautiful game. And, that’s not to mention the obvious physical benefits.
Footy Addicts are also brilliant at spotlighting the sporting stories that mean so much to local communities — including here in Manchester.
Available to download from the Google Play and Apple App Store, or by simply using their website, it’s not quite as easy as clicking your fingers but it’s close enough.
It goes without saying that Footy Addicts organise games all over Manchester. Just whack in your postcode and see if there is a place and time that suits you. It’s also pay-as-you-play, with no monthly subscriptions or signing-on fees, just dust off your boots and head down.
Prices start at only £3.50 a game with the average price of around a fiver, which in this day and age is great value for footy.
See you on a pitch in Greater Manchester sometime soon.
There are literally tonnes of Footy Addicts games taking place around Greater Manchester every week.
André Onana’s emotional reaction at full-time turns fan frustration into sympathy after another Man United UCL collapse
Danny Jones
André Onana has had a rocky start to life at Manchester United and while supporters have been left swearing from the stands and at their TV screens several times already this season, his reaction at full-time following his latest howler has seen much of that frustration turn to sympathy.
The Cameroonian goalkeeper made yet another costly error on Wednesday night when his lack of concentration saw Man United’s 2-0 lead, thanks to two very fine finishes from Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes, somehow turn to 3-1 and eventually 3-3 — two of which were very preventable.
Onana was left unsighted by the wall and wrong-footed for the first goal which was whipped in from a Hakim Ziyech free-kick, but was left blushing even more when an almost identical delivery was fired at him in the second half, only to effectively push it into his own net and reduce the Red Devil’s two-goal cushion to one.
As commentator Darren Fletcher and pretty much everyone watching said at the time, “What on Earth is the Manchester United keeper doing there?!”. It really doesn’t make for great viewing…
"What on earth is the Man Utd goalkeeper doing there?!" 😳
André Onana will not want to watch that one back as Hakim Ziyech's set-piece pulls another one back for Galatasaray!#UCLpic.twitter.com/o0R7vzaCdO
Having now allowed the Turkish side to get back into the game in a similarly avoidable turnaround as in the reverse leg at Old Trafford, when the 27-year-old’s misplaced pass out from the back resulted in Casemiro getting sent off in a last-ditch tackle and United conceding a third after going down to 10 men.
Although mistakes like these could be forgiven in isolation, as one-offs or more widely spread out over a longer period of — many Reds had grown accustomed to watching their previous number one, David de Gea, making a gaffe or two in his time — for all of them to happen in the space of just a few months doesn’t help.
In the Champions League alone, Onana has seven individual unforced errors leading to goals (four more than any other player) and in a knockout competition against the best teams in Europe, you simply don’t have enough games to make up for mistakes like that.
That being said, as opposed to the usual reaction from supporters on social media that we have seen so far this season, a large proportion of fans and neutrals alike weren’t berating him but were instead expressing their sympathy — especially after seeing Onana‘s visibly upset reaction after full-time:
On the other hand, not everyone was so forgiving and to further sum up how things are going for the United keeper, both in terms of his bad luck and the pity plenty are now starting to feel for him, there were countless posts online dubbing him “the new [Harry] Maguire”, who had previously been a scapegoat and a target of abuse at both club and international level.
In contrast, while the England centre-backs’s performances have started to improve, a goalkeeper’s mistakes are always going to be even more highlighted as although defenders usually have the man between the sticks as a last stand, when it goes wrong it usually results in conceding a goal.
Danny Jones -
29th January 2023 
