It’s possibly unlikely you’ll be doing a pub crawl of central Salford, because, I mean, Manchester City Centre is Just There, and has plenty of bars and even brewtaps. But Salford isn’t very far away, and has the advantage of being both quieter and cheaper, with no real loss of quality. Having lived a literal stone’s throw away from Salford Central railway station, I feel like I’m in a decent position to talk about them in some detail.
The Egerton Arms
Let’s start at the Egerton Arms. Visible from the walkway underneath Salford Central railway station, it advertises itself with the tagline ‘City Centre Location, Salford Prices’. And I guess it definitely qualifies on both counts – pints of beer for around £3.50, and yet a mere stagger from Deansgate.
It’s not much to look at on the outside, and It’s quite bland inside, and vibes like a council estate pub. On one side of the bar is a snooker table, on the other is a small stage for a DJ. It vibes as very much a ‘locals’ pub, in the sense it’s often filled with old men who’ve clearly made it their local for many a year. The bar staff are casual and seem to know most of the people who go in. This is perhaps weird given its location near modern office buildings occupied by the Civil Service, a branch of Subway that’s only open during Office Hours, and a series of 21st Century (gentrified) residential tower blocks occupied by international students and affluent post-grads. And the occasional barefoot backpacker, but they’re rare.
I haven’t felt ‘awkward’ in there, but I certainly feel a tad out-of-place. It’s a throwback to when Salford was a solidly working-man’s city, almost like a last survivor in the face of gentrification. I’m not quite sure who or where the ‘locals’ it serves are, as these days there are surely nearer pubs to where they live. It’s hard to explain just how much ‘out of place’ this pub has become, and yet it’s still here in the face of development. And for that alone, it’s worth a visit.
Plus, it sells decent craft beer. Only a couple of taps, but nevertheless.
The King’s Arms
Visible from Salford Central railway station, and just the other side of Chapel Street (and the end of the A34, road geek fans) is the King’s Arms. It’s a large, Victorian-looking building that covers two floors and an outside beer garden. It’s the pub in Salford I’ve been to the most, mainly because it’s so close to where I lived and has a better beer selection than the Egerton Arms. And isn’t as ‘cliquey’.
Beer-wise, there’s always at least three real ales on tap, often four, including a house beer from a local brewery. It’s divided into several rooms; the main bar area which has a jukebox (usually playing 90s Madchester, but that might just be the clientele’s preference), an outside area divided into two parts, and upstairs there’s a small private room available for hire, and a larger performance room where there are regular theatre and entertainment events.
It has the feel of a decent traditional local pub, but more aesthetic and traditional than the average council estate pub; despite its location on a dead-end side street it has the vibe of the kind of pub that in the old days would have been the centre of a community.
The New Oxford
Just on the far side of the ring road, in a small pedestrianised square with an Italian restaurant, is The New Oxford. At the time of writing, this had been recently refurbished, which is just as well as the old layout, despite being really good for beer, was also really good for fruit flies.
It’s quite an eclectic mix of a pub, catering on the one hand for long-resident locals (and a very strong vibe towards supporters of Salford City football club), and on the other, beer aficionados. There’s always several real ales and craft beers on tap – double figures if you include both cask and keg – and a large selection of bottled beers; there’s a whole blackboard on the wall that lists them. Many of them are Belgian; this is *the* place in Salford (and arguably the whole of Manchester) to scratch your Belgian Beer itch. Indeed, of all the pubs in central Salford, this is the one with the largest selection of beer.
There’s outdoor seating on the square (weather permitting) but there’s enough space inside to cater for most people. There are televisions on the wall showing sportsball, but they’re silent and it’s the only pub I’ve been to in the whole of Greater Manchester that’s shown an AFL match.
The Black Lion
Pretty much in the centre of central Salford, The Black Lion stands at the junction of the main roads between the West, Manchester City Centre, Victoria railway station, and The North. It’s quite an imposing building on the corner of the crossroads, and there’s even seating outside, not that it’s exactly an aesthetic location.
It’s another of those pubs set in a Victorian-era building, but it’s definitely been refurbished several times since then. Inside it’s quite open-plan – the bar is set against one wall and there’s space to sit in what amount to ‘rooms’ at either end, but they’re barely separated from the central drinking area.
Like many places it shows sportsball on several screens scattered about the place, but it doesn’t feel intrusive and it’s certainly possible to ignore it. On my visit it was golf, which made it even easier to disregard.
The beer selection isn’t big but it does at least have a couple of real ales over and above the standard issue, so it shouldn’t be dismissed for the discerning drinker. It also does food; mainly burgers, and at reasonably good prices too, but on my visits I’ve not chosen to eat.
The Eagle
The main problem with The Eagle is finding it. It’s just off the Manchester Ring Road, down a not-well-attested street that, at the time of writing, felt like it was going deep into a building site – everywhere around it is covered in tarpaulin and blocked off with barriers. There’s pretty much nothing on the small side-street it stands on, and it just feels not just very difficult to get to, but also that it stands alone in an area that’s being largely redeveloped and therefore the only people to be able to go there are the people working on the nearby tower blocks.
This is a shame. It’s a Victorian-era building on a street that you just know in the old days of Salford would have been full of community and vibrance. There’s picnic benches outside that you can sit on and drink, which is really quiet because there’s virtually no passing traffic, but also not terribly ambient because the reason there’s no passing traffic is because of all the building work. That said, even without that it would still be a bit ‘out of the way’ in relation to the rest of Salford.
This is a shame. The pub is quite lovely. It’s one of those places with several small rooms rather than being open-plan around the bar, and each of the rooms has its own eclectic vibe, including one with a piano. The bar is accessed either from the front room or, more likely, the corridor linking the other rooms (this makes it a bit crowded at peak times, but that’s a common feature of older Manchester pubs).
The beer is decent, coming mainly from a local brewery, and it has a good array of bar snacks. There’s music piped through, but on my visits it’s always tended to be 90s Madchester rather than more bland radio-pop. Maybe my age is showing.
The Black Friar
Another pub that stands on a junction; this lies where the Ring Road meets the road north towards Bury, beyond the railway from the Black Lion. The area around it is called Blackfriars, harking back to the medieval days of monks.
The Black Friar itself seems to market itself more as a hotel and restaurant than a pub; in fact although it has quite a sizeable interior, the drinking area is a small part on the right near the bar. The rest of the ground floor is set out as a place to eat more than a place to drink. And from the bar area you can see the small reception desk that guides people to the accommodation above. I’ve only ever drank in here, so I can’t vouch for the food.
That’s not to say the Black Friar doesn’t function as a pub. They even have a house beer made especially for the site – a Pilsner from a local brewery, I mean, it’s not a great example of a Pilsner, but it’s important to note that it exists, especially during their regular ‘happy hours’ of a weekday evening.
Seven Bro7hers (Middlewood)
A bit further out from the centre, although only a short walk west of Salford Central railway station, is one branch of the Seven Bro7hers brewery chain. Another branch is the other side of the River Irwell, in Ancoats. It’s a weird location; by a small canal basin and in an area consisting mostly of small businesses in railway arches and an awful lot of gentrification redevelopment.
Of all the places listed in this blog, it’s the least ‘pub-like’, being a new-build open-plan bar, with very much that hipster-chic industrial minimalist vibe. It’s built like an L-shape, with the bar in the corner, tables on one side (and outside, on the cobblestones next to the canal), and tables but occasionally pub games like darts on the other.
Obviously being a brewpub there’s a wide selection of craft ales on offer, as well as fairly decent pub food (again, mainly burgers). It’s also always very popular; I’ve been past it on occasions where it’s looked absolutely rammed, which, given its location, is testament to how good people think it is. It’s also the sort of place where I feel old, even if otherwise I fit in rather well.
The Old Pint Pot
The furthest pub out from the centre of Salford, this stands on the banks of the Irwell River, on the edge of Peel Park. As such, it’s very popular in the rare good weather we have as people sit on the patio and look out at the trees and wilderness on the opposite bank. Just be careful of the overhanging trees dropping things onto you.
The first thing you notice is it’s quite a big pub. The upstairs is a venue used for live gigs from local bands, but even the downstairs is quite sizeable. Which is just as well as it’s a pretty popular pub.
It’s very much a standard gastropub; the food menu is as big as you’d find in the likes of a Harvester. The beer menu is not as interesting; aside from the standard pub fare there was only one cask pump on. That said, it’s the sort of pub you’d go to for a casual day with friends or family; it’s not a place to go to just drink beer anyway.