CityLife

Pub of the week: Smithfield Hotel And Bar

A wide choice of beers includes Robinson's Old Tom

Smithfield Hotel And Bar
37 Swan Street, M4 5JZ
0161 839 4424

THERE are some pubs that deserve a second chance.

When the economic shutters come down on an area through no fault of its own, many of the pubs within it pay the price.

The top end of the Northern Quarter has not really recovered from the demise of Smithfield fruit and veg market 35 years ago and the gentrification of the NQ has been slow to creep up to it.

But the re-opening of the much-loved Band On The Wall last weekend will hopefully kick-start a resurgence on Swan Street.

Great beer

Proper music fans usually like proper beer and they are well served around here. Opposite is Bar Fringe, the Belgian-style pub that has a great choice of bottled continental beers as well as real ale, and further down is the Grade II-listed Crown And Kettle, which has a wonderful interior to match its fine range of cask.

But the Smithfield Hotel and Bar – a rather grand name for a traditional one-room Manchester boozer – takes the crown from the Kettle when it comes to the real ale pumps.

It may not do food, there is a pool table slap-bang in the entrance and there is a TV on the main wall the size of a seaside cinema – but it has great beer. For that reason alone I bet it becomes the place many a muso frequents for a loosener before heading to the BOTW at the end of the row.

The house beers are its own, specially brewed 3.5 per cent Smithfield bitter – a great, quaffable drink from Facers – and Robinson's Dark Mild.

World's Best Ale

Sandwiched between these at the bar are seven guest beers which included Golden Halo, a premium bitter brewed by newly-named Rossendale Brewery to celebrate 25 years of Opening Times, the magazine published by Greater Manchester branches of Camra.

There was also a lightly fruity beer, Cherry Bomb, from Shropshire's Wem Brewery, and Konig Ludwig Weissbier, a dark wheat beer from Austria.

The Smithfield is also one of the few outlets for one of the world's greatest beers – brewed just down the road. And that is no exaggeration because a couple of months ago Robinson's Old Tom was crowned as the World's Best Ale at the World Beer Awards.

A pint of it is just £2.95 at the Smithfield, despite its 8.5 per cent strength. Sounds to me as if there will be a few who will miss those concerts.

Saturday, October 3, 2009