CityLife

Pub of the week: The Black Lion

The Black Lion

The Black Lion
Chapel Street, Salford
October 2009

THE Black Lion roaring back to rude health is not just good for Manchester’s pub scene. It is another link in an emerging cask crawl in the part of Salford which clashes heads with its big civic cousin.

The Mark Addy, on the Salford side of the river on Stanley Street, re-opened on Wednesday after a major refurbishment with quirky Manchester chef Robert Owen Brown in charge of the kitchen and four real ale handpumps on the bar. That and the Black Lion now completes a five-pub, real ale stagger along the A6, which also includes The Crescent, the New Oxford, and the Kings Arms on Bloom Street.

Indeed this corner boozer has been resuscitated by landlord Tim Flynn, who has done such a good job on The New Oxford, on Bexley Square, and has taken a long-term lease with Enterprise Inns on the 130-year-old pub.

Like the New Oxford, the Black Lion has a great selection of bottled continental beers and a few on draught, including Sagres and Leffe. It also has a fine and fast-changing roster of real ales from local microbreweries, including Leyden (Nangreaves, Bury) and Howard Town (Glossop). There was also Hopsack from Phoenix and Drunken Duck from George Wright Brewing Company.

Sunday roasts coming soon

You can’t really miss the pub. On the corner of Blackfriars Street, it has one of the biggest pub signs I’ve ever seen above the carved lion’s head on the front door – all the better for those looking out for it on that Chapel Street crawl. There is no chance of you not noticing the interior too. The bright mustard walls chime well with the original dark wood in the bar and tables.

Food is limited, with a lunchtime menu of posh burgers, hot sandwiches, chicken wings, soup and a vegetable filo parcel for the lettuce-eater in your life.

I tried the Aussie burger (£6.25), which had sliced beetroot and a fried egg on top. I have to admit, I didn’t know Aussies were into their beetroot but they would have appreciated the juicy and thick burger. We also had a flavoursome mushroom soup (£2.50). From 5pm to 8pm or 9pm depending on the day, the pub adds pork belly and roasted chicken breast to the roster. Sunday roasts are apparently coming soon, as is live music.

No doubt the Black Lion will be doing a roaring trade soon.

The Black Lion, 65 Chapel Street, Salford, M3 5BZ (0161 834 9009).