CityLife

The Briton's Protection

Britons Protection 1 / 2 images

Britons Protection
City centre
May 2011

Overall rating: 4/5

(pub review)

Britons Protection celebrates its double centenary on the June 10-11 weekend and if you’re looking for a loose excuse to pop by, here are more than 400.

The first 200 customers on each of those days can buy a pint for 10p; there will be a hog roast in the beer garden; cabaret upstairs and proceeds raised will go to Christie’s.

It’s been a tumultuous 200 years for the pub.  The Grade II-listed building, just behind the Bridgewater Hall, was initially used for recruitment during the Napoleonic wars (hence the name) and paintings on the walls also detail scenes from the Peterloo Massacre, which took place in the area.

Despite the colourful past it remains a grand hostelry, recently spruced up for its great day, with the outside cleaned and the innards re-upholstered.
 
Within the doors you hit the bar itself, the engine of the pub. Tiled walls give a wonderful sense of age and history, there is a vaulted detail to the bar, and a foot pole to provide comfort as you sup (is there any finer place to be than hanging from the bar of a British pub?). Behind the bar are two snugs, serviced via a window to the back of the counter.

Aside from the whiskies the pub features cask ales and some serious English pub grub, based around pies and veg. One pie, the Grunt, Gobble, Zoom & Coo, contains wild boar, turkey, hare and pigeon, all in a red wine and brandy sauce. It’s hard to even write a sentence like that without salivating.
 
History clings to the walls of the Britons Protection like faded smoke from pipes long extinguished. It is one of our city’s finest hostelries.

50 Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester M1 5LE (0161 236 5895, britonsprotection.co.uk).

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Reviewed by Alex Eyre on September 24, 2008...

THE licensed trade has had a tough time of late and conditions aren’t set to improve any time soon. First licensing reform took its toll, increasing competition.

Then the smoking ban came into force, turning die hard smokers off from their locals.

Tax hikes, the rising costs of fuel and increased price of booze shocked a reeling industry further – and to make things worse, the credit crunch is now well and truly putting the squeeze on customer spend.

Across Britain, licensees are calling it the perfect storm, and some ships are inevitably going down as conditions worsen.

An average 36 venues per week have closed since the beginning of the year, seeing the total number of licensed venues in the UK drop below 140,000 for the first time in two decades.

The majority of the casualties are old fashioned community boozers: the venues most at risk of shrinking spend and least able to move with the times.

But there are some old school boozers bucking the trend.

Victorian aesthetic

The Briton’s Protection, on Great Bridgewater Street near the Bridgewater Hall, is positively thriving.

Its appeal is pretty simple: a cosy, well looked after environment; a choice of cask ales (with two hand pumps dedicated to rotating guests); a selection of wines and champagnes; plus an epic selection of 250 whiskies and bourbons to please any connoisseur.

Coupled with its history, as one of Manchester’s oldest drinking holes, and the friendly service, it’s no surprise it’s often referred to as one of the region’s best pubs.

Don’t be put off by the closed exterior. Brave the wooden doors and find a friendly bolthole with a Victorian aesthetic and plenty of nooks and crannies to colonise whilst you read the paper or chat – without having to raise your voice against background music. There’s no jukebox in here.

Your fellow drinkers will typically be office workers or pre-Bridgewater Hall gig drinkers, plus a smattering of CAMRA types, propping up the bar or enjoying the open fire in the back room – which is where you’ll find CityLife on the encroaching winter nights.

DRINK OF THE WEEK...

Amongst the 250 whiskies and bourbons are – count 'em – eight different varieties of Jack Daniels Tennesse Whiskey: not just the standard Old No 7 then, but the bit-special Silver Select, Single Barrel and Gentleman Jack Rare, amongst others.

Premium whiskies (Scotch) and whiskeys (imported) are one of the few spirits categories enjoying growth at the moment and The Briton’s Protection is the place to understand what all the fuss is about.

50 Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester, M1 5LE, 0161 236 5895