Castle Hotel, Manchester

Very busy on Saturday night. Standing room only, and once the group that had been smoking outside came in, it was a bit packed. Robinsons cask ales plus two by Titanic - Plum Porter and Cherry Dark. Despite Plum Porter being a favourite, I'd not had the Cherry Dark for a while so decided to give that a go. No complaints. The Castle isn't somewhere somewhere that I can see ever becoming a favourite of mine, but it's definitely worth a re-visit every now and then.

A proper traditional feeling pub without feeling shabby. Not been for a few years so paid a visit last night. 10 hand pulls at the bar, half of those offering Robinsons beers, one was off, and the others were guests. The small bar area gets busy quickly but we managed to get a table in the room behind the bar. This has an old piano and a rather nice fireplace (though partially hidden by the table in front of it). It's a shame about the graffiti in the gents, in my opinion. I seem to remember it being like this when I last visited too. I'm not mad keen on Robinsons beers so the guests make this pub worth a visit in my opinion. My Beer Brothers Session IPA was fine.