English Lounge, Manchester

The English Lounge has an L-shaped bar on the right-hand wall that faces standing room to the front and high tables to the left that run along thick pillars that separate the bar area from seating up the left wall. This area was being used by diners during a recent Friday afternoon visit. At the rear of the pub is a small armchair seating area. Muted televisions found throughout were showing a mix of Pointless and Flog It while loud background music played. Football is shown when on and regular live music is held here at weekends. Upstairs is an advertised ‘Secret English Garden’ that I didn’t visit. Standard and premium keg was available alongside a couple of Beavertown lagers. Sharp’s Doom Bar and Lilley’s Strawberry Cider were available on cask alongside Acorn Brewery’s Yorkshire Pride and Raspberry Porter. It was very busy during my visit so I didn’t get to have a proper nose around, but the service was very efficient and I managed to find a quiet spot at the end of the bar to enjoy my pint.

a kind of unbranded chain pub opposite the Arndale food market. Plenty of paint has been splashed around fairly recently, mostly grey, and it appears to be aiming squarely at the TV sports & pub grub dining markets. Two ales on, another coming soon and a cider on the pulls. Half of Lancaster Blonde was £2.20. Not likely to be your favourite pub in the world but I found it okay enough.

Nice pub which is open early on a Sunday. Doom Bar, Trooper and Dizzy Blonde on when I called in. The Blonde was a nice pint. Worth a visit.

It's probably been over five years since I was last in the English Lounge, so decided to call in yesterday evening. The pub itself is clean and modern and pleasant. On the long edge of the bar were six hand pulls, two of these were off with the remaining offering English Lounge IPA (by Caledonian, so probably Deuchars IPA rebadged), Robinsons Dizzy Blonde, Robinsons Trooper and Doom Bar. There was a further bank of four hand pulls near the door which had Dizzy Blonde, Trooper and Doom Bar duplicated, with one pump off. Not a terribly exciting line up and nothing really to head back for on the ale front. My half of the English Lounge IPA was £1.85. The pub was reasonably busy but not packed and soon started filling up with the after work crowd. The pub is fairly open yet with pillars and different seating types it gives the impression of separate areas. It's not a terrible pub, but the beer choice could be a lot better.