The Marble Arch, Manchester

Must visit Manchester Pub on the outskirts of the City. Beautiful building and great beer (as you would expect). Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2InlthU

Long-feted by many and has long been on my to-do list. This is an attractive building which is a bit of a walk out from the city centre. The main point of visiting here is for the incredible wall-to-ceiling-to-floor brick-coloured tiled bar room. Of particular note are the styles of different drinks picked out on an upper tiled frieze. Oddly quiet on my evening visit and the place lacked a bit of atmosphere. Another reason of pilgrimage a few years back was for the Marble beers on offer (which were brewed on-site), before they broke out and became more readily available. Seven on – a number from Marble and well-sourced guests from Wild Beer and Tiny Rebel with prices marked on slates above the bar. These prices were very high with only one ale on below 4 quid a pint and ludicrously the Tiny Rebel Cwtch was £4.70 – you’d be hard-pressed to see a price this steep in London and made for a point of irony given that a Batham's Brewery wooden cask sits on top of the bar gantry. There was also a good selection of foreign bottled fayre (I didn’t look at those prices!). Anyway I ended-up with a Marble Choc (fair but lacked a bit of vim) and Wild Beer Millionaire (decent nick). Overall, it’s worth taking in for the interior but the high prices will put most off a session and I did rather get the feeling that it’s happy to target the moneyed yuppies nearby rather than cater to the more regular pub-goer’s wallet.