The Salutation Inn, Manchester

The Salutation is an L-shaped pub with a central L-shaped counter that has an attractive tiled floor surround. Seating runs across the front windows and there’s a laminate floored seating area with banquettes in the front right. More seating is found in the rear where an old fireplace also resides and a quick glance up reveals an ornate ceiling throughout the pub. The background music sounded like it was being played through a radio, which I found surprising in a pub in such good condition. This is student town, but the customers were all middle aged, in fact the only students in the pub were working behind the bar. A sign out front says that there’s a partnership with Bollington Brewery, so I wasn’t surprised to see their cask on five of the six hand pumps, two of which were off. Old Rosie took up the final spot and there are some taps on the brown tiled back bar for Premium and craft keg. I’d been on the lager previously so decided to plump for my first ever Stella Unfiltered, which tasted like Stella to me. The service was friendly and I though this was a decent pub, but location dictates that I’ll probably not be back.

This is a handsome traditional pub surrounded by modern buildings. It is owned by Bollington Brewery and five of their beers were on hand pumps at the time of my visit, plus a cider. My half of Bollington Best was in good condition, which is more than I can say for the gents' toilets which were rank, and unrelieved by any fresh air blowing through the remorselessly closed window. This is not one to return to in a hurry. Date of visit: 24th September 2022

Six hand pulls with three on, on a recent Saturday night visit. Cask beers are now exclusively from Bollington Brewing Co. There seemed to be some crafty keg stuff available too, with a chalk board behind the bar listing what was available. Really rather quiet at the time of my visit, which is a bit of a shame, though it meant for fast efficient service.