Vine Inn, Manchester

Traditional city pub on three levels, although the Malt & Cask cellar bar wasn't open when I called in. That leaves the street-level bar and slightly raised seating / dining area, but both have been given a rather dull semi-traditional refurbishment at some stage that don’t really appeal. Three cask beers on handpump: Landlord, Purity's Pure UBU and Oakham Citra (£5.60).

Not been in here for years, and the place was much improved on the ale front when they initially opened the 'Malt & Cask' cellar bar a few years ago. However, on visiting on a Saturday evening in May, the ale offering was a sad reflection of its previous glory. Five hand pulls atop the cellar bar, with two of those completely blank and another with a clip turned round. The remaining offer was Tim Taylor Landlord and Black Sheep Respire. A cursory glance upstairs revealed nothing further at the main bar. The Black Sheep Respire was fine, but I suspect it will probably be another few years before I venture back to the Vine Inn with that kind of ale line up. Beautiful green tiling externally, which fortunately can be admired without having to step inside!

The tiled exterior of this Manchester drinking house makes it look very inviting. I've lost count of the number of times I've visited Manchester with the hope of actually finding this pub open and finding it closed to end up in the City Arms nextdoor instead. However, we finally found it open last Friday evening. The interior is much more basic than the exterior would suggest and it's not a patch on the City Arms. Although we didn't explore any further than the ground floor bar (there is an upstairs and downstairs too). Just the 2 ales were on - Timothy Taylor Landlord & Oakham Citra. The Citra was in a decent condition.

Must admit to rarely entering this one - always time constrained in Manchester and the City Arms is hard to pass. Still, beautiful outside, as Quinno has described, and very ordinary inside. What wasn't ordinary was the Timothy Taylor Landlord - 2nd of the night and 5th pint in 5 different venues. Pint of the night - perfectly kept.

One of the ‘set of three’ next to each other on Kennedy St and certainly looks the most enticing – a lovely deep green Majolica tiled frontage catches the eye. Unfortunately the interior doesn't follow through, an early 90s refit I'm guessing. Enter to a small main bar; a downstairs cellar bar was closed but a few steps up to the right was a larger seating area, sodium-dimmed with a large TV showing not much to nobody. Some cigarette cards, a half-arsed collection of bottles on shelves and a decent looking darts area behind an alcove. Two cask at the bar, Purity Mad Goose and a pump tired Tim Taylor Landlord (NBSS 2). Staff were more interested in watching the snooker than greeting customers. Feels like there's a decent pub trying to get out but I dumped the remaining third of my half and decided to seek greener pastures.

The Vine Inn is a pub of levels, three in fact, unfortunately it doesn't reach the level of its more desirable next door neighbour The City Arms, however it's not so bad that its not worth a pint, just a little more basic in its offerings. Two handpumps sit on the bartop and on my visit it was the seemingly regular Timmy Taylors Landlord along with Purity Mad Goose, I had the former which I found not too bad unlike Quinno who wasn't so keen and was also in town the same evening and had arrived and departed about half an hour before me, maybe a change of barrel or possibly different taste buds. The pub has some basic character to it but for me the music, too loud for an almost empty pub and the wall mounted TV screens eroded any pleasure I may have derived from the place. Not in any way a disaster of a pub but nowhere near its neighbour, so to speak. 5.5/10.