White Lion, Manchester

The first pub I could find for a swift one before my train, others nearby were rammed whilst this place was just busy. Still Landlord and Wainwright on cask but the former was at least a good pint. The pub itself is a single nondescript room. Another Manchester pub that has had any unique character removed, no need to return here.

The White Lion is an L-shaped old school boozer with a central L-shaped bar counter that supports premium keg alongside Beavertown’s Neck Oil and two hand pumps that were drawing TT Landlord and Thwaites Wainwright. There is some seating to the left of the entrance and high tables run up the right to some raised seating at the rear. Televisions are found throughout for watching live football and there was some late 20th century music playing in the background. The barman was friendly enough, but there was a fat odious boomer in attendance with his bint. I don’t normally knock points off for a random nobhead being in the pub during my fleeting visit, but the barman was crawling up his arse so he must be a regular. Shame as the pub has had a recent refit and isn’t that bad, but I’ll not be returning.

Visited mid week. Five hand pulls at the bar, two of which were unclipped and a further one had the pump clip (Tim Taylor Landlord) turned round. The remaining selection was Doom Bar and Greene King IPA. I went for the Doom Bar and it wasn't good. Doom Bar is never my go-to drink but my mate likes a good pint of it, and this was not a good pint of it! We were even wondering if it was actually Doom Bar. On the upside the place had a real fire (albeit not in operation) and it also does food. My mate went to the toilet (after a bit of guesswork as to which door was which) and reported back that they were covered in flies and were really rather unpleasant. I decided not to investigate for myself, and took his word for it. The pub was quiet on Tuesday evening, and it is easy to see why. It could do a lot better.

A nice traditional style pub. A lot of Manchester United stuff cluttering up the walls so a bit of redecoration wouldn't go amiss. People seem to be able to bring their own meals in. 5 handpumps dispensing 3 ales on this visit.

A good sized and traditional looking street corner pub, internally it consists of one large U-shape open plan room and this also has quite a traditional appearance. The central and front part of the “U” have something of a Manchester United theme, with numerous signed photographs on the walls, although there were a few black and white photos of the local area as well. The football theme even extended to the loos where initially I was unable to work out which was which, until looking closer at the photographs on each door I found that in one photograph the footballers were all carrying handbags. A tiled fire-place was at one end, although this was not in use and elsewhere the decor was wood panelling on the lower part of the walls with cream paintwork above. Departing from the football theme, the opposite end up the pub celebrated that other local attraction, Coronation Street, with signed photographs of the cast members covering the walls. Food wise the menu offered both a selection of pub grub dishes such as chilli con carne, gammon, liver & onions or bangers and mash mostly priced at around the £7 - £8 mark as well as a number of burgers, omelettes and jackets and in addition to this there was a Chinese menu that was available to eat in or take away. The specials board had something of a Caribbean theme with Jerk Chicken and the Curried Goat that I opted for. This was a generous portion and certainly tasted authentic rather than being something that was just bunged in the microwave. The inclusion of potato and cabbage was unusual in a curry, although perhaps no so in the Caribbean. All in all it was a pretty decent dish, with my only criticism being that a lack of sauce meant I ended up with just a pile of rice. Beers on tap were Timothy Taylor Landlord (now up to £4.25), Hooky and Breakspear Bitter. A fourth pump for Golden Pippin appeared to have run out. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately. All in all this is a solid enough boozer, although certainly nothing remarkable. The atmosphere was slightly let down by the fact that I was the only punter in there, and the radio station playing just a little too loudly, especially when it was adverts on.

Little changed from the previous review, except there now seems to be a focus on Jamaican food. I quite like the pub itself, with the memorabilia (although a little too much Coronation Street' and generally traditional ambience. However, all pales into insignificance at being charged £4.15 for a pint of Landlord! It was empty and it's hardly difficult to see why. Does anyone know of a more expensive pub in the North?