Peveril of the Peak, Manchester

I'd arranged to meet my cousin here, and after being told that he was doing Dry January I took the precaution of calling in to find out what options they had, but I needn't have bothered as he decided that a couple of pints never hurt anyone. He went for the Timothy Taylor Landlord, but it was looking like it might have reached the bottom of the barrel, pouring loads of froth, before suddenly perking up and getting close to the top of the glass. Meanwhile, our server was pouring my pint of local Millstone Tiger Rut, a 4% pale and forgot to top up the Landlord. I had to remind him after my card payment had gone through and we'd determined that the beer was ok to drink. Slightly sloppy service, and I formed the impression that the pub was overstaffed for a quiet Wednesday night just after new year, compared with some of the better pubs I know. We enjoyed being in the pub, which I have visited before but always when it was too busy to appreciate it, and the beers were fine, but the background music became a bit too overpowering for my ancient ears so we moved on after just one drink.

Absolutely shit service on my most recent visit - Saturday evening early March. Everything was just so slow. The barmaid took my order then proceeded to disappear putting glasses away. Beers were half poured then all the staff got together and took a shot, then she disappeared again to change the barrel but without any kind of warning; I only realised what was happening when someone else started pulling the beer through. No pleasantries whatsoever. Three of four ales on. My Titanic Plum Porter was excellent, the rest of the experience not so much. Very disappointing and would deter me from returning. The Pev is one of those "Manchester institutions" but if they carry on like this it's not going to be good for business.