The Rat & Pigeon, Manchester

Call in every now and then went in it was full of Germans playing city that night all good lads they must have been wondering about the out side of the place all the streets by it were covered in rubbish. Theres not a lot you could do to this place

Previously known as The Wellington (the change in name honouring a long serving landlady) this small back street one roomer is about as unreconstructed a pub as you could hope to find. On entering, it’s like going back decades in time. However, despite the newly upholstered benches, it all feels a bit too run down and battered for my taste. Even if freshly painted and re-varnished, the interior would still only qualify as plain and uninspiring. However, I’m sure for some its very ordinariness is part of the appeal. Decent beer quality and/or choice in a pub make me forgive an awful lot, but the Hydes Original, dispensed from a solitary hand pump was at best adequate. With that in mind, it’s hardly surprising that overall I pegged Mother Mac’s as a one pint, one-time visit: Glad to have tried it, but with no real desire to return.

Fortunately I had a native guide to help me find this pub, it would be easily missed being down a side street and not clearly visible from either end. A homely styled single L shaped room with the counter down one side and freshly upholstered benches with cast iron tables round the two outside walls. There are lots of old photos of various sizes and newspaper cuttings of a tragic fire that happened here a few years ago. By the door is a board detailing how the pub acquired its present name. Only a single handpump dispensing OK Hydes bitter otherwise the usual kegs etc.