The Eagle Inn, Salford

Backstreet Holt's pub that has a cosy interior with 3 small rooms. The entrance corridor has access to the bar, with two rooms off it to the right and the public bar accessed through a door on the left. There were no other customers on our Friday afternoon visit, giving us the choice of rooms. In fact, the last time I visited in 2011, there weren't many more in. Holt's Bitter & Two Hoots are the regular ales. The "guest" beer was Bootleg Fool's Gold, whilst they also had Weston's Old Rosie cider.

Official site of The Eagle Inn - eagleinn.co.uk

Official site of The Eagle Inn - eagleinn.co.uk

Another undiscovered gem that I will thank the Good Beer Guide for bringing to my attention. I have been concentrating on the Manchester City Centre entries, forgetting how close Salford can be. This is 5mins from Victoria station. A multi roomed classic Holts. Plenty going on - with a DJ setup in the front bar and other rooms to explore - included a rear pation and plenty of overspill outdoor drinking at the front. Apparently, the cottage adjacent is part of the pub and hosts live music. A really lively, pleasant vibe on a Friday night. I'll definitely be coming back.

At this moment in time the Eagle Inn is basically in the middle of a building site as this entire area south of the A6042 ring road is being completely redeveloped. Access via Collier Street is blocked off by a contractors swipe through gate so I thought the pub must be closed, but thankfully access can be gained via Rolla Street. This traditional red bricked pub is going to look completely out of place when all of the hi-vis jackets have gone and the building work is finished. I think this pub may become more of a must visit just to have a look at the old and new. Thank goodness for the Grade II listed status which has no doubt saved this pub from being demolished. The entrance leads to a central wooden floor lobby with serving counter to the left that supports five hand pumps. During my visit on Wednesday afternoon one hand pump was unused and the others were drawing Holts Bitter and Two Hoots alongside Bootleg Brewing Company’s Fool’s Gold and Weston’s Old Rosie Cider. The fifth hand pump was unused. A door to the left of this serving counter leads to an L-shaped bar with banquette seating. To the right of the lobby there are two more rooms, again with banquette seating and tables. Strangely for a Holts pub, I didn’t see any televisions or live football advertisements. I think this place is more of a live music venue, there may be some sort of function room at the rear for music events. Nothing was going on during my visit, but there was some background music playing. I found the service to be very friendly and I left knowing that I would be visiting here again.

Visited on Saturday evening. Six hand pulls at the bar offering two by Holts, two by Bootleg, one blank pump and an old Rosie cider with the pump clip rotated. Two halves of the Bootleg Fools Gold set us back £4, which is expensive compared to other pubs we had been to in the area. Also served in plastic beakers, though apparently there was a live music event on so perhaps that was why. The pub itself is an old traditional looking place from the outside and that continues to the interior. A proper multi room pub, plenty of dark wood, and a piano in the back room - albeit padlocked shut, so presumably does not see much action! There is a small beer garden / smoking area to the rear that looked like it was heated. To the front there are several tables made of old cable drums, with little effort made to disguise their original use. The gents toilets are accessed through the back room, and at the time of our visit were suspiciously busy with a high turnover of customers going in and out. I assume they must have been from the room with the live music as the rest of the pub was pretty quiet. Nobody was particularly unfriendly but it was not the kind of place that made me feel at ease and I was glad to move on. Glad to have tried it and the traditional interior is worth a look, but once is probably enough.