The Gaslamp, Manchester

A cellar bar, the white tiling makes it seem a little like a public toilet! But theres good beer on offer & friendly staff and its nicely different from other bars

Visited back in May, on a Saturday night. Two Pomona Island beers available on cask - Do-You-Think-He-Saurus (4.3% bitter) and Tattarrattat (4.3% hazy pale ale). The bitter was all you would expect from a bitter - malty, sweet, full bodied and safe. The Tattarrattat was disappointing - best described as a piney watered down cordial. People rave about Pomona Island but it is fair to say their best stuff was not being showcased on cask here at the time of my visit.

I always used to get confused between the Gas Lamp on one side of Bridge Street and Brink on the other side. Brink was my favourite of the two and they are/were both cellar bars. I say "were", as Brink has now closed down. The Gas Lamp had a bouncer on the door on our late Friday night visit. Two real ales were on - Torrside Candlewick & Pomona Island Hello Girault. Craft beers easily outnumber the cask - Pomona Island Blume, Clarky Cat, The Best of All Possible Worlds, Factotum & Dress Sexy At My Funeral, Liquid Light White Rabbit & Freak Out, Squawk Suli, Triple Point Bluesy & First Chop Pod. Both the cask beers and the various craft beers I tried were all in good condition. The interior is dominated by the white tiling, which gives it a fairly cold feel. There is a main bar area, with further seating another room at the rear, also tiled. Staff seemed a bit sullen, but our visit here was still a decent place to finish the night. I will upgrade my score to a 6/10, which may still be a bit conservative.

The Gas Lamp is a cellar bar with white tiled walls akin to that of an underground station or public toilet. The small rectangular bar area houses a serving counter on the right wall and tables that were half full of people chatting and listening to the background music during my recent Tuesday evening visit. The décor is minimal with a few old photos and beer signs on the walls. In the left rear is the ‘Back Parlour’ that is a thin strip with a beer shelf and stools, felt a bit like a urinal to me. Pomona Island’s Cruffatin was available on cask. Three hand pumps stood unused, although Twisted Wheel’s Come + go was also up on the board, so it had either just come off or was about to go on. Craft keg is also available. I found the service to be very friendly and the Cruffatin was very good, but the surroundings weren’t for me so I wouldn't go out of my way to return.

Re-visited on Saturday evening. Four hand pulls for cask ale but only one was available, another had the clip turned round and the other two were completely unclipped. A few keg options of interest to compensate. Still a good place and we'd obviously caught them after one of the cask ales had sold out.