Piccadilly Tap, Manchester

Called in from the station on 11.8.22 before going to check in to travelodge and found a couple of new cask beers on to start the day. Saltaire DDH Citra and Roosters Easy-going assassin.

Called in after getting the train into Manchester Piccadilly on Friday afternoon. The place was pretty busy but on reaching the bar and examining the beer menu I found nothing on cask that jumped out at me so did an about turn and left. I really can't remember what the line-up was, and to be fair I'd had a few beers in Stockport by this point, so memories are a little hazy. I daresay I shall try it again at some point.

Woefully understaffed for a bar near the station, what staff there are, are not really up to the job. Five pulls of not a brilliant choice in spite of the presence of two Roosters beers, very poor beer quality on cask. The island bar has 18 keg choices which MAY be of better quality, I didn’t check. If this is owned by the same people as the York, Harrogate and Sheffield Taps then Jamie Hawksworth needs to sort this out PDQ. Modern wooden lined box with low and high tables down each side. More seating and pool table upstairs. Nasty would seem an appropriate description.

Handy for Piccadilly station either when arriving or waiting to depart Manchester.The frontage of the bar doesn't leap out at you being in the middle of a number of shopping experiences, indeed I initially walked straight past it. Inside it's a rather charmless open space with a long two sided counter to the rear. There was plenty of craft options in keg up on the wall board, with just 3 available on cask, I had a perfectly fine Shindigger West Coast Pale. The toilets are upstairs as is another seating area, however this was even more bland than the downstairs area. A functional and convenient place with some decent beer, but I couldn't warm to it.