Fell Northern Quarter, Manchester

Official site of Fell Northern Quarter - fellbrewery.co.uk

Official site of Fell Northern Quarter - fellbrewery.co.uk

This place has changed hands again and is now called Fell Northern Quarter. It is owned by the Cumbrian brewery Fell, but was much quieter on our Sunday evening visit from when it was Beatnikz Republic. The layout and interior is very much the same and there is still a good selection of both cask and keg beers. In addition, the cider range has improved vastly with the barman going out of his way to point out the excellent bottled cider range from a menu on the bar. Cask selections were Fell Ghyl, Thornbridge Jaipur, Neptune Fjord & Abbeydale Black Forest Gateau Stout. A real cider fetched from the cellar was Ross-on-Wye 20 Golden Greats. The craft beer offering was Fell Tinderbox, Session IPA, Cumbrian Dry Stout, Oats & Strata, Pinegrove & Chocolate Stout, Blackjack All Angels & St Mars of the Desert Eerie. Draft ciders were Little Pomona Cool For Cats, Nightingale The Cat's Whiskers & Torn Plant Nikhedona - a fairly eclectic selection. Rather strangely, there was a guy sat next to the bar selling various hot sauces, for which he was offering samples. I declined for fear of it affecting my appreciation of the beers and ciders. As it happened, both my Black Forest Gateau Stout and my 20 Golden Greats were in excellent form. Despite being quiet for a Sunday evening, I felt that this place is an improvement on Beatnikz Republic. I'm sure I'll be back here again.

Formerly Beatnikz Republic NQ, the Pelican is now the Squawk Brewery tap, with an unchanged reversed L-shaped layout but some decorative changes. As you enter, you immediately see a row of 14 craft keg taps on the bar-back, with a large but curiously illegible display board above (which, on closer inspection, listed seven of their own beers, six from Neighbourhood and and one from Carnival). Also has three handpumps at one end of the counter and four more on the window side, offering their Oriolus (£3.90), Dawn Chorus from Neighbourhood and an Ascension cider.