Victoria Tap, Manchester

We really enjoyed this station tap and visited twice over our couple of days stay in Manchester. The interior is quite narrow, especially near the bar area. However our initial visit was late evening so seating and service at the bar was easy. The barmaid was friendly and chatty and the beer condition was all excellent. The brick walls were painted and I also noticed some red buttoned banquette seating at the far end. The opposite end was high tables and stools, plus an outside seating area. Six handpumps serving 2 x Adnams Southwold Bitter and Broadside, 2 x Bradfield Farmer's Blushed and Vanilla Stout, Torrside I'm Spartacus, Bank Top 1995, plus there was a choice of 19 keg taps. Prices in here were very reasonable.

A decent new station bar at the entrance to Victoria station. We were catching a train from here, but it makes a good destination pub in its own right. As the previous reviewer states, it's a fairly small and narrow space with limited indoor seating and some outdoor seating to supplement this. Although I'm not sure many were braving this on a winter Saturday. 4 cask ales were available and they appear to turn over regularly. On our visit, the 4 were Torrside I'm Spartacus, Blackjack Manchester Stout, Three Legs Huell Melon Bitter & Green Arches Sandstorm. Ciders were Snail's Bank Raspberry Ripple, Newton Court First Press & SiDa Maxonian Mist. In addition, there is a large choice of craft beers - Siren Lumina, North/Atlantic Pale Ale, JW Lee's Stout, Green Arches Blossom & Sunset, Verdant/Adnams Evening Gleams, Shindigger Mango Chained, Runaway Cherry & Plum Sour, Deya Steady Rolling Man & Kirkstall Flamango. Further ciders were Ross-on-Wye Birdbarker & Hogan's Mulled Cider. The full list can be found on a tall board behind the bar. Although with the constantly changing beers, I'm not sure how up-to-date it is kept. I found this to be a fairly cosy place that I could imagine having a good session in. You have to be lucky to grab a table and without one, the narrow space means that you would probably soon get fed up of standing in a thoroughfare.

New bar at the far end of the station, towards the trams and away from the platforms. A very narrow bar, that feels more packed than it is. People are encourage (have little choice) but to bar hang but access to the offerings is made easy by the giant beer board. I understand there is a beer garden out the back - presumably covered but I will check it out in future visits. Sister pub to the Piccadilly Tap and a similarly varied beer list. I went for a Schneider Helles, expertly place in the correct chalice. Word of warning: Closes bang on 11pm, which is annoying when my last train to the suburbs is 11:40pm. Can't quite understand why they would do this, but I assume the authorities have some hand in it. If you are caught out by this, you can get to the Sadlers Cat and back almost as quickly. Public service advice over.