Ring o' Bells, Manchester

Located opposite the church, this was one of my more interesting stops on a trip to the north of Manchester. It was another JW Lee's pub which regularly stocks their Bitter & MPA. However, there were also a couple of seasonal beers - Dray Rumble & The Boilerhouse Pre-Prohibition Porter. The bar was packed on my late Friday afternoon visit. With many people standing at the bar itself, I had to shout over the crowd to place an order with the barmaid. The Porter was very enjoyable indeed and was the first JW Lee's beer I can say I actually liked. I don't recall much about the pub itself, other than it being packed with people who had been to a funeral. The only seat I could spot was a stool in a corner where I got chatting to a local couple who were recounting various ghost stories involving the pub itself, the church opposite and their former house nearby. We also discussed the local pubs I had visited. So thank you to Hayden and his wife, whose name I have inevitably forgotten for an entertaining half hour in this pub! I left the pub keeping an eye out for any ghostly apparitions from the church opposite. But none were forthcoming. This was my favourite of the 8 JW Lee's pubs I tried, no doubt helped by the excellent Porter and the lively atmosphere and excellent conversation.

Found it open on this visit. It's up a bit of a hill and facing St. Stephens, hence the name. The main room is split into two by a partial wall and there's also a small pool room to the rear. It's all old beams almost throughout with loads of bric-a-brac attached to them. There's a large beer garden to the rear. Sadly there were schoolkids in uniform sat at the bar at 4:15 on a Friday afternoon. There was also a huge dog the size of a St. Bernard that was afraid of one of the little girls! It's a Lees pub with the Bitter and MPA available. The MPA was a decent pint and reasonable enough at £3. There's live music advertised on a Saturday once a month. A decent enough pub, but I'm not impressed by the schoolkids being in.