The Briton's Protection, Manchester

A good Victorian style pub that his 'interesting' characters in. 5 handpumps dispensed different beers. Be aware of who/what you are talking to sometimes.

A decent enough looking pub and conveniently located for the Oxford Road station, it’s relatively unassuming exterior belies the treasures that lie within, for this is certainly something of a gem and a “must visit” for any pub aficionado when in the area especially as words cannot really do it justice. The main bar runs along the front of the pub with the servery being almost as long as the room. The ceiling has a red background with ornate gold paint picking out the patterns in the plasterwork whilst elsewhere the paintwork is predominantly red with some red/brown tiling. A few old black and white photographs of the local area were on the wall. A small snug area was down at the far end, although I did not investigate this. The side and back of the bar is glass and this looks out on to a dog legged corridor that runs to another snug at the rear. This in itself is quite something, with a number of friezes along the top of the walls, and full tiling elsewhere. A couple of small tables were located here for you to enjoy the artwork. The snug at the rear is much cosier with green banquet seating, green carpet and a real fire blazing away. Beers on tap were Cumberland, Unicorn, Merlin’s Gold, Bass and their own Briton’s Protection. Ciders were Strongbow and Thatcher’s Gold which was a bit of a result. In addition to this, there were dozens of whiskey bottled lined up on shelves at the back of the bar. All in all, well worth seeking out.