The Unicorn, Manchester

A nice pub on the surface; sub-divided into areas, a lovely full-height oak servery, oak panelling and jumbo length red leatherette banquettes (it’s CAMRA Inventory listed). Downsides quickly apparent though; indolent staff and a half-arsed atmosphere - overloud music and a plethora of screens nobody was watching. Two cask, Sharps Doom Bar and Bass which was fine but lacking vim (NBSS 2.5) and with a scribbled paper pump clip maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. Worth a visit for the interior but unless I hear of better times, I’ll leave this visit as a unique one.

The Unicorn is a lively boozer that was full of drunk people of all ages when I visited on a recent Friday evening. The central L-shaped bar counter serves banquette seating with tables to the right and front. Separate seating areas are found at the rear and in a long traditionally decorated room to the right. Televisions located throughout were showing muted Pointless, I’d be very surprised if this pub didn’t show the football when on. The background music was loud and controlled by the two young barmaids. Standard and premium keg were available and the TT Landlord was off so Sharp’s Doom Bar was the lone cask ale choice. I went for a pint of generic lager that was served short, but it was less than £4 so I didn’t complain. This place was a little too lively for me for the time of day and the service was very slow due to other distractions such as gassing with locals and changing the music. Then, I suppose this all adds to the atmosphere. I wouldn’t go out of my way to revisit.

An old school high street pub , some nice woodwork in the interior and a central bar serving the two sides of the pub. The beers were dull, Wainright and Bass with a standard keg selection. Not really my thing.

This is definitely a "proper pub" and seems to be thriving, which is good to see. A fairly big pub with different seating areas and a central bar. On one side of the bar I noticed two hand pulls, one was off for cleaning and the other offered Bass Premium. On the opposite side were three hand pulls, offering Hobgoblin Ruby, Black Sheep Holy Grail, and something else that escapes my memory. I tried the Bass, as people do like to go on about it and it is not something you see very often these days. I have to say I was not a massive fan and on top I think it was bordering on being served on the warm side. The Holy Grail my drinking buddies had was better, and that's not an outstanding beer by any stretch of the imagination. If you want tradition in all senses, this is a great pub, but for me it's not going to become a regular haunt with that kind of beer line up. However just to add in the interest of fairness, when I was last in here they did have an ale by Purple Moose on, which was the best of the otherwise uninspiring line-up at the time.