Albert's Schloss, Manchester

Albert’s Schloss is a huge open plan German themed bier palace and restaurant. The first noticeable thing after climbing the steps to the entrance is a large table with a firepit in the middle. Then the extremely long island bar towards the rear becomes apparent. To the right of the entrance is a stage area, a very good band started playing at 20:00 on the recent Thursday I visited. I actually popped in at around 17:00 when it was reasonably busy with a tourist and after work crowd and then I visited again later in the evening when a younger crowd had joined the tourists. I was attending a work party so had no choice! The bar is stocked with German beers, I stayed on the Paulener. The service was polite, but an extra server during my afternoon visit would have been useful. This place is a bit gimmicky, but I didn’t think it was that bad for a night out with a large group. I certainly wouldn’t go here on my own for a pint.

It's not a bad place, but it is bloody expensive. Real ale is available - there are two hand pulls at separate ends of the main bar, and a further hand pull on a separate bar towards what I assume is the more formal sit-down restaurant side. All three of the hand pulls were clipped for Northern Monk Eternal, which admittedly was very pleasant, though at £6 a pint the price is somewhat excessive. This isn't a rare or high strength beer - available in supermarkets and is 4.1% ABV - so there isn't really any justification for charging so much. There is a range of German beers on tap (probably even more expensive but at least you have the excuse of distance travelled) and the Tank Pils was also advertised that ROB Camra mentioned in his 2016 review. However, this place was massively busy on a Tuesday evening, it was standing room only. There was a live music act on, which may have helped draw the punters in. Not somewhere that is going to become a regular haunt of mine, but if I ever win the lottery and have a craving for German beers, perhaps I will be back.

Well described in the previous review , very busy on a Wednesday morning (11.30)with lots of strange beards and tattoos on display so you can guess who its aimed at .

A massive German style beer hall, full of long wooden bench tables with chairs to match. Thee's a few high stools and tables as well. The bar is huge and despite it being 4 o'clock on a Friday it was very busy, so why do you suppose they only had two barstaff working the whole place? There are 4 handpumps around the bar if you look closely, but only 1 was clipped with 7 Brothers Session and this didn't look like it was on. However real ale is not the main selling point of this bar, it's the tank Pils which is on sale at £5 per pint and tasted a little better than some lagers. There was a band setting up on the stage as I left. For me this is a soulless, money making machine. It appears to be working.

Official site of Albert's Schloss - albertsschloss.co.uk

Official site of Albert's Schloss - albertsschloss.co.uk