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Castle Hotel, Manchester
Manchester
M4 1LE
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about Castle Hotel
Called in again last night and had a decent pint of Ossett Big Red. The toilets have now been done up which is a vast improvement. Many of the regulars who congregate around the bar are rather "up themselves" though.
05/05/2012
Much improved since my last visit, with all the rooms refurbished to an extent. There was a band on in the rear room, so all the rest of the punters were squeezed into the front room and the corridor. They now have guest ales on here as well as the woeful Robinsons thankfully. A couple of Titanic beers were guesting on our visit. My pint was in very good condition as well. It's on the up is this pub, but personally I still don't really like it. Up a couple of points for the improvements though.
03/05/2010
Called in for a pint last Friday. Whilst the outside tiling still looks great and the front room now looks much better, the rear room is still a work in progress and the toilets are still a disgusting, crap grafitti ridden mess. It was quite busy with the post work crowd when I called in and whilst it's much better than it was just before it closed it's still got a long way to go before it's back to where it was. I had a pint of the Hatters Mild it was OK, but not great.
On 24th January 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Spinko Spinko left this review about Castle Hotel
One of the best pubs in the Northern Quarter. Usually around 7 or 8 beers on and a belting jukebox, and friendly punters. A little beer terrace out back which gets the sun on approximately 11 hours of the year.
On 28th December 2012
- rating: 9
[User has posted 44 recommendations about 44 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Simon Ward left this review about Castle Hotel
I'm not sure if this is a recommendation at all. Er... clean on the outside (which is very good for Oldham Street), my pint was in reasonable nick and the lady that served me was lovely. Inside was busy, dirty and dark. Whoever runs this place must have very good contacts or exceptional marketing skills, this place appeals to a very weird crowd of people who talk and spend money in one way and dress and act like they are pretending to be working class Mancunians??? The venue takes itself far too seriously, I had my pint and left. The gents toilets were not immaculate, but city center pub toilets seldom are. Bring your own loo roll though.
On 3rd November 2012
- rating: 3
[User has posted 7 recommendations about 7 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
peter ashworth left this review about Castle Hotel
Cant add much to all the fine earlier reviews apart from that there are now 2 Craft beers on tap that have been added to the 9 cask and a cider already on.There is Budvar Dark Lager(4.7abv)at 4.50p a pint and Blue Moon Wheat beer(5.4abv)at 4.80 a pint,although i opted for the Trings Colleys Dog which was on top form.
The Gents toilets are now immaculate
On 19th October 2012
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2318 recommendations about 2274 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about Castle Hotel
In Manchester’s Northern Quarter, in a street full of trendy bars, eateries and nightclubs, is The Castle Hotel, still the only pub in the City Centre that is owned by the Stockport based Robinsons Brewery.
After a long period of closure, the pub has now reopened, having had a significant restoration and spruce up. It’s structurally unchanged, but, perhaps inevitably, some of the scruffy individuality and character that I remember from previous visits seems to have disappeared.
A fine small brown tiled frontage leads into a small front bar with a fine curved marble bar counter and attractive bar back. Note the Castle Hotel mosaic floor as you enter. On the door we see a prominent sign telling us that “no football colours are permitted under any circumstances”. With this in mind, it is perhaps not surprising that the football memorabilia on the wall indicating that the pub was once twinned with a pub in Czechoslovakia, which I remember from my earlier visit, has now gone. The walls have been painted in a rather dark gastro pub style colour, but it appears that, whilst there is now an extensive wine and craft beer menu, food is limited to snacks. The clientele appears to have changed somewhat, the hard drinking characters in the front bar replaced by studenty types. There’s also one of those horrible hissing coffee machines, which I doubt was there last time.
Behind this front bar is a Bar Parlour ( as indicated by the etched glass in the door ). This is a rather dark room with banquettes, copper topped tables and original bell pushes. Here there is also a piano. A longish corridor, the walls of which are decorated with music posters, leads to a lighter large back room – the former games room - with a high ceiling, wooden skylight and a small stage and it is clear that it is here that the advertised regular live music (seemingly most nights ) is performed. Those who remember the pub’s previous toilets with the seemingly permanent wet floor will be pleased with the newer more improved version.
On my recent early evening visit, the 10 handpumps in the front bar were serving 5 Robinsons/ Hartleys beers ( but no Old Tom ) together with 4 guests – Black Sheep Riggwelter, Brecon Brewery Genesis, Saltaire Triple Chocoholic and Elgoods Snake Slayer. One pump was serving Rosie’s cider. The pub is listed in the 2012 CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
This is now very much a rock music orientated pub – the loud juke box in the front bar makes this clear the moment you walk in. Disappointingly, there’s speakers in the Bar Parlour, so there’s no respite there. Despite the wider beer range that the pub now offers, I won’t be rushing back here next time I’m in Manchester.
On 3rd April 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Old Boots left this review about Castle Hotel
The clean up has brought out the detail of this pub's victorian/edwardian interior, nice tiled bar counter, a mosaic entrance, and a handsome barback all looking pretty good in the front bar. Eight pulls at work, one with old Rosie the others with a wide range of Robinsons including the Young and Old Toms and a Hartley s badged beer. There are a couple of T bars and a ceramic fount at one end of the counter. Décor is mainly advertising for forthcoming bands and a few PC generated notices about football colours and noise. Furnishing is traditional benches, stools and Britannia tables. Behind the servery is a cosy, dark,small sitting room and further down the corridor the room with the stage and a few tables and chairs, both still looking “lived in”. The gents has been upgraded with smart new tiling, no smell but a little graffiti on the hand dryer, at the end of the corridor is a tiny yard.
On 10th September 2011
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3275 recommendations about 2982 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Clive Thompson left this review about Castle Hotel
One of Manchester’s historic pubs and a Robinson’s house. It’s always been a bit scruffy and remains so even though I think they’ve had a bit of a refurb recently. I remembered it as having a plethora of knick knacks and tat behind the bar but most of that is gone now. Also gone is the macabre mosaic which allegedly included the ashes of a long time landlady. Back in her day you’d likely get thrown out for having the temerity to ask for a pint of Old Tom, it was halves only. Lost a bit of character but still one to visit.
On 28th March 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 697 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Castle Hotel
Looks nothing from the outside, and on first glance you might think the same inside (until you see the 9 handpumps serving the full range of the Robinson's ales from nearby Stockport). An increasingly rare example of an old fashioned city boozer, but any real ale drinker will find the five-minute walk from Piccadilly Gardens worthwhile.
On 6th October 2007
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]