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Cambridge PuG Crawl, Friday 5th April 2024 with Gann on the Pub Forum

The Marble Arch, Manchester

73 Rochdale Road
Manchester
M4 4HY

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Rob Hunter left this review about The Marble Arch

Visited on Saturday evening. This place is always busy (no dry January being observed here, it would seem) and was standing room only initially, but a table did become free shortly after our arrival. Which is great, because there is nowhere really to stand in here without being in someone's way, whether it be other customers trying to get past to the bar or toilet, or staff coming out to bring meals to the tables. Six hand pulls offering their own (Marble) beers, with prices ranging from £3.30 to £5.75 a pint. Eight keg taps offering a range of beers varying from £3.95 a pint to £4.70 for 1/3 of a pint (admittedly that was for a 12% barley wine). My Marble Stout was served with a generous head, and needed to be topped up, which was done without fuss on asking. However, you shouldn't really have to ask. For the cider drinkers there are three further hand pulls to the side of the bar, along with some keg cider options.

This pub is one of Manchester's classic institutions but you do need to pay attention to the chalk board above the bar listing the prices if you don't want to end up ordering something surprisingly expensive. Always worth a visit but the experience is much improved if you can get a seat.

On 22nd January 2020 - rating: 8
[User has posted 750 recommendations about 598 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Danny O'Revey left this review about The Marble Arch

Lovely building happily survived the adjoining redevelopments and very traditional, even ornate inside. Well worth a visit and not too far from Victoria station. A bit pricey though but seems popular.

On 8th October 2019 - rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]


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Brainy Pool left this review about The Marble Arch

this is possibly the best beer pub in Manchester but it still somehow feels a touch overrated. it’s somewhere to visit as an occasional destination rather than a ‘pub’ to be a regular or spend a whole evening. I didn’t look at the price board - my fault admittedly- and got stung by a £5.25 pint of ale which immediately put me in a bad mood. the pub is nice inside but it had the atmosphere of a cafe and a young hipster clientele. I didn’t really like it that much but it may just be my taste.

On 6th January 2019 - rating: 6
[User has posted 1051 recommendations about 1016 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve of N21 left this review about The Marble Arch

This is an iconic Manchester pub and worth the walk up the Rochdale Road to search it out. It’s an impressive building from the outside but it’s even more impressive internally. Well described by others, even without the extensive beer offering its worth visiting just for the fine barrel-vaulted ceiling and decorative frieze, the glazed tiles wall and the sloping mosaic floor that leads you inexorably to the bar.
The room behind the bar, where the brewery used to be, is much plainer and more aligned to dining and then there’s a very pleasant small outside courtyard area at the back.
The Marble beers available were Pale, Bitter, Pint, Left Handed Marble, Uppe Helle Natten Petite and Export, with the guest beer, Neptune Bolska IPA as reported below. I went for the Pint (has to be done really) and also tried the Uppe Helle Nattenm, which was an excellent macchiato porter.
As mentioned below this is not a cheap pub by Manchester standards and the pricing levels were a bit strange. But £3.90 for the 5.1% Porter was well worth it.

On 23rd October 2018 - rating: 9
[User has posted 2094 recommendations about 1985 pubs]


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Moby Duck left this review about The Marble Arch

As mentioned previously, an iconic pub and it was top of my to do list while in Manchester. Upon entering the sloping floor is quite evident, then of course the ornate wall and ceiling tiling really catches the eye. Most of the nine handpumps were occupied by Marble beers as you would expect. There was one guest beer, Neptune Bolska IPA plus Seacider on another, I noted quite a price disparity between the different beer strengths, Marble Pint at 3.9 % was £3.30 and Left Handed Marble a 6.2 % collaboration was £5.60, I had the 5.4 % Pale at £4.75, lovely despite the price. I made a couple of visits to this pub while in town, both worthy ones.

On 15th October 2018 - rating: 8
[User has posted 1868 recommendations about 1841 pubs]


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Rob Hunter left this review about The Marble Arch

Another one of Manchester's iconic pubs, and is where Marble used to brew their beers. I am pretty sure that on my first visit (many years ago) you used to be able to see the brewing equipment on your way to the toilets towards the back room. But no longer; brewing is done elsewhere.

Naturally, Marble beers dominate but a few guests are usually available too and some real ciders.

If you are lucky enough to get a seat you can take your time and marvel at the tiled interior and admire the famous sloping floor. It does, however, get very busy on a Saturday night and as it is a popular place for dining tables are often either reserved or in use by the same party taking their time over a meal. This can make it uncomfortably busy for the casual drinker as there is not much left in the way of standing room so you are always shuffling around trying to find a spot where you are not in the way (and usually failing).

Pricing used to be a bit steep in here, but I can't say I noticed on my past few visits, so either I have got used to it or other places in Manchester have caught up. The beer is always spot on and it's great to try some Marble beers that you don't always see in other places.

On 16th August 2018 - rating: 8
[User has posted 750 recommendations about 598 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Ian Mapp left this review about The Marble Arch

Must visit Manchester Pub on the outskirts of the City.

Beautiful building and great beer (as you would expect).

Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2InlthU

On 12th March 2018 - rating: 10
[User has posted 1329 recommendations about 1315 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Quinno _ left this review about The Marble Arch

Long-feted by many and has long been on my to-do list. This is an attractive building which is a bit of a walk out from the city centre. The main point of visiting here is for the incredible wall-to-ceiling-to-floor brick-coloured tiled bar room. Of particular note are the styles of different drinks picked out on an upper tiled frieze. Oddly quiet on my evening visit and the place lacked a bit of atmosphere. Another reason of pilgrimage a few years back was for the Marble beers on offer (which were brewed on-site), before they broke out and became more readily available. Seven on – a number from Marble and well-sourced guests from Wild Beer and Tiny Rebel with prices marked on slates above the bar. These prices were very high with only one ale on below 4 quid a pint and ludicrously the Tiny Rebel Cwtch was £4.70 – you’d be hard-pressed to see a price this steep in London and made for a point of irony given that a Batham's Brewery wooden cask sits on top of the bar gantry. There was also a good selection of foreign bottled fayre (I didn’t look at those prices!). Anyway I ended-up with a Marble Choc (fair but lacked a bit of vim) and Wild Beer Millionaire (decent nick). Overall, it’s worth taking in for the interior but the high prices will put most off a session and I did rather get the feeling that it’s happy to target the moneyed yuppies nearby rather than cater to the more regular pub-goer’s wallet.

On 1st February 2017 - rating: 7
[User has posted 5043 recommendations about 5026 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Al Bundy left this review about The Marble Arch

An excellent pub well described elsewhere. 11 handpumps with lots of Marble beers and styles to choose from. Very busy 2 o'clock Friday. Though its just outside the city centre Victoria Station end it is worth the walk out.

On 11th December 2015 - rating: 9
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Pub SignMan left this review about The Marble Arch

Built in 1888, this ornate ale house close to Manchester's Northern Quarter came under the ownership of a number of breweries over the years before eventually becoming a freehouse in 1984 and more recently finding fame as the home of the Marble Brewery. High demand may have since forced the brewery to relocate to a nearby railway arch, but Marble beers still rule the roost here and a long row of handpulls was dominated by their brews on my recent visit - Ginger 5.1, Pint (£3.10), Cinema Beer, Lagonda IPA, IBD Brew, Bitter, Chocolate Marble, Earl Grey IPA - plus a couple of guests in the shape of Squawk Small Pale and Arbor Motueka. Around ten keg beers were also available from the like of Marble and Magic Rock plus an Apple Jack cider, whilst a good bottled range, focussed mainly on Belgian beers, was detailed in the menus. As the first pub of the day, I felt I should sadly pass up the chance to try some of the stronger ales on offer and instead plumped for the Pint, which was in superb condition and served to me by a very friendly and knowledgeable barmaid.
The pub has Grade II listing status and it is clear from the fine red granite exterior alone, that this is a beautiful alehouse. You enter through a corner porch with a stained glass canopy and mosaic tile floor, into a sloping floored main bar, with the servery at the bottom of the slope in the rear right corner. Padded banquettes and standard chairs fill the right hand side of the room, whilst chunky pews and standard chairs run down the left side where the bright floral mosaic tiled floor pattern continues into the pub from the porch. The rest of the room has plainer tiled floor and the walls have glazed tiles which look, at first glance, like exposed brickwork, with a similar effect employed on the ceiling. A lovely frieze runs around the top of the room, listing some of the products available back in the day (Porter, Ale, Brandies, Cordials etc..) and there are shelves to the right lined with old bottles whilst a few old pictures fill much of the remaining eye-level space. A large fireplace stands in front of the bar and this has a lovely decorative B&J McKenna brewery mirror above it as well as a selection of board games and local interest literature on the mantle. The angular servery has some bright green glazed tiles along the counter front and various old barrels and jugs on the canopy. There are a lot of pump clips on the bar back as well as helpful blackboards detailing the full beer range. A door to the rear leads into a simple, square dining room which has a serving hatch to the right and basic seating under a few modern art prints. A beer garden can be accessed from here, although I didn't bother to explore on this visit. Food is available at sensible prices and the menu included two pages of cheeses from which you can pick and mix to create your own cheeseboard.
This is one of those pubs I was worried would suffer from heightened expectations, having been on my 'to-do' list for so long and receiving such praise on this website, but if anything it exceeded those expectations. I loved the place and could quite happily have knocked the rest of the day's plans on the head to stay in here instead. An essential port of call when in Manchester and it's arguably worth a trip to the city just to pay a visit.

On 26th November 2015 - rating: 9
[User has posted 3102 recommendations about 3102 pubs]

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