The Salisbury

While I really do like these grunge pubs, the thing that annoyed me about this one was that they only accepted card, which I personally don't appreciate, being the type of person to prefer to use cash when I am at drinking establishments. However, that aside, this pub I have to admit was certainly pretty cool, especially since it was a grunge pub, but then again I really do like grunge pubs like this one, so I'm certainly quite delighted that I randomly wandered into this one.

I heartily concur with the four-star rating of The Salisbury by those who came before. A genuine gnarly old-style English pub, traditional wooden interior with a wide variety of traditional ales on tap. I had a pint of Old Peculiar and savored every drop.

What to expect: hidden away on a side street it has a small outdoor beer garden in the back for smoker's, inside a pool table with guys yelling and having a good time, a thoughtful bartender, rock music blaring across the pub. A few cozy table areas and some room at the bar where I seated myself to enjoy watching the action.

Looking for a sports bar with multiple screens and some potted plants? Move on buster. This ain't the place, but if you're looking for a pint and/or maybe some two-fisted drinking you'll be fine right here. The kind of place I wish I could visit more often, for sure.

Oh, and I don't want a pint at any goddamn 5-start pub! Four does just fine.

Its convenient location next to Oxford Road Train Station makes this Manchester pub a good place to visit for a beer whilst waiting for a train. Otherwise though, there are not a great many reasons to visit this one. The ale is a little bit pricey for the north, though in truth I have few places in Manchester to compare the prices to. However, being next to the main entrance to a train station would normally mean ale prices are higher than they should be.

Staff are nice enough, but not overly friendly. It is often difficult to get their attention in the evenings, and the pub can be a little bit loud so if one asks them any questions they generally have difficulty hearing you. The televisions located around the pub thankfully they have sports playing.

You know what, I've just realised that I moved to Manchester 8 years ago this week - wow, what was probably going to be a few years stop while finding a home on this planet, has basically turned into home!

I know this because I watched the entire Wimbledon tv coverage over 2 weeks that year, the weather was fantastic like today and I used to hit the Salisbury pub loads with some of my mates I know from Liverpool.

And it's weird because I used to go here all the time but have hardly been in the past 4 years - but based on nipping there for a few pints with Ian M, nothing has changed in 8 years at least!

It's not glam, it's a proper old rocker pub with a fantastic jukebox, usually free pool table and loads of cask beers at low low city centre prices - circa £3. If you want somewhere that's properly authentic, no frills and salt of the earth peeps, hit the Salisbury!

It is, what it is. A rock pub. Not a road. An olde skool, characterful pub. That sells eggs, and a great range of ale - though with more than a hint of Theakstons! The vanilla stout I'm drinking is fantastic. ACDC on the jukebox. I'll be sad if this place goes, as it's been a staple of Manchester life for me since I moved here 20 years ago. It's a place where if it's going wrong in a shiny bar in town, you can return here and reset the barometer before getting the very late bus home. It has no pretention here. And that's not for everyone, but it has a large community based around it. Labour politicians may not care for community view point in this city, but I do, and don't really care how caring for things is considered uncool. It is, what it is.

I'll never forget the first time I heard Warrant's 'Cherry Pie'. Have you ever listened to the lyrics? They're dubious, ludicrously sexual... well, with a title like that, I'd expect nothing less. In fact the sheer mountain of cheese that has emanated from The Salisbury's jukebox rivals that of Rock Radio. Sisters of Mercy? Check. Whitesnake? Check.

The Salisbury is one of those places you walk into where you know instantly if you're comfortable or not. If piercings, tattoos, men with long hair and loud guitars scare you a little, avoid. It's often a first-stop with a few pints for those heading to Jilly's Rockworld later. Seriously though, these people are soft as marshmallow underneath. I witnessed a man sobbing and clutching the jukebox when Pantera were on the day after their guitarist died. "Legend!" he was shouting. "LEGEND!!!" Needless to say I chose an alternative route to the toilets.

What sets the Salisbury apart are the prices and the variety of schnapps available. Yes, schnapps! My personal favourite is a lemon schnapps with diet Coke (remember that diet Coke with lemon you could buy for a while? Like an alcoholy version of that), or perhaps a sour apple schnapps with lemonade. I'd also recommend the melon schnapps for those with a sweet tooth. These shorts will set you back about £1.50. In some places, you'd pay more than that for the shot itself. They're all a form of 'house brands' so maybe that's why they're so inexpensive.

Despite it being in a very student-heavy area of Manchester, The Salisbury attracts a wide and varied clientele. Just take care on the weekends when it's packed. It's so long and narrow around the bar that you can easily do yourself a mischief navigating between the pool table and the toilets. There are also TVs dotted around showing either music channels or... BBC documentaries. Unless that was a one-off.

I've always seen the Salisbury as a good foil to Grand Central.

GC a bit too full? Pop to Salisbury.

GC a bit too loud? Pop to salisbury,although if GC is too loud for you then you really shouldn't be in there in the first place : )

But the other Saturday when Kreator were playing round the corner at the Ritz, Salisbury was both full and the music was loud,also the music was of a good vintage of Metal,not too much of the watered down stuff that gets passed of as Metal these days...

GC to Salisbury,to GC to Salisbury is one of the shortest and best pub crawls in the City,unless you don't like good music and a massive range of beers and spirits.

If you are one of those people then I appologise,still,there's always night clubs : )

A
lovely looking pub, particularly the exterior tiling. It's a shame though that
they have such a bland ale selection. Given that they seem to have some choice,
why stick to Wells/Youngs, Marstons and GK? My Waggle dance was average at
best.

The toilets stink but not like normal. They seem to have found a cleaning
product that smells even worse than p*ss.

Dark and a little bit grubby, The Salisbury is just how any rock pub should be. However, it seems that it has received a few disgruntled customers after the introduction of the smoking ban. Without the luxury of an already made undercover smoking area like the Thirsty Scholar next door has in the form of the railway bridge, smokers have to stand outside behind barricades at the front entrance. They are not allowed to take their drinks outside unless they're in plastic cups, which has resulted in many discontented ale drinking smokers. Personally I am quite happy that I can visit a rock pub without having to wash my hair and all my clothes when I return home.

As the other reviewers have said, there is a really good jukebox which is commonly regarded as the best in Manchester. There is a good selection of drinks, though I would not recommend a visit to the toilets if you are a clean freak. The tables tend to be a bit sticky too. As I said in my review of Grand Central, although this is a rock pub, you do not have to have piercings and tattoos to drink here. I like my rock music, but look pretty 'normal' and do not feel at all out of place in here.

\m/ Rock on

With dinner done at Zouk we needed some place to down some beverage and talk. We decided on Salisbury for three reasons.

1. It was close enough to Zouk and bang on Oxford Road
2. They play great classic rock (daddy rock if you were unfortunately born after 1995)
3. My wife had never been there

For a saturday night, it was quite quiet, but we still didn't get seats (it's not that we couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery) but we simply weren't good enough on the night (think about Man United against Southampton the other week).

The bloke at the bar was great, served us straight away with IPAs and they were belting out some proper rock like Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Led Zep, Metallica, Maiden (you get the idea)...

Four stars because I am and have always been a fan, but the extra star is for that extra special feeling which I didn't get on this occasion. But like Arnie famously said (in terminator films and in Expendables 2) I'll be back!