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Old Wellington Bar & Restaurant

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MichaelJM
MichaelJM
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5 out of 5
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1
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Editor Pick

Old Wellington Bar & Restaurant (The)

  • February 6, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by MichaelJM from Nottingham, England
Old Wellington Bar & Restaurant (The)

On one of my first visits to Manchester I’d seen the Old Wellington and on one of my walkabouts I decided that it was time to try the food. It’s part of the Mitchells and Butlers group so I was pretty confident that the food would be both good quality and great value. The pub sits in the shadow of the Manchester wheel, near to the Cathedral and behind the Arndale Shopping Centre.

The three-storey pub has real age to it and started its life back in the mid 1500’s as a two-storey house. It is Manchester’s oldest building. By 1554 it was a draper’s shop and home to the Byrom family and it remained in the ownership of this family until well into the 19th Centurt. They added the third floor in the mid 1600’s and it was the birth place of John Byrom, in 1691, who was the developer of “phonetic shorthand”.

It first became a licensed public house in the 1830’s and was called “the Vintners Arms” being renamed “Kerryons Vaults, but by 1865 it was known as “the Wellingon” although at this time it was only the ground floor that was the hostelry whilst the upper floors were used as a mathematical and optical Instrument makers. By 1897 the upper floors were occupied by “ye olde fishing tackle shoppe”. The area around “the old wellington” was originally the heart of Manchester’s market square and “the shambles” traders area. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this building is in its original site. It’s actually been “raised up” and moved 300 metres towards the Cathedral. This process was painstakingly undertaken and piece by piece it was labelled, taken apart and then re-built. What a feat!

Despite the move the pub looks absolutely right in its present setting. Now it’s all under the ownership of the brewery and there’s a small and cosy downstairs bar selling, on rota, some real decent ales including Young’s, Fuller’s, Marstons, Well’s, and Timothy Taylors. The next two floors are set aside for diners although by the time I arrived the top floor had been closed for use. It wasn’t busy and I grabbed “table 17” overlooking the square and settled down to study the menu. On a downstairs menu board the pub’s speciality was listed – pies. There were pies of all descriptions available, priced around £7 but although I was tempted I went for the option of a 16 ounce steak served with tomato, field mushroom and chips. It was massive and filled the plate although it wasn’t particularly well-presented. Indeed it was “dumped” on top of the tomato and covered many of the chips, but a bit of reorganisation and it was “nice enough to eat”.

It was superbly cooked and I tucked in to devour this substantial meal. What great value for less than £10 and accompanied by a pint of the hoppy Timothy Taylor’s “Landlord” ale I was well satisfied.

But in addition to decent food and beer the “old Wellington” was just dripping with history with small leaded windows; tactile wooden window ledges (there was plenty of “shiny” evidence that other had rubbed the wood); oak panelled walls; well turned stair rails. I really like the ambiance of the place and I am sure that I’ll return and next time I’ll definitely sample the establishment’s speciality pies.

From journal O 2 Eat Out in 08

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