I basically entirely concur with Emily B's review which is good as we were there together…read more To repeat: 1) Busy on a Friday night - much younger and more lively crowd than I expected, had quite a party vibe but a good party vibe with good music 2) Old Tom GINGER YES HOW LONG I HAVE WAITED FOR THIS DAY. It's basically like a ginger beer biscuit. Tried it in Buxton ages ago but have not sourced since. Although now occurs to me that as it's a Robinsons beer it's probably at all the Robinsons along the A6 aka where I live. 3) Toilets very small, difficult to manoeuvre but hey you make some new friends in awkward circumstances 4) Great to visit post Stockport Foodie Friday

Nice job Robinsons on doing something different with the Bakers and letting the guys from the…read moreCastle and Parlour take it over and transform it into what it is now. A very welcome addition to the Stockport scene and somewhere to definitely start the night on the way to the Magnet or maybe on the way back, the vibe is laid back and modern looking while still giving a nod to the old architectural style of this classic building. It was a smart decision to do something new with this place and on this Thursday evening it was fairly busy with beer loving punters. On tap there were 5 Robbies classics (we tried the Citra - ok but not quite enough citra in it for my liking and compared with the likes of Oakham ales same type) and there's 5 guest beers on tap from exciting craft beer breweries. Sandwiched in between there's still room for all the usual lagers and they have Brooklyn and Blue Moon on tap. Prices are fairly decent really (compared to Manchester city centre) and its refreshing to see the pricing reflected in the strength of the ale and fairly transparent in what you're actually paying when ordering a beer. We were drinking the Great Heck hoppy wheat beer mainly - if you see it on tap somewhere then make sure you get yourself onto it, so so good! Their food menu is all about the dogs - but as opposed to hard skinned fakey American ones, these are all about proper British butchers ones which fit in well with a giant roll and some crazy toppings - I went for the classic one which was good enough for me (£6 with pickles, tasty onions etc) although you could have everything from blue cheese to meatball toppings (time to get a bit more adventurous next time I think!) Nice job Bakers - looking forward to getting back here very soon! Wifi password is: aabbcc33ee

Another Stockport hidden gem…read more.. A great little local, sitting tucked underneath the huge viaduct, across the street from the Pineapple Inn. The area has nothing to go for it. A blacksmith, a kwik fit, car parks and main roads... but step in and you'll find a warm and friendly atmosphere, mainly dominated by the local workers. It has a great selection of 15+ guest beers on tap and a few good bottles too. It serves pork pies and sausage rolls (I'm telling you this was the 11th and final pub stop, these dirty pies and rolls saved the day !) and has a jukebox with proper Brit classics on. The staff is always friendly and prices are very reasonable. Definitely on my Stockport's must go addresses.

Fabulous fabulous fabulous great pub brilliant ales amazing food…read more Been in the grove for a long time

This Pub is steeped in history, and if you are into your very British pub experience where a direct…read morelink to the past can be seen around you as you sup your ale, then should make a visit to the Arden Arms! A fact that made me go there was the following - The interior of the pub today is included in the CAMRA National Inventory, a list compiled by the lobbying group of the only remaining 250 pub interiors (out of over 60,000) in Great Britain that remain of outstanding heritage interest!! The 1908 bar from is still in place, and is definitely unlike I have ever seen, it is a floor to ceiling carved wooded masterpiece! there is beautiful original tiling too .. and a lovely little snug to get cosy in! as you would expect with this calibre of bar, you can order from an array of beers! The beer is supplied by the famous independent Stockport Brewery, Robinsons, you will also find seasonal brews! The food is good too, on my visit I had 6oz Rump Steak & Caramelised Red Onions, Mustard Mayonnaise ciabatta for only £6.50 !! the menu is quite varied, but they stick to the best of British pub grub... nothing too fancy or trying too hard, just very good honest food!

The Arden Arms is a fantastic pub in the centre of Stockport. It's a traditional boozer which has…read morebeen done out really well. I love the posters on the walls and the fact they still have a snug. The outside area is excellent with heaters and decking. They also have live music there every Saturday night during the Summer which is free. The food is excellent quality pub grub. Everything is home made. Their cheese and onion pie is fantastic. The pastry is so good and the filling delicious. I also recommend the home made sponge puddings they do with homemade custard. Well worth a visit during lunch time. The owners are also super friendly as well.

Had a mojito here - a relatively "cheap" £5.95 - when compared to other places. Tasted great…read more Its a small place - so its kind of got a cosy feel. The music was from a jukebox and although we were only there for a relatively short time, while there I remember the music sounding pretty good. However, not to sound old but the music was a bit too loud. Don't get me wrong, although I am prefer places a bit quieter so can talk while shouting/screaming, if the music is louder thats fine. However, this was too much. Especially with the place being so small.

I love The Drawing Room, I go with friends and it's always a laugh but I also pop in on my own…read moresometimes early evening. The jukebox is fantastic and the staff are super friendly.

3pm footie n a cheap guinness! Could do with some sp ribs to…read morebite. I must add been reliable for moat ct games. Kudus ram!

If one of those cool, quirky bars in the Northern Quarter and a down-to-earth, tatty geek of a…read morestudent bar on Oxford Road were to have their eyes meet across a crowded dancefloor, The Ram & Shackle would be the resultant one-night-stand lovechild. Or rather, fraternal twins. Yes, this is a bar of two halves, two very different halves, and they could well be two separate establishments to the naked eye. Last night when a group of us came for a drink here, we realised that these halves seem to split opinion... the locals prefer one, the students the other. One half is a little colder and more austere, with on-screen sports and ramshackle tables. Oh! I just felt like Phoebe from Friends with her Central Park/Central Perk revelation. This is where the older crowd tends to gather with pints. The other half is warmer and home to some thumping beats and lends itself well to student nights out. In the middle of all of this is a bar, with some cheap house ales and spirits, but overall what you'd find at most bars - big brand drinks. No imported unusual bits and bobs, but hey, if it sells Crabbie's it's fine by me. This place has something of a spooky effect upon its clientele. What starts as a social drink can turn into a spontaneous belly-laugh of a tipsy night out (no wonder it's so popular with students!)... we're not sure how this happens, but the round of Jagermeisters spoke for itself. Hey, medicinal purposes you understand. Down the road from Indigo, Solomon's and Fuel and within staggering distance of my new apartment, I can easily see a few more visits happening.

Brilliant food and atmosphere, friendly staffs. The food menu is extensive and covers all…read morevarieties.

Fairly new and upcoming cafe/restuarant in West Didsbury, this place is constantly busy, so clearly…read morethey must be doing something right. I took my parents here one Saturday afternoon for a little sit down and a hot drink after exploring the local shops. My Dad and I ordered a latte each and my Mum ordered a pot of peppermint tea. Both lattes came out at the perfect temperature and with a good amount of frothy milk on the top. Sadly, the pot of tea my Mum had ordered was a used pot of tea and was therefore half full and stone cold. It seems that one waitress had cleaned off another table and placed the finished with tea pot next to the freshly brewed one, so the wrong one was accidentally bought over. The staff were so apologetic and immediately bought over the actual freshly made pot of tea as soon as we noticed. After that minor mishap, everything ran smoothly and everything tasted just right. I really enjoyed the simplistic style with a few pieces of quirky artwork dotted on the walls. I'd say there's a kind of nautical theme running throughout the café, as there's ropes hanging from the ceiling and a few other seaside/fishing type items dotted around. All very cute and trendy. I'd recommend Rustik to anyone in the area, it's the perfect place (not at all like a standard high street coffee shop) to stop and have a quick drink. Also, the tables are spaced out, so you can enjoy a nice chat or catch up with friends or family without feeling like you're being listened in on.

This a great Pub with a very friendly atmosphere. Went last night and saw a band called The Flat…read moreRats who were top!!! Great sound!

This Pub is local to where I live and I usually go in most saturdays with the lads for the…read moreentertainment. Its a great pub with great staff. We saw a band a couple of weeks ago playing for a charity event but I have to say of all the bands we have seen at this pub they were by far the worst and the singer seemed to drone on forever!!!. If I could, I would have paid them to stop! There was only a handful of people in the Pub and this Pub is usually full on Saturdays.Still we had a good laugh and as I said its great Pub and if you want a good night out then pay this pub a visit.

I popped into Folk having gone down to Didsbury for a meeting and a change of scene and thinking it…read morewas time to actually do this on all fronts, I plumped for Folk having never actually been before (I know - it's been there forever!) First off I really liked the bar as it's a good, chilled out and welcoming sort of cafe bar. It's a bit like the Odd bars in that it's got random shizzle everywhere but it doesn't seem too over the top which is nice. There's a great selection of beers on tap and as well as all the usual standard crafts and lagers that you get nowadays, there's also a pretty sweet selection of local beers like Ticketybrew on tap. Alas I was driving and had a meeting so beer wasn't my thing on this occasion but I did plump for a tasty Moroccan lamb wrap with salad and flatbread (£9) to keep me going. It was quite nice but 3 days on I'm still unsure whether I enjoyed the taste of the lamb - it was a strange mix and I'm not certain the spice mix was quite right but I saw enough of the fresh ingredients on offer to go back and try more menu items another day - and of course stop for a pint!

Cafe bar with great interior and good food…read more Let's start this review with me saying I'm pretty biased about Folk - it was the location of my first 'date' with Dan. They were amazingly kind and on our first anniversary let me have a menu to put in with his present. It's one of my seriously happy places. They have booths at the back, a fair few tables round the bar and then a good sized outside space with seating too. The menu is good classic with a range of breakfast options served until 4pm. They also have sandwiches, a burger option, soup and a specials board. The food is freshly cooked and really good. Their bar is well stocked with great beers and spirits plus some excellent non alcoholic options their coffee is also fantastic. They also have a selection of cakes which is always changing, check out the blackboard for the options. Today they have sticky toffee, chai, honey & cinnamon, cookies & cream and berry crumble! Great relaxed atmosphere in the day and nice and lively in the evening this is a great place to try if you are in the area.

I have a soft spot for the delights of old man bars so this place caught my eye on cycling through…read moreWithington village one day. It's easy to miss, kind of tucked away on the main street, small with green tiling - a little lost among the bright, bold businesses of Withington. Popped in for a pint to check it out last night and it's an experience. It seems to have a strong local following and everyone is very friendly and welcoming. It's clearly an Irish bar with plenty of green about and paraphenelia on the walls. It kind of felt like stepping into a country pub back home, or some sort of timewarp...It's quite a bright pub but still manages to be cosy. Well, that depends on your defintion of cosy I guess, some might think it could do with a bit of a make over I'd say it's got character! There was a kind of sing along karaoke (well, one man singing along to every couple of tunes) thing going on with music from the 60s and 70s. You got the feeling everyone might join in an hour or two down the line! They have live music sessions on fortnightly it would seem. The bar stock is fairly limitied. Most people seemed to be drinking Guinness, Magners and John Smiths. Being a Guinness fan, I was disappointed that they only had extra cold on tap last night as being extra cold, it's just not as tasty. I'll have to pop back and test the real stuff sometime and update! c*

This old man pub got done up sometime around 1972, and they've spoilt the millenium budget on it…read more This is a real workingman's pub down Withington way, filled with bright ligths, a homemade karaoke machine, and gentlement with MCFC tattooed upon their necks. At just approaching 40, I felt like the youngest person in the place, on a hopping Saturday night. On the tap we feature Guinness (extra cold and poorly poured, sorry), John Smith's, and some other keggy delights. I want to give this place 2 stars for the prices & the selection, but the place has its own tatty charm, not allowing me to give it less than 3.

I can't believe I didn't think to review this place sooner, The Waterside Arts Centre is one of my…read morefavourite places. There are no limits to what can happen here; it's a theatre, an art gallery, an exhibition hall, a comedy venue, a music venue, a cinema, a function room...the list goes on. Everything about it is so beautifully versatile, you can go to any one of the above events there and think that is the venue's sole purpose. I've been to see some fantastic original exhibitions there, I've been in tears from laughing at the comedy nights and I've taken my younger sister there for some of the great child-friendly events they regularly hold. If you're unsure, head down to their next open day when they have taster sessions of everything for free! Also check out the programme of events on their website, I bet you'll see something you like because they really do cater for everyone!

The Waterside Arts Centre was completed as part of the redevelopment of the Trafford Council…read moreOffices which resulted in some shiny new offices, a new bar beneath them, and the Waterside Arts Centre. The Waterside really amounts to a number of galleres and exhibition spaces, and the Robert Bolt theatre within it all, which is a reasonably intimate (i.e. small!) performance venue that I've been lucky enough to visit for a number of different performances. There is a full programme of events on here and in any one month there will be a variety of music concerts (ranging from small and relatively unknown folk acts, current chart stalwarts, ageing rockers, local classical musical ensembles and anything (and everything) inbetween. There's also a regular comedy night styled along the lines of 'Whose line is it anyway?', and regular theatre productions including an annual pantomime. I've been fortunate enough to see a few acts there in recent times including Hayseed Dixie (true Hillbilly Rock) and Glenn Tillbrook (guitar-god and songwriter extraordinaire of Squeeze fame), two gigs that saw the Robert Bolt theatre in both standing, and fully seated configurations (it is usually set up for one or the other!)... Both times, the size of venue allowed me to feel really connected to the performer in a true 'I could see into the whites of their eyes' kind of sense. In both instances, this certainly added to the quality of the experience! Drinks for gigs are usually provided via a 'bottle and can' bar, which can make for a slightly pricy night, but then, you're not going there to drink! The gallery spaces are spread around the building and seem to cater for most tastes, and provide opportunities for local artists alongside those who are better known. All in all, the Waterside is a great little venue and a top addition to a town that was in sore need of a place like this. Bravo!