The Briton's Protection, Manchester

Just down the road from The Peveril of the Peak is The Britons Protection, another Manchester pub that should be on the agenda for those who appreciate unspoilt traditional historic pubs that hark back to an earlier age. Outside, a rather faded pub sign tells us that it was a former Tetleys house. We also learn that it was established in 1811. The name reflects the fact that the pub was used as a recruiting centre during the Napoleonic Wars. The main bar at the front ( denoted as Room 1 ) is narrow with the bar counter parallel to the front of the building. There’s an impressive plaster moulded ceiling and an unusual wooden bar gantry which contains three curved arches. At the far end of this bar, through an arch, is a small alcove with just the one table which was apparently the former off sales service area – the former double doors from the street outside are still in situ, but are now unused. The room has fixed padded seating, circular copper topped tables and blue velour covered bar stools. Small postcard style flyers on the bar counter invited me to The Britons Protection 200th Anniversary Party, which took place on 10/11 June 2011. From the near end of this bar, a splendid tiled corridor leads round to two further rooms directly behind the main bar, the doors of which still retain their original numbers ( rooms 3 and 4 ) – I don’t recall seeing a Room 2 incidentally. These rooms are dimly lit by gas lamps and traditionally furnished with fixed seating, old fireplaces and bell pushes. Service to both these rooms is from serving hatches in the corridor at the back of the main bar, through sturdy looking leaded glass drop down screens. The tiled corridor has some fine painted murals of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, one of which shows the skirmish in full cry with the pub in the background. The pub is listed in CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. Rather unusually at the end of the back corridor, the toilets are accessed via double swing doors which always remind me of a saloon in a John Wayne cowboy film. There’s a shady garden at the back which is reasonably large for a City Centre pub. 2 separate banks of pumps in the front bar were offering 5 beers – Robinsons Enigma, Jennings Cumberland, Moorhouses Premier, Rossendale Pennine Ale and Britons Protection Ale, which I noted from the pump clip as being brewed by Tetley Northampton. The pub offers a large range of whiskies and is popular with local office staff for its good value ( by London standards ) business lunches. This is another pub well worth seeking out – if you’re staying in Jury’s, it’s next door. Visiting the Britons Protection and the nearby Peveril of the Peak gives you a very impressive difficult to beat double header

A fine and famous old pub in the shadow of the Gmex centre, as described by others the interior is a wonderful mix of woods and tiles with a ceiling in decorative plasterwork. The bar counter top is arched perhaps in a reflection of the Gmex roof or providing inspiration for the tramway viaduct opposite the pub. The narrow main bar runs almost the width of the building at the front and there are two more rooms at the back reached by a side corridor. These rooms are served by hatches in the drinking corridor running behind the servery. Not very busy mid afternoon on a Friday, just a couple of older regulars, a middle aged couple, and a small group of middle class, middle aged suits but out of uniform. Five pumps in two groups with a mix of better known names Jennings, Tetley, Robinsons plus a Moorhouses and a wheat beer from Hornbeam. The quality of the beer and service were pretty good, and as Roger says a big range of whiskys, they have an silver award from Whisky Bars of the World displayed on the bar counter.