The Lower Turks Head, Manchester

No Megabus for me (unlike the previous reviewers). I was just wandering through the Shudehill area and having passed this pub several times before, this time I decided to enter. It has quite an interesting interior with a number of rooms. However, I was immediately drawn to the church pew-like seating immediately opposite the bar - 5 or 6 seats with individual glass-lined drinking shelves. I've not seen the like before. On the real ale front, this is a Holt's pub. All of the beers were from Holt's or their associated brewery (Bootleg). The choice was Bitter, IPA, Mild, Two Hoots, Santa's Vacation & Chorlton Pale Ale. Choosing a Christmas beer on January 6th seemed a bit of a risk, but Santa's Vacation was actually very enjoyable and possibly the best Holt's beer I've ever tried. Being near the tram and bus station, this pub will inevitably attract a transient crowd. Although, there were a few locals in too. Much better than I had anticipated.

Much the same as Quinno below I managed a quick pint before my Megabus! A decent pint of Holts bitter and a quick chat with some friendly locals made it a decent visit. Worth popping in for one.

A final swift tick before my Megabus and yes I was drawn-in by the beautiful exterior maroon and cream tilework. The inside is all modern, although fairly well done in a mid-90's ‘trad’ way (though it transpires it was actually installed in the early 10’s – it looks like it cost a fair wedge) with dark wood, three or four discrete areas and a feeling of intimacy. I sat opposite the bar in the weird little individual curved seats which had an incredibly narrow shelf attached. Six cask, my Holt's Mild was rather good (NBSS 3.5), shame about the awful indolent staff who seemed to find customers an annoyance – they needed managing. They conspired to knock a point off the score, as otherwise I felt pretty positive about the place. 6.5

The Lower Turks Head is an 18th century Holts pub with split level seating to the right and left that is served by a central bar on both levels. There are some tables in the front windows, but the main seating is at the rear. Opposite the bar on the left wall is some interesting pew seating with little beer shelves. These were unused, but I bet they were te place to be back in the day! Upstairs is another seating area and there is an advertised roof terrace that I didn’t visit. There are also four en-suite bedrooms upstairs. There are televisions for showing live football and some very low background music was playing during a recent midweek evening visit. During my visit I remained in the left hand bar as the lower right had its light off and was unused. The six hand pumps were drawing Bitter, Two Hoots, IPA and Fools Gold. As I approached the pub the original tiled exterior had me hoping that this would be a decent pub, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Official site of Lower Turks Head / Scuttlers - www.joseph-holt.com

Facebook page of Lower Turks Head / Scuttlers - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Lower Turks Head / Scuttlers - www.facebook.com