The Old Wellington Inn, Manchester

Posted on 23. Jan, 2012 by Robert Gale in Pubs

The Old Wellington Inn, Manchester

The Old Wellington Inn is a Nicholson’s owned pub located near Manchester Cathedral. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and one of Manchester’s oldest buildings.

Brief History

The pub is the oldest surviving building of its kind in Manchester and was built in 1552. In 1554 it became a part of a draper’s shop and was owned by the Byrom family. The writer John Byrom was born there in 1692 and is responsible for creating an early form of shorthand.

A third storey was added to the building in the 17th century and in 1830 the building was converted into a pub called the Vintners Arms (later the Kenyon Arms). By 1865 the ground floor of the building was known as the Wellington Inn. The upper floors were used by various businesses including a maker of optical and mathematical instruments and a fishing tackle seller.

Surprisingly, the pub doesn’t presently sit in its original location. In the 1970s the building was raised and moved to make room for the Arndale Centre and after the IRA bombing of 1996, it was moved again, this time 100 metres towards Manchester Cathedral. The pub was damaged by the bombing and reopened less than a year later after 500,000 of repairs.

The Interior

The pub is split over three floors with the upper two floors housing a popular restaurant. The downstairs bar had an old but modern feel to it with bug wooden beams and flagstone flooring throughout and modern seating.

The bar is located near the corner entrance to the pub and dominates that end of the pub. Comfortable seating for around 20 can be found at the other end of the pub and there is additional seating upstairs in the restaurant.

A large beer garden dominates the front of the pub and is probably very popular in the summer months.

The Beer

Like all Nicholson’s pubs, there is a good selection of ales available with up to 8 being served from the ground floor bar. When I visited in January 2012, Elgoods Black Dog, Brentwood Blonde and Jennings Cumberland was available.

More Photos of the Old Wellington Inn

Venue Location

The Old Wellington Inn

4 Cathedral Gates

Manchester

M3 1SW

Tel: 0161 839 5179

twb.im/oldwellington

View on Google Street View

Robert Gale (Twitter: @awv)

Beer Taster, Pub Attendee, Photo Taker

Robert Gale likes beer, pubs and beer festivals. He also likes to take photos of beer, pubs and beer festivals. Most weekends of the year you can find him travelling around the UK (and sometimes beyond) photographing and reviewing good quality pubs and beer festivals. He also has a day job in the form of a web developer for Ozum.