Heading into Didsbury Village down Wilmslow Road from the East Didsbury side brings you first to the Crown Pub. This establishment was cited for flouting the COVID rules and was shut down for over a year before recently reopening under new ownership. Nearby to there is the terrific Sangam Indian restaurant which I have frequented many times.
Closer to the metro stop lies the Fletcher Moss pub, previously the Albert, which I must pay homage to as it is a proper old-fashioned boozer with fires on in the winter and a large beer garden to bask in during the summer months. It has always been run by the Hyde’s Brewery and is firmly entrenched in the ‘Blue side of Manchester’ camp, so much so they lay buses to and from the Etihad for Manchester City games on match days.
A hundred yards away on School Lane you would find the Manchester Botanist. This establishment was previously a Wetherspoons pub called the Milson Rhodes before in 2016 becoming the 12th branch of the Botanist chain. The Botanist pubs all have an inviting cosy layout, on my first visit there it was more in the restaurant domain, but they have recently recalibrated to having a larger drinking only area.
I have seen five musical acts here, the first two being a local singer/songwriter called Liam. The third being an unnamed band and the remaining couple being a geezer called Piano Man who tinkled away in the background with laconic deliveries of easy listening cover songs, though he did have a fine singing voice. The last of these attendances was the cold Christmas Eve just passed.
Many of these pubs referenced are quite often listed in either the original or updated Didsbury Dozen. This is a renowned list of twelve commended places to visit though attempting all of them on one evening could be detrimental to your health!
Picking up the route again on Wilmslow Road brings you the Dog and Partridge. Recently Paul Heaton of Housemartins and Beautiful South fame generously placed money behind the bar of 60 pubs to celebrate his 60th birthday, including this establishment. Also, In the last year he ensured the prices at his gig at the Manchester Arena were capped at a reasonable level to consider the impact of the current cost-of-living crisis, much like Billy Bragg did all those years ago where he had stickers on his albums to pay no more than £4.99. All in all, Mr Heaton sounds like a thoroughly decent principled geezer!
Next door is the Dockyard, previously the Stokers where in an extremely busy setting I watched the 2018 World Cup England Quarter and Semi Final matches. The owners at this point also ran their sister pub of the Plough in Heaton Moor.
A couple of strides away is Rudy’s Pizza restaurant which was previously Rafa’s Tapas where on 30/11/17 we perched on seats on the street opposite Manchester Didsbury Library to watch the Christmas light switch on (even Santa arrived on a fire engine!) which also included a set from the Didsbury Brass Ensemble.
On the same side of the road as the library is the Station Pub owned by Marston’s brewery where they host music three nights a week, but I have not yet seen an act play there but I have sampled their fine Guinness and sat in their cosy back room watching the Masters Golf.
Opposite there is the Manchester Head of Steam, a pub chain of eight venues created in 1995 that is owned by Cameron’s Brewery based up in Hartlepool. The Didsbury branch opened in February 2018, and I twice have seen a young folk singer called Callum Rory Norton play there.