With the cost of living on the rise and the energy crisis biting, going out for an after work pint or a couple of drinks on the weekend is becoming increasingly difficult to afford. Pubs themselves are grappling with rising costs and bills, which could soon be passed onto customers as well.
Sub £2 pints are likely to be a thing of the past before very long, although our sister site Stoke-on-Trent Live recently found a pint of John Smith’s for an incredibly cheap £1.89 at a pub called the Auctioneer in Hanley, Staffordshire.
Something the Auctioneer has in common with several pubs in Greater Manchester is that it is owned by Amber Taverns. So we decided to visit a couple of these establishments in search of a cheap pint.
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I plumped for the closest pub to my place of work, along with one in my hometown, as those are the two locations I’m most likely to head for a few Friday night drinks. Closest to M.E.N HQ is the Welcome Inn, in Hollinwood.
Although the name is somewhat of a pun on ‘welcoming’, the exterior of the pub sadly is not at the moment, due to the sheer amount of scaffolding. However, once inside, it has to be said that it is a rather welcoming traditional-style pub.
Above the bar is a chalkboard with the prices of all the draught beers. While John Smith’s wasn’t quite as cheap as Stoke-on-Trent Live found, it was still the cheapest alcoholic drink at the Welcome Inn - priced at a very affordable £2.35. Birra Moretti is the most expensive pint but even that only comes in at a respectable £3.55, with Fosters, Dark Mild, Strongbow, Guinness, Amstel, 1664, and Heineken priced between the two.
Around the pub are a couple of signs stating that the venue is implementing a strict over 21 policy “due to recent events that have taken place” so I was ID’d for a pint of coke and a bag of pork scratchings (£3.10 in total) which I actually took as a compliment. The very friendly bartender serving me also explained the policy, in case I hadn’t spotted any of the signs.
As I waited, I noticed a sign up sheet for the pub’s darts, dominoes and cribbage teams. Glancing around, most of the customers were middle aged men who seemed to have come in to watch the Champions League, after work, on the several TVs dotted around.
Although quite traditional, I would guess that there has been a recent refurbishment; the patterned carpet looked relatively new and while some of the stools looked a bit worse for wear, I found a very comfy leather sofa to sit on, which was in good condition. Outside I had noticed information about karaoke and while I couldn’t see any evidence of this, the fact it was 7pm on a Wednesday night probably explains why.
Over in my hometown of Bolton, I headed to Hogarths, which markets itself as a ‘Victorian gin palace’. The pub is quite central on Churchgate and neighbours two of the town’s most historic institutions - Ye Olde Man and Scythe and Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe. In the past, it has also gone by the name of Varsity and Capitol but has become one of the most popular drinking spots in the centre since rebranding.
Hogarths has recently been refurbished with new floral wallpaper and a purple neon sign giving it a more contemporary look than the Victorian artwork that used to adorn the walls. It boasts two beer gardens - including a lovely one at the back with greenery and heated booths - and an impressive 18 TV screens.
Some of the screens are actually set within the booths so that people can almost have a private TV screen to themselves as they sit and drink. For major sporting events, there is also a five-metre projector screen that can be pulled down in front of the back wall.
It stocks more than 140 brands of gin and despite its slightly more modern and upmarket feel, beer prices are impressively low - a pint of Fosters is the cheapest (£2.20) but there are a number of drinks priced under £2.50, although the likes of Birra Morretti and Guinness are more expensive, as at the Welcome Inn.
While not quite as cheap as Wetherspoons for a pint (£1.79 for a Worthington's Creamflow ale) I'd argue that both pubs - while very different - offer more atmosphere and both have more of what I'd look for in a pub. They're also still much more affordable than a number of establishments out there, so if that's something that influences where you spend a night out, they're both winners.
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