The Abel Heywood is not an independent, but a new venue from the Manchester brewery and pub operator Hydes. This reveals a lot about the contemporary Northern Quarter. Famously, this dense concentration of off-beat indie businesses around Oldham Street is Manchester at its most interesting. For example, drinking in Common, dancing at the Soup Kitchen, browsing in Piccadilly Records and Eastern Bloc or clothes shopping at Wood and Oi Polloi, it still feels like an alternative enclave. However, in recent years that vibe has been diluted by, not least, a massive influx of new bars. Property prices are forcing creative types out and now, on a Saturday night when the hordes descend, it is difficult to credit the area with any real counter-cultural edge.
Named after a Victorian mayor of Manchester, the Abel Heywood embodies that mainstream drift. Its 15 bedrooms might include an unusually good visitors’ guide to the Northern Quarter and wider Manchester, but the repetitive branding that insists that this is “not your ordinary pub” is, frankly, cobblers.
Design-wise, the Abel is a modern mishmash. Most obviously, it seeks to recreate a vintage, 19th-century boozer (faux, nicotine-stained Anaglypta ceiling, Victoriana, leather booths, expanses of dark wood), but it also flirts with hip industrial design details softened by some peculiarly middle-aged flourishes – notably, the outbreaks of floral-patterned furniture.
It is a crowd-pleaser, and the crowd loves it. On a Thursday evening in January, the bar was noisy with music – predominantly Mancunian – and the chat and laughter of professionals who have embraced the Abel as an easy-going, after-work drinking haunt. Upstairs, a quieter, wood-panelled floor is reserved for more civilised conversation.
In a city sorely lacking individual, original boutique accommodation, Abel’s bedrooms are smart and well-equipped (firm, comfy bed; huge telly; strong Wi-Fi; sound amenities and soundproofing), but feel pretty corporate. The key features – a huge digital wall print of Manchester at night and some colourful Iberian-style bathroom tiles – did not distinguish my otherwise sedately furnished room.
The rooms offer good value, however, unlike the food, which (an £11.95 scallop starter, in a pub!?) seems to be three or four quid a dish more than it should be for such ordinary quality. Brisket hash (£7.95), more a rosti threaded with too little brisket, lacked impact. The house burger (£12.75) was a dense, XXL hunk of coarsely ground meat, which was ultimately hard, chewy work. Served with marginally undercooked chips, it lacked lubricating fat, tasted mainly of onion and herbs, and compared poorly to the patties served at nearby Solita or Almost Famous. It tasted old-fashioned.
Beer-wise, things were better. Hydes (pint from £3.25) is one of the UK’s better traditional brewers. Its Brass Monkey is a relatively upfront English bitter and its Beer Studio produces some OK craft beers. Although, going from its zesty Glacier Blonde to one of the Abel’s US imports, Flying Dog’s pale ale, was like switching from black and white to riotous Technicolor. Comparatively, it just has so much flavour.
Of course, I would rather stay at the Abel than its ubiquitous chain hotel rivals (it’s small, it’s friendly, it serves decent beer), but only by default. There is a still a huge gap in the market for a one-off Northern Quarter flophouse which, like Brighton’s Pelirocco or Berlin’s Michelberger, genuinely embodies the area’s youth, vigour and independent spirit. Will it happen? Given the Northern Quarter’s current trajectory? No.
• Accommodation was provided by Abel Heywood (0161 819 1441, abelheywood.co.uk). Room-only from £70, breakfast from £3.50 (full breakfast £8.50)
Ask a local
Jayne Compton, programmer at venue/gallery Kraak, and the Contact Theatre
• Drink and eat
The Marble Arch Inn is a beautiful listed building, which serves its own award-winning Marble beers. I also love Simon Rogan’s restaurants, Mr Cooper’s and The French, in the grand Victorian Midland Hotel. For cocktails and the sunset over Salford, visit the 12th-floor bar at Manchester House.
• Culture
I’m looking forward to the opening (14 February) of the refurbished Whitworth gallery. The HOME arts centre is great too. The annual open-weekend at Rogue artist studios is a great place to see local artists’ work.
• Shopping
Touring bands often visit the legendary Piccadilly Records on Oldham Street, where wise staff assist record collectors from all over the world.
• Sites
Ancoats marina, where the Rochdale and Ashton canals meet, is a great place to immerse yourself in Manchester’s industrial past.
