66 Oldham Street
City Centre
Manchester
M4 1LE
0161 237 9485
The Castle Hotel is in a Grade II listed building dating back to the early 1800s and has been a pub since at least 1816. The lovely tiled frontage was added in 1900 by Kays Atlas Brewery of Ardwick who had a number of other pubs with ceramic exteriors (photos 1 & 4).
The magnificent ceramic bar counter was also added to the public bar at this time and is one of only 13 left in the UK (photo 3). The bar parlour just behind also has original features including fixed benches and bell pushes, complemented by an old piano, fireplace and bookshelf(photo 3). The lovely art nouveau etched glass Bar Parlour window in the doorway is possibly more recent (photo 2).
Robinsons Brewery took over Kays in the 1930s and the pub now serves three of their beers plus two guests.
The pub rooms are used by community and music groups for activities and rehearsals, and there are frequent live gigs in the music room upstairs or in the large back room. Gigs are listed on both the pub website and on the Facebook page. The Castle is a strong supporter of the Manchester music scene and backed the ‘Save our Venues’ campaign in the pandemic lockdowns of 2020-21.
Click or tap photo to enlarge. Scroll down for photo downloads.
