This historic pub in the Ancoats area of Manchester has been described by food critic Jay Rayner as a “great place to eat.”
The building has stood in Ancoats since 1811, in the heart of Britain’s first industrial suburb. The historic Victorian pub, which had been abandoned and left derelict, was reopened in 2019 by owners Nick and Hayley Muir.
As well as owning The Edinburgh Castle they also own two other venues in the city including the newly closed Cottonopolis, which is set to reopen as a new concept, and The Libertine in Withington.
Executive chef Shaun Moffat, who joined the group in September 2022 having previously worked at Berber & Q, Shoreditch's Manteca, and at restaurants within the Jamie Oliver Group, is responsible for overseeing the food offer at the venues.
The Edinburgh Castle, which has an upstairs restaurant, offers a small menu of traditional British dishes featuring locally-sourced ingredients and products from local suppliers, such as sourdough bread from Manchester’s Pollen Bakery.
Dishes include specialities such as Colchester oysters & Rhubarb mignonette, Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese doughnuts and Red House farm cull ewe - saddle chop. Sunday lunch offers a set menu with two or three courses.
The Good Food Guide named it among one of Britain’s cosiest pubs describing it as “a handsome example of a classic Victorian city boozer.”
While according to Jay Rayner: “There’s a deftness, solidity and wit to the cooking, utilising ingredients of quality. The service is sometimes chaotic but, like a primary school ballet class, always enthusiastic.”
He praised the “touches of pronounced Northern-ness.”
“The chips are cooked in dripping; they fair reek of saturated animal fats. I love the slabs of sourdough that have been dredged through the meat juices loitering in the pan in which the main-course chops were cooked,”
The pub also offers wide selection of craft beer, cask ale and whisky.
