The Circus Tavern

You walk into The Circus Tavern and immediately clock that this is what Manchester pubs used to be like before craft beer and exposed brick took over everything. The kind of place where regulars still prop up the bar mid-afternoon and nobody's trying to reinvent the wheel with their food menu. The Portland Street location puts you right in the thick of the Northern Quarter, but step inside and you're transported to a different era entirely. They do solid pub classics without any faffing about, and the pints are reliably good. It's the sort of spot where you pop in for one after work and somehow end up staying until closing, probably because everyone's so bloody friendly and the atmosphere just works.