The Old Monkey

You'll find yourself in one of those rare pubs that gets the balance just right between proper local and somewhere you'd actually bring your mates from out of town. The whiskey selection here is genuinely impressive – not just the usual suspects but bottles that'll make any spirit lover stop mid-conversation. The food goes well beyond standard pub fare, though it's still hearty enough to soak up a proper session. Tuesdays mean comedy nights upstairs, and while the quality varies (it's Manchester, not Edinburgh), there's something brilliantly unpretentious about catching new acts between pints. The pool table gets competitive after 8pm, and quiz nights bring out the city's most pedantic locals – exactly as it should be.