A bar crawl to remember (or forget)

Eight pubs, one direction, and no medal for finishing. Do the first three if you want a story you can still tell at breakfast. Do all eight if you have decided that tomorrow is a problem for tomorrow.

The Marble Arch still brews its own, and the tiles are the Victorian kind, the sort you notice while you can still read a pump clip. Crown & Kettle is the next room that deserves your neck: the ceiling is the whole point, so look up before the place fills and you are busy keeping your spot.

Oldham Street is where the plan becomes optional. Gullivers if you want a staircase and a jukebox with opinions. The Castle if a band is on, and often if one isn’t. Night & Day if the gig has already chosen the rest of the evening for you. Port Street Beer House is the small room with the long list, and the last easy moment to admit you are hungry.

Then you walk. It is about fifteen minutes if Chinatown doesn’t detain you, and Chinatown should detain you. Eat. The Peveril of the Peak is the green-tiled pub on Great Bridgewater Street, smaller than its reputation and better for it. The Briton’s Protection is a short step further, cask ale and glass that remembers other people’s wars. Deansgate-Castlefield is the tram home.

If you only manage the tiles, do the Peveril and the Briton’s and pretend that was always the plan. Halves are allowed. So is stopping at The Castle because a song is good.

In the morning, if you still have knees, the walking tour starts at Chetham’s Library and ends in Castlefield, which is rude, because that is also where this crawl ends. The wider set of old buildings is on the landmarks map.