The Marble Arch

The Marble Arch is a cozy little real ale pub off the beaten path, about a 10 – 15 minute walk from Manchester city centre. They offer a great range of real ales (including of course those by their own micro-​brew, Marble Arch) — though at not quite bargain prices. E.g. a pint of their 6.4% IPA cost me UKP 5.50! Even the lower strength Chocolate Marble, which is an excellent «session stout», is UKP 3.85. A number of guest ales are available, too.
There is the main room toward the front, then a tiny dining area next to the kitchen (not very well groomed, I’m afraid), and a small beer garden to the rear. On weekends, all of these tend to get busy — despite the fact that there are no TVs for sports fans! The décor in the main bar room is very nice, very quaint. The staff are friendly and helpful, knowledgeable about their beers.

Beautiful and traditional Victorian décor? Tick.
Home brewed and award winning ales? Tick.
Beer garden (yes it’s a yard, but that’s more than you usually get.)? Tick.
The Marble Arch is everything a good pub should be. As soon as you walk in the atmosphere is buzzing, which may be something to do with the 9% ale I ordered as my first pint… Marble beers are some of my favourites, for chocoholics I recommend the Chocolate Marble, for a pale ale with a difference go for the Ginger 5.1.
We decided to go again a few days later to see if the food lived up to the beer and we weren’t disappointed. I ordered the stilton and spinach roulade and the boyfriend ordered the Marble Burger. Both dishes were faultless, and the friendliness of the staff just topped it all off.
Definitely worth the slight walk out of town.

This is a lovely little watering hole in Manchester that was always a place I met up with friends when my boyfriend lived nearer to it! The food is incredible. It’s easily fine dining in my eyes! Whoever the chef is deserves a huge kiss on the forehead for their innovative dishes.
Plus, the Marbles also been on Cucumber so that automatically puts it at the top of the list of my favourite things!

I eventually got to the Marble Arch after years of planning on getting here and only just getting as far as the Angel — what looks like a fairly industrial and busy road (Rochdale Road) this quality and classic pub from the 1800’s stands out and offers something pretty impressive considering everything else around it is a wasteland…
Great beer is served up by Marble and the actual main room is a fine spectacle of Victorian architecture — it’s very tight, very cosy but really does seem to be amazing and attract such a wide variety of patrons.
I was just after a casual lunch and ate their fantastic pork and black pudding burger in the back room (was very tempted by a large pub lunch menu — especially the fish & chips) — and they have a fairly impressive proper dining room menu which will definitely have to be saved for another day. Put it this way, I was tempted by the lamb and haggis with vege but I really couldn’t justify spending £18.95 on lunch — it will have to be one for dinner with my wife in future or a nice meal out with friends.
A great place for every occasion, check it out!

This was an excellent choice for Sunday lunch on my dad’s visit to Manchester. He loved the the beautiful old tiling (names of alcohol tiled into the wall!) and opted for the bitter and fish & chips. I had a chestnut and pork burger which was really excellent complimented by not one or two but THREE delicious condiments (onion marmalade, peppercorn sauce and blue cheese dip)
Cider options were limited on tap (Strongbow or the very strong still stuff — I only managed a half!) and if you want a massive range of quirky spirits you’d be better off at the Briton’s Protection, Atlas or Sandbar but for sheer beautiful pub, friendly staff and good local ales this place is top notch.
My only gripe is the insane pricing on the non-​pub grub part of the menu. How can it be justified to spend £18 on a meal in a pub in Ancoats? Granted I am sure its delicious because our food was and the menu is super interesting and appetising, including great vegetarian options like a pumpkin burger and stuffed courgette but I personally could not ever afford it and it’s disappointing to come to a pub and be barred from half the menu.
HOWEVER there is a stunning and affordable CHEESE MENU. CHEESE MENU. How great.

Everything is not what it seems at the Marble Arch!
From the outside it looks like something off the tv series ‘two pints of larger and a packet of crisp’ step in side and you find yourself sat under some amazing mozake work and you feel like you’ve travelled back in time 80 years. You take a look at the menu and wonder if the food is really as good as everyone says it is whilst your slurping down your cask ale! As your food is placed I front of you your initial thoughts are wow! The homemade chips are so moorish and befor you know it you’ve eaten them all and your burgers still sat there waiting for you! :D
This is a great place for couples or small groups, it can get a little nosiy at times but once your submerged in your food you soon forget about it!

It’s everything a real pub should be. There’s a proper mix of clientele, ale and furniture.
Myself and a friend always seem to end up here. It’s our go-​to place when we’re in need of a chat, some entertainment (mainly courtesy of the people in there), free parking (on the road after 6) and a drink. There’s a wide range of ales, which you can often sample before choosing. Just recently there’s been a great ginger ale and a potent stout (at around £3 a pint) — both enjoyable depending on the type of day you’ve had.
Halfway to grotty, almost homely, always friendly.
It’s no wonder this place is popular.

Finally got a chance to go to The Marble Arch thanks to a surprise trip organised by my wife, I was totally delighted to visit on a Saturday tea time for brilliant (possibly the best) beer & good bar food, great work wifey!
The only thing that has stopped me visiting The Marble Arch before is it’s location just on the edge of the city centre past Shudehill, you’re unlikely to stumble across the pub, you’ve got to be making a pilgrimage there — I’m just annoyed with myself for not making the pilgrimage before.
For those that don’t know, The Marble Arch is the pub to which the Manchester brewers Marble Beers was previously attached, since the beer making arm has grown they’ve had to move to bigger premises, but they’ve not forgotten their roots and left behind a super little old boozer, full of character in the tiles, snugs and every drop of beer. As well as Marble’s own wide range of beers there’s also plenty of guest ales, ciders and what looked to be an ok wine selection — I can’t say for sure, I only had eyes for the Earl Grey & Lagonda IPAs, which are simply two of the best beers I’ve ever had the fortune to taste.
Food is of the bar variety found all over, but there’s some quality ingredients used, the sausage I ate was smoky, dense and reassuringly tasty — the bread that housed it in a slightly oddball fashion I wasn’t sure about on first inspection, but turned out to be pretty good. My wife went for a selection of grilled meats which looked pretty tasty and she enjoyed and the cheese board we shared after was super, if a little pricey. We only managed four cheeses, but those of a particularly cheesy disposition can test their mettle with a 9 cheese board for guaranteed crazy dreams! I don’t think I’d make the trip to Marble Arch specially for the food, but I wouldn’t be disappointed with having to eat here on a future trip either.
The bar itself is split into 2 rooms, on entering you are greeted with a large main lounge, with seating all around the sides, a few tables and the bar set into the far corner, but walking round that takes you to the quieter back room where you can nosy at the chefs busying themselves making our din dins, friendly they were too when I started bothering them with ingredients queries. Walking through the back room takes you to the outdoor seating area, which was basking in the sunshine on our visit.
I can’t wait to go back to Marble Arch, though maybe not today, that Earl Grey IPA has quite a kick you know.

The Unilocal Manchester Craft Beer Club’s Northern Quarter tour stopped at The Marble Arch after a stint at Port Street Beer House (see review
). I have a real affinity for this place with its floor on a slight decline, so it feels like the place is literally encouraging punters to the bar due to gravity. Reminds me a bit of the Cemetery Hotel pub in my hometown of Rochdale.
Marble Brewery has, in a short space of time, become one of my real favourites, so their flagship listed building on Rochdale Road feels like a new ‘beer Mecca’ for me. Bit of a shame it’s very much on the outskirts of town, but again, if it were any closer it would most likely be impossible to get through the front doors.
That being said, the two times I’ve visited it was especially busy, the bar isn’t the biggest even with some 11 pumps pouring forth their delicious range and also guest ales, so expect a bit of a wait to be served.
I was mildly devastated to find that their Earl Grey IPA was off the night I was there, so coupled with the fact that a bottle of it in Marble (see review
) was prohibitively expensive, I have yet to enjoy a glass of it in Manchester!
As the front bar area was so packed with drinkers our group walked past the bar to the rear seating next to their kitchen. A lot less ‘atmosphere’ back here but at least we could all get a seat.