The Whitworth

Unfortunately this place has been closed down recently but I enjoyed a good few pints in here as a student just before it closed. Dingy exterior may dissuade people from entering but the local, friendly atmosphere inside definitely made it a good local to have. Sadly missed. even if it was rather on the small side.

I noticed what Bex T noticed too — the Whitty was totally dead when I made my debut there! Then again this was between Christmas and New Year, when a good number of Manchester pubs were in fact closed. So perhaps it’s the side-​street location down at the beginning of the Curry Mile lets it down?
But there’s nothing wrong with it. Maybe it doesn’t feel quite as cosy as you’d like your pub to in winter, but it’s been done up, spruced about and is looking all the better for it judging by some previous reviews. If you get bored of your book, your conversation or your company, there are two screens showing separate channels with subtitles — one was Film4 and one 4Music on our visit, but we assume that during sporty times they’re used to broadcast games and matches. And it scored major brownie points with me for having all three flavours of that delicious new Magners you can buy, spiced apple and honey, spiced apple and rhubarb and pear and ginger. Yummers!
It’s not somewhere I’d actively seek out but it does the job well enough… For us, for example, we came here because the Rampant Lion was closed, and it was handily close to my bus route home. It’s a good pitstop on the way to somewhere else and the drinks prices aren’t unreasonable, plus the service was perfectly friendly. There’s a nicely decorated outdoor patio for the smokers, and as a bonus, the ladies’ loos were not in the slightest bit grubby! Bonus.

Ok– this isnt the greatest pub by a long way, infact girls dont even go to the toilets cos their flooded and dont lock, and it was still the same a week later when i went back in, after saying something to the Manager. Also the interior inside is stuck in the 90s– not old and not new. But I did think its got a great beer garden. And give it is far due– its right next to Curry Mile (not renwoned for its drinking culture) and opposite a Weatherspoons and other massive chain pub so the fact that its still goin is pretty amazing. I went to the open mic which is dire, but i do think the WHitworth would be a good place to go on a nice summer day to have a pint before u go for a curry. And the staff are pretty nice.

Giving off the feeling of a traditional old fellas’ pub from the outside (and the name), The Whitworth is a deceptive little gem in an area with very little in the way of drinking venues.
Just off the Wilmslow Road, at the Oxford Road end of the Curry Mile, this little pub has a relaxed atmosphere that’s ideal for weekday pints. The décor has been given an overhaul and now feels both modern and cosy, with loads of room round traditional pub tables. The deck outside the back door is large and, with umbrellas at every table, ideal for smokers looking for a sit down drink.
The drinks are good, with offers on spirits that might convince you into more than you came for, and there’s usually a real ale or two on the go as well.
As for the crowd, it’s often criminally quiet in here, though occasionally there’s a good mix of young and old at events like acoustic nights or quizzes. The staff are always as friendly as you could hope for, making it the sort of place you’ll want to revisit even for a swift half.

I feel sorry for the Whitworth. It really should be doing better than it is. Just off a main road in the middle of studentville, The Whitworth should really be heaving with student drinkers but it isn’t. Every time I’ve been in its been completely dead.
The pub itself is fine, a little grubby, but perfectly acceptable. They serve some good ales and ciders and some nice food. The jukebox has a good selection of Manchester bands and some world music which seems a little out of the ordinary for a place like this. The look is a basic old man pub with a few bits of art splashed here and there which doesn’t really fit.
A nice place for a quiet drink, don’t expect a party atmosphere here. Go in and give the Whitworth a try because it really is a lovely little pub.

Perfect place for a post-​curry pint within spitting-​distance of central Rusholme. Also has some reasonable drinks offers (try the £2 pint of ‘Numpty’ lager, it’s actually not that bad). Otherwise, not a great selection of beers but great value for what it has. Nice mixture of pub-​bar décor and a healthy selection of events nights on a regular basis. Thumbs up.

I’ve been going to this place on and off for eight or nine years now, and I love it! Always popular with an older crowd, it’s got a little younger and more alternative in recent years due to the opening of Saki Bar next door. However, it still feels like a nice traditional pub!
It’s a cosy pub with TV’s, a nice beer garden and some great real ales, including changing Hyde’s guest beers. There’s nearly always somewhere to sit too, so it’s a great place to meet your friends for a quiet drink. In the last few months, I’ve noticed a sign advertising the Whitworth as a ‘coffee house and bar’. I haven’t been in since then, so I don’t know how much has changed. But hopefully, they haven’t changed this lovely old place too much!

I guess the fact that all of the reviewers thus far have rated the Whitworth as ‘A-​OK’ says a lot about this pub.
It is a distinctly average old pub, but don’t expect it to be traditional in a quaint way. It bears more resemblance to the Rovers Return than the Lass ‘O’ Gowrie. As a student, when I got bored with pulling out my Yellow card or V card in the samey student bars I would sometimes make a visit here to ensure I got a dose of reality, and that is what I got. The Whitworth is also the only pub in which I have been slobbered all over by a gigantic dog. Oh, I’ve just realised that Rob has mentioned the dog too — I wish the dog had have been asleep when I went in!
I’d recommend a visit if you’d like to sup an ale whilst gaining an insight into working-​class Mancunian life, but beware that the pub does smell a little bit like old men and dogs, which is unsurprising to say the least.

Back in the day, The Whitworth was an actual smelly old man pub whose staff were hideously underskilled and whose chairs were broken and crappy. It was also a lot of fun, with lock-​ins and poker nights and a fantastic quiz. My abiding memory of The Whitworth is the quiz night when our team, The Tits, were locked in a head-​to-​head game of GIANT JENGA with a team of massive nerds, to determine who won. Naturally, as I am a clutz, I was told to stay away from the GIANT JENGA whilst my more nimble team mates bore us to a glorious victory. Our prize? A drink each, on the house. It was almost 1am. We had been there since the start of the quiz at 8pm, and that was my first of many Whitworth lock-​ins.
Now, of course, it’s been taken over by new management, so the above no longer applies. I’ve been in a few times since the takeover, and I’ve got to say I’m not that impressed. It’s been redecorated to a degree, and there’s less broken stuff. There’s no sight or mention of GIANT JENGA, and the patch of ceiling that became an exposed mess of charred wood after a fire has been repaired.
The beer garden is a good one, and totally unexpected judging from the pub’s frontage, and it’s got heaters on for us winter smokers.
All in all, it’s a nice little pub where you can usually find a seat. I guess, for me, compared to its old characterful ways, it’s just too bland.

Due to its location, The Whitworth doesn’t have a booming student contingent, although it does certainly have its share. What it does have is that good old local feel, even if I imagine many may have now defected to Wetherspoons across the road. The style is old, the outside looks ancient, and they even used to have a decrepit old dog that permanently slept on the floor. He may have died now though.
I’d like to really love The Whitworth, to feel a real affection for it, but the most I can muster is a tepid smile when I think of it. I think it feels too old, as if it’s fallen through a portal from forty years ago and re-​emerged today. It doesn’t seem to do anything particularly special, and with Wetherspoons across the road the prices are too high without anything to justify them.
There is a beer garden, which is about the only real selling point, but that’s not enough to compel me to go. I’d rather have a lively atmosphere any day.

This building looks like a terrace house with its neighbours knocked down. The whitworth glows across the park and many the traditional pub drinker heads there. Deviod of students, whether that makes a good or bad thing the whitworth is there for the true locals, i.e. families and the such. There are a few great TVs for watching the big matches and the ale sits in the £2.50 mark. During hot days the extensive beer garden in the back is perfect for relaxing out with friends. Don’t let the dilapidated look of the outside turn you away the whitworth is a quaint little watering hole.

The pub looks deceivingly small from the outside but once you go inside its massivei think its had a change of management and had undergone refurbishment because it looks modern in the inside and has two beautiful beer gardens at the back and on the outside, gone are the dingy carpets and old Victorian style seating.
I watched the Spurs V Manu match here over the weekend, i was surprised when my mates told me they were watching the match here cos i thought the place was a dump, the place is not bad for watching live sports (Inc. ESPN Sports) because it has about five plasma screens and a friendly crowd of mainly locals, families and football fans.
They food didn’t look bad either, i am definitely coming here again for the next match.
Gives Varsity across the road a run for its money and the bonus is that is not full of students!!!

The Whitworth looks run down from the outside… and on the inside it is kinda devoid of students despite being in the middle of studentville. Make of that what you will.