A popular Greater Manchester’s pub has been highlighted as being home to one of the best beer gardens in England.
With ‘Step Two’ in the government’s roadmap to lifting England’s current national lockdown now well underway – which crucially allowed hospitality businesses to reopen for outdoor service for the first time in three months – and the sunshine showing up to go along with it, there’s no doubt that many of us will be heading to our favourite local beer gardens.
This is why renowned travel website Big 7 Travel has decided to rank its top 25 beer gardens in the country, ordering them based on editorial opinions and experiences.
And one Greater Manchester pub has earned itself a place in the coveted rankings.
Ramsbottom’s very-ownEagle + Childcame in at number 21 on the list, with praise going to its unique “edible beer garden” where it grows its own fruit and vegetables, and its incredible views over the historic market town centre and across to Peel Tower.
Eagle + Child
Revealing what made the Bury-based beer garden so special, Big 7 Travel said: “Glen Duckett, the mastermind behind Ramsbottom’s Eagle + Child, had a different sort of vision for the one-acre of disused land when he acquired the pub back in 2011.
“The Edible Beer Garden.
“Today, you can order your tipple of choice outdoors and sit surrounded by pots and planters of veg, fruit and herbs all used to cook up a delicious storm in the kitchen.
“There’s also the Messy Play’ for kids under 10 too, with willow weaving workshops, basic horticulture training and lots of games”.
Sadly though, despite restrictions now allowing the venue to reopen its commended beer garden, ongoing necessary maintenance work has lead Eagle + Child to make the decision not to open its doors to the public until 17th May.
There’ll still be plenty of sun-filled days to make the most of it this summer though.
Elsewhere on the Big 7 Travel list, Eagle + Child is joined by fellow North West-based pubs The Pump House in Liverpool, and The Cartford Inn in Little Eccles, Lancashire in the top 25.
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
Emily Sergeant -
15th April 2021 
