AN ANCIENT city centre pub is beating inflation by continuing to serve its customers with pints of lager so cheap it’s just like stepping back in time.
Sinclair’s Oyster Bar in Manchester is renowned for its old-world interior and its fascinating history, but it is also famed for its low prices with a pint of mild or dark lager setting you back a mere £2.40.
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The Grade II listed building was moved and meticulously rebuilt brick by brick following damage during the Christmas blitz in 1941 and a later close call with an IRA bomb in 1996.
Today, the 1720s picturesque inn is still standing proudly in its most recent spot.
As part of the Samuel Smith’s chain, it also aims to recreate the simpler times of the past, with mobile phones banned inside, to encourage punters to chat while sipping on their bargain beer.
As recent as last week, the cheapest pints were £2.20 – with a small increase now added as the cost of living soars.
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The prices are low, the pub looks great – so we can’t complain
Matt Woods
Despite its prime city centre location, it’s famed for its amazing value – with the pub’s most expensive premium lager still giving you change from a fiver at £4.60.
The chain has no outside contractors and offers no brands on draft behind the bar.
Customers Matt Woods, 36, and his fiance Chelsea Eastwood, 34, from Shaw, Oldham say they often visit the pub because it is so cheap.
Matt says: “Our local in Shaw is a Sam Smith pub and we know the beer and like it.
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“The beer is lovely and the staff are nice, with quick service.
“Prices went up £1 after Covid, but it is still cheaper than any other city centre pub, the prices are low, the pub looks great – so we can’t complain.”
I just couldn’t believe it was so cheap
Luis Lopez
Happy punter Antoine Goodwin, 50, who lives in Manchester, likes enjoying a few pints there with friends.
He said: “Samuel Smith pubs have always been a Manchester institution and I have been drinking in them since the 1990s.
“We like to visit the oldest pubs in Manchester and this one was rebuilt brick by brick.
“The prices are low and it seems like the place to go.”
Tourist Luis Lopez, visiting Manchester from Madrid to watch the Manchester City match against Real Madrid, called into the pub while in the city and said he was blown away by the price of a pint.
Pub sells ‘cheapest pints in the UK’ going for just £2.30 – almost HALF the average
He said: “I just couldn’t believe it was so cheap. It’s a really nice place and it is bang in the city centre.”
His dad Luis Miguel Lopez agreed.
He said: “We have bars and clubs in Spain but they are really expensive.
“Because of the character of the building, I would have thought it was much more expensive – it’s really cheap and really classy.”
In 1845 oysters were introduced to the menu and the much-loved pub still sells them in its cosy interior – a novelty for many.
Fellow Football fan Miguel Alonso said: “We were walking past and the prices are so nice.
“The oysters here are great – it is the first time we have seen this combination in a pub and it is the perfect match.
“We love the digital detox too.”
Another customer, who wished to not be named, said three football fans had enjoyed three pints for the price of one in the South and claimed it was better quality “as it had a head on it.”
He said: “They told me the three pints were cheaper than one in the South and tasted better.”
Tourists Rolan Olifirenko, 19, and Murager Muratov, 24, both students, said the difference in price between the Manchester pub and pints in some parts of London was stark.
They visited the pub after seeing it on social media.
Rolan said: “Yesterday we were in Euston Station in London and the pints were £6.50, here it is really affordable.
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“I had seen this pub on Instagram and I was interested in its history.
“We would happily come back here for sure.”
Britain’s cheapest beers
- Carlsberg – £4.25
- Carling – £4.27
- Greene King IPA – £4.28
- Foster’s – £4.30
- Hobgoblin – £4.31
- Coors Light – £4.34
- Doom Bar – £4.36
- Wainwright – £4.46
- Abbot Ale – £4.47
- Tribute Pale Ale – £4.48
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