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On his recent visit to Stockport, Paul Mudge lent me a vintage pub guide he owned entitled The Greater Manchester Good Beer Guide. It isn’t dated but, from some of the long-defunct pubs it features such as the Club House and Grove in Stockport, I’d say it probably dates from around 1976.
I’ve done a few scans of my local areas which I’ve put up on my website for your perusal. Bear in mind that it’s a selective, not a comprehensive, guide, and some very familiar and highly-regarded pubs are conspicuous by their absence, such as Sam Smith’s Boar’s Head in Stockport, which was one of the highlights of our pub-crawl. From the comments on other pubs it may be that Sam’s were just emerging from a flirtation with keg beer. No Armoury, Davenport Arms or Nursery either.
The high proportion of real ale dispensed by electric pump is also very evident.
Manchester City Centre
Manchester Suburbs Part 1
Manchester Suburbs Part 2
Stockport Suburbs
Stockport Town Centre and Tameside Part 1
Tameside Part 2
Tameside Part 3 and Trafford
As with many early pub guides, the descriptions often vary from terse to non-existent, but they include some gems such as:
“Quiet, well-kept pub for animal lovers”
“Imposing pub maintains cool pint in summer – rattles your teeth in winter”
“Haunt of the chunky sweater brigade”
“Good beer in odd atmosphere”


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