A few weeks ago I had the delightful opportunity of nipping into Manchester city centre with a couple of good friends of mine, Shaun Mcallister, who is the course leader of the National Diploma in photography at Blackburn college, and what a superb chap he is too. Also along for the ride was my mate Carlton Watt. one of the finest photographers I’ve ever met, almost as talented as yours truly. As an obsessive, I couldn’t help but take photographs throughout the day. For the photographers amongst you I used a Contax rangefinder with a Carl Zeiss lens. Blinding.
Superb light down an alley, just off St Annes Square, Manchester
After a great lunch and a pint or two in Sam’s Chop House we went to Manchester Art Gallery – http://www.manchestergalleries.org/. This is always worth a visit. We had a look at “Facing East – Recent Works from China, India and Japan from the Frank Cohen Collection”. Also, like the naughty schoolboys that we are, we had a quiet giggle at Ron Mueck’s highly detailed surreal, out of scale sculptures. If you have children these two shows are a must and are on until mid april. Check-out the their website for details.
Chinese herbal medicines
A small scale pub crawl ensued. A stroll through China Town brought us to my favourite pub of the night ‘The Circus Tavern’. Now I’m in no way a real ale fan. More of a lager boy me. All British beers that I have tried have tasted like fairy liquid, ugh. But this place is a real gem. This is what Camra say about it:
The Circus Tavern
86 Portland Street, Manchester. Tel: 0161-236 5818.
Reputedly, this is the smallest pub in Manchester, and has one of the smallest bars in Britain. Small, unsophisticated, little changed since its earliest days. Built around 1790, when Portland Street attracted performers, travelling entertainers and artists due to the nearby Circus at Chatham Street – hence the name of the pub. No food or music. An authentic “old” early 19th century pub, where atmosphere, good ales and conversation are the order of the day.
The Circus Tavern. Warm inside, cold and wet out.
From there we went for a curry, home by train…. Sore head by morning.