Ducie Bridge

They sell beer. They have tables and chairs. You can watch the footy there. That’s about it.

Walking in to this place and seeing the barman, sound engineer and regulars reminded me of The Happy Mondays.
With an easy relaxed atmosphere, cheap drinks and happy people with no snotty attitudes adds to the good friendly atmosphere.
Seeing a friends band here proved that this venue is good for small live bands although be prepared for some good old 90’s music in the breaks!

Went here to see a friend of mines band. Check em out on Facebook Sam Smith & Company (My mate is the guitarist Danny Jones). Anyways its a pleasant warm little pub, cheap enough drinks and the clientele seemed chilled out enough for me. Not a fan of rowdy pubs to be honest. Its small but it works and has an acoustic/​band night on fridays good to see some local music. There a more youth friendly places out there but thats not to say this place is bad because it isn’t. A surprised person right here.

A pub? What, a PUB? But it’s… it’s… it’s so… central!
You’ve got to understand here in Manchester that our traditional pubs are often hidden gems, tucked away down side streets or along A roads or buried in that back and beyond known as Salford. Where I live. Ducie Bridge is however on Corporation Street down the road from the CIS. It might have all the classic signs of a pub — a faint odour of old men, late serving, but is it a pub as we know it?
Nah. It doesn’t have my beloved real ale and the draught lagers are Carling and Stella. So it could be… a real lager pub? Hmm… There are bar snacks such as Nobby’s Nuts, Wotsits, Walkers and Bacon Fries, but it lacks a pool table and even a jukebox. There’s a TV, quiz machine and fruit machine though. It’s pleasant for a quick drink, maybe on the way somewhere else but I wouldn’t choose to end the night here. And as a bonus for us girls, the loos are actually pretty clean and not in any way scary. And as a novelty factor, you’ve got two fake doors. Where else can you find those? A Lewis Carroll novel, perhaps?

The Ducie Bridge is that little pub on the corner of Corporation St and Miller St that you can see, having walked out of Victoria train station and up to the new Co-​Operative building. It is old, traditional, a John Holt pub. There is not much space, although the choice of drinks is good, and best of all, they’ve got an ace pool table! The table is positioned in the farthest end of the pub (close to the toilets, as well), and a large wall mirror will accompany your play. It is a great local pub, which seems to be quite popular with regulars, as with new visitors.

I was really surprised when I went in the Ducie Bridge at how pleasant it was. Some of the Joseph Holt pubs around Manchester can be a tiny bit sketch, but this place was warm and inviting, well set out, clean and modern inside.
The barman, who I think was the landlord, was immensely friendly and chatty. I really liked him. He was very mancunian and seemed to get on like a house on fire with everyone, whether they were randoms like me or the locals he saw every day.
Despite it being a Joseph Holt pub, there were a few ‘brand’ drinks on tap as well, like John Smiths, Stella and Carling. There’s also a basic menu of food on offer, where you can get something like a hot toasted sandwich for a couple of pounds.

The Ducie Bridge pub has recently been taken over by new management so look out for some changes coming very soon.
Centrally located, The Ducie is a refreshing change to all the pretentious chain bars masquerading as pubs, everything about this place is real and unashamed of being traditional.
Pub prices, pub atmosphere and pup people. They even do karaōke on Fridays and Saturdays!