Over the past few years, I’ve reconnected with my cousin Sarah, who, like me, obtained Austrian citizenship through the same family lineage. Sarah is a veterinary surgical oncologist in Canada, a stand-up comedian, author and podcaster.
In October, she performed at the Women in Comedy Festival in Manchester, England, so Nik and I decided to turn it into a trip and catch the show. We spent three nights in Manchester where Nik and I covered a lot of ground and enjoyed catching up with Sarah and meeting her husband, Steve.
Getting to Manchester
As Nik and I had done for our previous trips that were by train or plane, we booked a dogsitter for Koval once again through TrustedHouseSitters, so we knew he was in good hands.
It was surprisingly easy to get to Manchester with a direct flight from Nice to Manchester on EasyJet. We landed just after 11:00am local time and took the train into the city and then walked to our hotel.
Of course we stayed at a Marriott property and this one was located in a cool part of town known as The Northern Quarter. Staying at The Reach at Piccadilly, Manchester, put us in a convenient location to the train station and close to the venue for Sarah’s show.
From our initial arrival, I knew we would like Manchester. It was an easy city to get around on foot and the gorgeous architecture was everywhere.
Dining out in Manchester
For this trip, I was looking forward to having a variety of fish and chips and scotch eggs. Things didn’t go as planned in Manchester, but we still ate pretty well. We even hit a few craft beer spots. Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter is a pretty nice pedestrian street lined with eating and drinking options, so we stopped at a few places along that street.
Nell’s Kampus
Our first order of business after checking in was to grab some lunch. We made a short walk to Nell’s Kampus for NY style pizza. This was a spot we read about in a Travel + Leisure magazine article.
It was a pretty big space with a nice variety of pizza and drink options, including their own lager. Nik and I went with the ‘double down pepperoni’ which was delicious. We’re so glad to have stopped in.
Fell Brewery in Northern Quarter
Following lunch, we started out on a little pub crawl, stopping at a handful spots all within a few blocks of each other and not terribly far from our hotel. Fell Brewery was our first stop offering 14 beers on draft.
When we first arrived, it was pretty busy and seemed like a beer tour was just finishing up a stop. Once they cleared out, a bunch of seating opened up but we opted to sit outside with our beers. We stayed for a round before moving on.
Northern Monk
From Fell Brewery, we walked around the corner to Northern Monk which was also pretty busy. We took a seat at a high top and ordered beers at the bar.
Their kitchen regularly hosts takeovers from local food vendors, and during our visit, Cardinal Rule was serving a menu of biscuit sandwiches. While we weren’t hungry this time, we did go back the next morning for brunch. The bacon, egg and cheese biscuit was delicious and the Bloody Mary with a bacon garnish was outstanding. Nik had biscuits and gravy.
Port Street Beer House
Next on our crawl was a stop at Port Street Beer House not too far away. Though their website says it’s been open since 2011, it felt like an old dive bar. There were several floors to the bar, but we grabbed a spot on the main level.
The Bay Horse Tavern
It was finally time for dinner and we made our way to The Bay Horse Tavern, after a quick stop at The Crown & Anchor where we each drank a rather underwhelming beer. We picked The Bay Horse Tavern from Google Maps and when we got there, it was really busy. It took us a bit before getting seats at a shared hightop table.
Nik and I shared two dishes, peri-peri chicken wings and the steak and ale pie. Both were very good.
Other places we ate or drank at, with very few pictures taken by us, include: The Smithfield Social, Tib Street Tavern, Nancy Spains (an Irish Bar), The Salmonm Pub and Evuna NQ where we had a group dinner of Spanish tapas with Sarah, Steve and their friend Adrian.
Women in Comedy Festival
My cousin Sarah who was participating in Manchester’s Women in Comedy Festival has an impressive career background and a hilariously written bio, that you should check out here.
This marked the festival’s 14th year and it was held in the upstairs room at The Fitzgerald.
Knowing Sarah has been performing in Canada for several years now, I was excited to make this trip with Nik and see her perform in person. The show started at 3:30 in the afternoon and with plenty of seating, we got put in the front row. Sarah delivered a really great set, about 20 minutes long, and had us laughing throughout.
Overall, Nik and I really enjoyed our couple days in Manchester. Coming in separate blog posts will be more about our day trip from Manchester to Liverpool and our one night in London where we saw a play and caught up with Sarah and Steve again. More soon!
I always enjoy this blog. It looks like Manchester is the place to go for beer and good eats. How cool is it to have a comedienne in the family.