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This brilliant Salutation pub close to Manchester's universities is let down by the hotel's decidedly lacklustre rooms
Call me fussy, but if there's one thing I don't want to do in a hotel, it's make my own bed. But, here I am, sorting out the poppers on a duvet cover inexplicably left open, and just tucked under the mattress, like a sheet.
In a small way – irritating because it is such a basic detail – that sums up the Salutation experience. For a budget stopover, it is fundamentally sound, but, like patches of paint around the window frames, it is peeling at the edges for want of someone with a keen eye and a bit of energy taking the rooms in hand. Which is slightly galling, given that this vintage Victorian pub is run by the Trof group, which owns some of the best bars and gig spaces in Manchester.
Even on a Wednesday evening, the downstairs bar is buzzing, in a civilised way. It is packed with students and academics from the surrounding university buildings, and little wonder. The pub has been buffed up, but in a way that only reasserts its heritage features (it's all burgundy Chesterfield banquettes, panelled and etched windows, bottles glinting behind an original dark wood bar), and both the beer (four real ales, pint from £3) and the food are A1.
The group's bakery is on the site and its chef, Mark Wegner, rustles up pies and stews for the bar. A large braised ox cheek number, served (pie pedants won't like this) in an enamelled dish, under a buttery cushion of puff pastry, was thick with chunks of sticky, melting meat, its red wine and mustard sauce the kind of gravy that spreads a deep satisfaction in the soul. Served with good sourdough bread and floridly perfumed red cabbage, the pies cost just £5. A bargain.
If only my room had given me such a warm, welcoming hug. Don't get me wrong, the bed is firm, the pillows are duck-down effect, the bathroom is clean, and the rather drizzling shower stocked with retail-size bottles of Radox and Pantene – which beats tiny, fiddly individual bottles.
In lieu of a breakfast service proper (guests get 10% off at other Trof venues), a complimentary to-go breakfast – bag of fruit, flapjack and muffin – is a nice touch. As is the noon check-out time.
In other ways, however, my room feels like a wasted opportunity. A white/artillery grey colour scheme painted over (the old?) Anaglypta wallpaper, and somewhat tokenistically dressed with trendy, arty stencils, can't disguise the fact that, in other ways – grimy windows that need a scrub, inside; badly fitted lino in the bathroom; scuffed furniture; horrible, hardwearing carpet – this still feels like a rather gloomy pub bedroom.
Take the Salutation as a whole package – fantastic pub, basic rooms, keen prices – and it's acceptable. But that is all the enthusiasm I can muster.
