Lass O’Gowrie

This is a nice place to watch football. I was here 2 years ago for the World Cup, then this week for the Euro 2016. They used to have a big screen with projector, but not this year. Not sure whether it’s because it was still a group stage game. The place is near university north campus, so it’s popular with academics. I like the relaxing atmosphere here & have organised a few gatherings here for my PhD friends. Lots of beers to choose from & reasonable price.

I’ve been coming to Lass O’Gowrie fairly often, especially after maths seminars to enjoy (usually more than) a pint with the speaker and the fellow algebraists. The building and the décor just drive me crazy, and I’m quite fond of many of their beers. I can never say no to a pint of Guinness.
Sometimes there’s live music, usually on Wednesdays. Advice for geek customers: they also have a few board games, but this latter are very well hidden behind the counter.
Just a negative remark: the kitchen closes early, around 6pm if I’m not wrong. This has always been a drawback in pretty much all the occasions I headed here; therefore, if you don’t want to leave at some point in the search of food, just come after dinner. :)

Famous, quaint, old-​style pub with some interesting interior design and a certain oldie worldly cosy atmosphere.
Real ales are available in the Lass O’ Gowrie.
Worth a look.

To start my (pub) tour of Manchester, I met up with Unilocalers Michael B. and Emily B. here. It was suggested as it is close to the hotel I was at, and that seemed incredibly easy so here it was.
I got a beer. They honestly didn’t have the best selection of beers on draught. That is often how I judge my pubs. I don’t know if that’s the way one should do it, but that’s how I do it. The beer was nice, and hey it beat paying prices in London.
The bar staff was also quite friendly, and did a decent job of clearing glasses off of tables. It’s definitely an easy place to hang out with ample seating both indoors and out.

Featuring high on my list of the most splendid-​looking pubs in Manchester, this Victorian glazed tile building is a diamond in a very rough looking section of the city. It currently enjoys views of wasteland where the now-​demolished BBC offices used to be. There are plans to reinvigorate the area now thankfully.
The interior was refurbished recently and there are still plenty of traditional features to be found. There’s even an upright piano in the corner if a punter was feeling merry enough to have ‘a tinkle on the ivories’.
They have about half a dozen handpulls on the bar, although when we visited only two were in use. It’s a Greene King pub so their beers are also served here.
There’s a snug tucked away for small informal gatherings (a few of us have played board games in here in the past) and a much larger room upstairs that you can hire out.
It’s a decent enough meeting point if you were going to The Dancehouse theatre or to Zouk for a curry (it’s also near to EastZEast but that’s no where near as good).

The Lass O’Gowrie is one of the first pubs I went to in Manchester, back in the crazy days of the late 90s, a proper old boozer with loads of snugs, rickety floors & benches, warm beer and interesting folk.
The Lass rightly won many awards for the variety of stuff that went on there, it was very much part of a community, whether hosting niche-​interest groups, quizzes and parties, there was always a buzz.
A while back the big evil* pub co Greene King decided that The Lass wasn’t making enough moolah, inevitable because the BBC and their staff has been replaced by a total eyesore of a car park, and booted out the old landlord (that had made it Pub of the Year), renovated and installed a new landlord.
There was a fair bit of uproar and I’d vowed never to step back in the place, this I’ve recently found out was a mistake. The Lass O’Gowrie is not quite as interesting as it once was, but it’s still pretty good.
The bar has been tidied up, but left with enough original features to keep it unique & the drink selection has improved greatly — the beers in the fridge are varied and OK prices, and there seems to be an effort to bring people in, the owners could do more to promote the pub & any entertainment that goes on.
I only found out about quiz night on a Thursday through friends & glad I did, hosted by a loud, funny & brash man, it was total entertainment and the prizes were good too (cold, hard cash, silly bits and bobs and beer).
Lass O’Gowrie definitely deserves a second chance, the pub is still charming, it just needs to get more people in there!
*not necessarily evil, just a joke

I came to the Lass for an evening of Trivial Pursuit. It was my first visit to this pub and it was nice to see a fairly traditional style pub in the heart of the city. Their drinks were well priced and there was a great selection. The layout of the bar means you get squished when trying to buy a drink but there are plenty of side rooms and seats to spread out with your friends. The décor has been recently revamped and there are plenty of things hanging on walls to keep your eyes entertained.

I used to go to the Lass’ book club before the change of licensee and I did enjoy the Lass. Ok it was a bit rough around the edges but it had charm.
It was all change a few months ago with the the former licensee leaving and as a result my book club had to move so I hadn’t been in in a while.
First impressions are quite good — outside looks clean and the bar has been really well done and now has a lot of casks with local ales. In the past, the Lass had always had a fair few ales on but the BBC’s relocation is said to have hit it hard so near the end of its former guise it had very few ales on so it’s good to see them back.
But the décor is just a bit bland. I was always a fan of the unique design of the old pub and when it closed we bought one of the ‘swearing animal’ artworks from the snug which now hangs in our hall.
Interestingly some more plans have been lodged with the council in the last few weeks to change all the signs on the pub’s exterior to ones which are very Greene King so maybe the works haven’t all finished.
However the beer is good, the bar looks really professional and with the number of pubs being closed in recent years and replaced with flats and tesco stores it’s good to see the Lass back in action.

The Lass used to be one of my favourite pubs when I first moved to Manchester 7 years ago, a real «real ale» bar, that served good food and was a place you could hang out in and have a good time with minimal stress.
Unfortunately over the years it seemed to lose its way a little and became less and less of a draw, more run down and not really too sure what it wanted to be. It was all about offering interesting and different community aspects such as plays and shows but became somewhere that was nowhere near the radar of where to hang out and spend my well earned ‘beer bucks’. The final straw was when I took a couple of friends there for a pub lunch and the food was dreadful…
So fast forward to the present day where the bar had had a vast refit, a restoring to it’s original homely features and is just generally a nicer place to be in. Clean, tidy and with a warming charm, the Lass now does a number of guest beers (6 on tap — Ilkley was on last week) and the fridges are full of good American craft staples such as Brooklyn but also with interesting options like Founders ‘All day IPA’
I’ve been told on the two occasions I’ve been in recently that they’re starting to do good quality pub food soon, focusing on traditional pub grub — I for one can’t wait to go and check it out if the attention to detail is as good as the beer selection and refit.
Overall, a pleasant place to hang out and meet friends, drink a couple of pints and have as a meeting up point along by Oxford road.