Red Lion Withington — Restaurant in Manchester

Last Friday, 2nd May, 2025, I accompanied 2 friends for a birthday celebration. I ordered the roast chicken dish- I didn’t eat anything else after that. That night, I was awoken with terrible pains in my stomach/ diarrhoea, which lasted for a couple of days.😩 On the Sunday, I rang the pub and I informed the person to whom I spoke, that the chicken was definitely off; my advice was to remove that dish to prevent other people becoming ill. The member of staff took my name and number : table number etc and assured me that the manager would ring me within a day or 2 in order to discuss this. I informed him that I did not intend to write a negative review- I was ringing to solely inform them about this situation, so that other customers would not be ill like me. Since then, I have not heard a single thing from the pub- so now I am writing a negative review. The way this has been handled is very very poor- obviously the management have decided it’s not worth even a phone call to an unhappy customer with a genuine, fair complaint. Very poor meal, and even poorer management handling of this situation. Disappointing. I advise everyone to never have the chicken...

My friend bought me a meal so I could have a drink, but because the meal was bought for me they wouldn't allow me to have a drink as 'I didn't purchase it myself'. Yet my friend bought it for me - I am 23 and legally allowed to drink- so I was asked to leave as 'i didn't purchase the meal personally'. I've worked in hospitality over 7 years and I would love to give your staff (especially the one whom I presume to be a supervisor) some training on how the hospitality industry works (even during a pandemic). Maybe my standard of training is higher than what is necessary in your establishment.

But that does not excuse the fact that I was asked to leave because I took a sip of a pint with a meal that was BOUGHT FOR ME. Are you not allowed to drink if someone else bought the food for you? It may be useful to know that it was bought for me before I got there.

At one point I applied for a job here but I seem to have dodged a bullet there.

I am not happy that the...

This place has changed significantly since the new management came in.

Used to be a lovely community pub.

Now most of the non scally/ threatening locals have gone elsewhere.

I think this is for a few reasons.

The threatening scallies are given free rein. (Many people male and female have been threatened with violence but the new landlord does not care).

Putting the DJ/ bands next to the bar means you can no longer go there for a quiet pint. This was a nice little boozer and was never meant to be a city centre style music pub.

All the old bar staff have gone due to the above. Atmosphere has very much changed (see note 1)

Went there on a Friday the other day and there were less people there than there used to be on an average Tuesday. No joke.

I really hope this does not continue. I dread to think what their revenue spreadsheets are looking like!

Won't be spending me money...