The Abel Heywood Pub & Boutique Hotel — Restaurant in Manchester

27/11/23: back one year later since my last review. Service was better, craft ale, craft beer choices still the same. 23/11/22: what used to be a fantastic pub serving great beer, has somewhat lapsed. Having frequented Abel Heywood many times in the past, I was left extremely disappointed last night after a works night out. Relying on old memories, we went as I assumed it would cater for varied tastes. Yes, there was a good selection on craft ales advertised on the bar pumps, howefer, only 2 actually tapped. 3 were advertised almost ready, not ready to drink and could be several days and a 3 advertised as coming soon. What had immediately looked like a great selection, turned into not very much. Another colleague plumped for a lager. I thought I was in Belgium as the head in the glass was about 1/3 of the drink. Feeling festive we decided to get Baby Guinness shots, until we wee told they were £4.10 each. EACH! We changed our mind. Another colleague wanted a single shot on Brandy to raise a toast, but then changed his mind also when told Abel Heywood only serve doubles because that's what's in the till AND it would be £8.10 regardless. 9 of us drunk up and promptly left. Terrible service.

Abel Heywood was a Manchester publisher and mayor in the 1800s who published the Poor Man's Guardian and a series of penny guidebooks to UK holiday destinations. To pay homage to him, rooms in the hotel are named after his guidebooks and there's a hotel newspaper 'The Abel News'. The pub itself is furnished to look like a Victorian drinking establishment with a huge wooden bar, a dark parquet floor and a mixture of leather booths and mismatched chairs. The gin bar on the first floor is named after Abel Heywood's daughter, Jessie, and has been done out with exposed brick, jars of botanicals on metal shelves and...

Visiting Manchester for the weekend and was recommended this pub for the Sunday Roast selection. Seemed very disorganised upon entering pub, we had booked a table and upon arriving we went upstairs to dining area to be sent downstairs and then upon asking at the bar , we were asked to go upstairs to be seated again?? Spoke to a member of the bar staff who was very abrupt and told us where to sit but did not offer any menus and we had to search for menus ourselves . After helping ourselves to menus from the service section, we waited 15 minutes expecting table service only to find that no one had come to take our orders. I approached the bar and asked the bar tender if it was table service, and he grunted and said I would need to order at the bar , he was very abrupt. Our orders were taken from the bar , we sat back at the table only to find all the other tables were receiving table service. Nothing was explained to us …. After waiting 45 minutes for our food and seeing people who arrived after us getting their food served , we were approached by a member of staff who asked us if we were still waiting for our food ?? Did they not know this? This member of staff kindly chased this and after 55 minutes our food was delivered with apologies for our long wait. The food was very nice and presented well.. however, following the poor service we received I would not recommend this restaurant for the Sunday menu as it was disorganised and staff were rude, all diners were expected to serve...

I decided to leave this review after one night. Yesterday, I was really looking forward to having a drink with a friend — I’ve always thought this place looked lovely whenever I walked past.

However, when I asked my friend to go upstairs and wait while I ordered a pint at the downstairs tap bar, things took a disappointing turn.

There were a few men standing at the bar besides me. There was one male and one female bartender — the woman was busy, asked briefly who hadn’t been served, and everyone said they had. She didn’t notice me and walked off, so I stepped right to the front.

The male bartender wasn’t doing anything but completely ignored me. In the meantime, he served others who had already been standing there and wanted to order again. I tried to get his attention with a clearer gesture. When he finally looked at me, I smiled and said “excuse me”, but he gave no expression, turned away, and carried on as if I wasn’t there. I was standing right at the front, clearly trying to order. It felt like he was being dismissive towards me for some personal reason — almost as if there was a hint of bias.

After quite a long wait, another member of staff finally came over and took my order — I’m grateful to them.

Still, it really left a bad taste. The pint was nothing special, just like any other bar, and although the place itself looks great, the service was a complete letdown — zero out of ten.

There are plenty of other spots in Manchester — best to go somewhere that actually makes you...