PICKLES was famously the collie who found the stolen World Cup in 1966. His namesake, an Old English Spaniel is also the latest dog associated with that culinary hive of activity around Cutting Room Square, Ancoats.
Expect to see him around the Jane Eyre, new neighbourhood bar across from Rudy’s Pizza, famously named after co-owners Jim and Kate’s pet dog. The contemporary Pickles is the pet pooch of Joe Eyre, co-owner of Jane Eyre with brother Jonny, who named their bar after their mother, not the Charlotte Bronte heroine.
Naturally, like Rudy’s or nearby Elnecot, the Jane Eyre is dog-friendly; it’s also on first look decidedly human-friendly too – the kind of street corner bar the Berliners call a ‘kneipe’.
The Eyres’ venture is smart but decidedly no frills. It doesn’t major on food and it’s no craft beer mecca; but the small plates are very snackable (padron peppers, beetroot cured salmon, asparagus with crispy quail’s egg, truffle oil and sardines on toast with salsa verde) and the brews from four keg pours are cannily chosen (as are the cans, sic, in the fridge from the likes of Magic Rock, Lost & Grounded and Wild Beer).
ToM tried a pint of Deya’s Steady Rolling Man Pale Ale, not cheap at £6 a pint but a beautifully clean example of how to get the best out of hops. Interestingly, like fellow newcomer Nam across the Square, they boast their own House Pilsener, this one brewed for them in Belgium.
On our next visit, hopefully we’ll get a side order of Pickles!
The Jane Eyre, One Cutting Room Square, Manchester. M4 6WX.