Neil Sowerby
Dobber is a very rude word in Glasgow and surrounds, territory not known for blushing at expletives. Maybe it means something else to the Marble brewers. Whatever, their heady, hoppy beer of that name won Best Beer Brewed in Greater Manchester at last yearâs Manchester Food and Drink Festival. As one of the panel, I remember, post-judging, trying to swallow as much of it as possible before the public got their hands on it. And I wasnât alone.
So I was delighted to see it â still in top form and potent at 5.5ABV â in a cask on the bar of 57 Thomas Street - Marbleâs cosy new outlet in the Northern Quarter. For cosy you might read cramped. A friend estimated the seating capacity at 27. No oneâs going to attempt intimate conversations as they squeeze around the long trestle table. The sofa under the windowâs a better bet. As for al fresco, the couple of tiny tables on the pavement are going to be intensely coveted if the predicted barbecue summer finally arrives, a year late.
When Love Saves The Day occupied these premises it was a worry how they would get enough bums on seats to make a decent profit. Thatâs unlikely with the Marble brand â a honeypot for cask ale nuts. Bar manager Laurence Halpern (pictured) says heâs been astonished by the variety of committed clientele whoâve turned up, even though the original, unique Marble Arch, with its heritage pub experience, is only a 10-minute gambol away.
Lawrence must pray heâs not an albatross. Previous places he has fronted (all excellent) went down the pan â Suburb, Gustoâs, Urbis bar. Ouch! Like equally excellent newcomer, Thomas, a couple of doors away, the bar hardly flashes its identity with big signs. Blink and you might lose your Marble. Still all these are minor quibbles. 57 Thomas Street is less foodie than Thomas, but there are some fine things to eat on its copperplate chalked blackboards.
Most of the Marble fare is prepared at the Marble Arch and shipped over. Well-kept cheese boards and hunky sandwiches are a big draw but one dish stands out from chef Ken Calderâs repertoire â the potted rabbit (£5.50), toothsome herby flakes of bunny battened down in a pot by a butter crust. The £5.95 plate of spider crab (donât worry it comes out of the shell and no claws on it) is also top. How I managed an £8.50 bowl of creamy smoked haddock chowder (£8.95) too, Iâll never know. Perhaps it was just to soaking up the beer, the main draw here.
As there is no proper kitchen, neither is there a cellar, so a trio of barrels sit on the bar. With the all sit-round table itâs a throwback to those country pubs of yore. Except the laptop labourers of the Northern Quarter are more likely to be surfing www.yokel.com.
Fears of varying beer quality because of this set-up are assuaged by the swiftness of turnover. I was sorry not to see either of the breweryâs classic ginger beers in cask (the absence of chocolate I could understand).
After producing a beer called 14, the numerate Marble team are currently brewing a beer to celebrate their arrival at no 57, called 57. Perhaps based on a canful of Heinz beans plus lots of hops? Meanwhile at the new bar, ession beer Pint, pale and citrussy, lacking the playful hoppiness I recall, was £2.40 a pint. The Dobber more than compensated in the hop stakes and tasted almost grapefruity. Stunning at £3.40.
More balanced with a lingering bitterness, Lagonda (£3) wasnât far behind. These prices arenât cheap but you are paying for the abundance of quality raw materials that go into them. Commonsense dictated laying off the bottled Decadence Imperial Russian Stout with its whopping 8.5 ABV. Scant compensation in the label motif being the base design of the wallpaper at No 57. Quirky touches like this add to the character of the place, just the same as down the road at Odd Bar.
Marble owner Jan Rogers and Odd supremo Cleo Farman shared the stage for the debate on the future of the English pub at the recent North West Food Summit. On the evidence of their respective Thomas Street bars, these are ONE future for the pub, away from its traditional parameters. Cheers.
57 Thomas Street
Marble Bar, Northern Quarter, Manchester
Tel: 0161 832 0521
Equally enjoyable are The Marble Arch, 73 Rochdale Road (0161 832 5914) and Marble Beer House, 57 Manchester Road, Chorlton (0161 881 9206).