The Old Wellington: We take a tour of Manchester’s ‘oldest’ pub
The oldest building in Manchester has been licensed as a pub since the 19th century and is frequently termed the city's 'oldest pub'.
The Old Wellington near Manchester Cathedral began its life as a draper's shop and residence when it was built in 1552, and the Grade II listed building became a licensed public house in 1830.
Since then it has survived the 1996 Manchester bombing and several structural changes, including being 300m closer to the Cathedral in 1999 - along with Sinclair's Oyster Bar - to form Shambles Square.
Despite often being referred to as Manchester's oldest pub, The Old Wellington did not operate as a public house until 278 years after being built - this title goes to The Sawyer's Arms which opened in the 1700s.
It is still recognised as Manchester's oldest building and has many original features and traditional characteristics, making it a top site for tourists and locals alike.
The Old Wellington near Manchester Cathedral began its life as a draper's shop and residence when it was built in 1552, and the Grade II listed building became a licensed public house in 1830.
Since then it has survived the 1996 Manchester bombing and several structural changes, including being 300m closer to the Cathedral in 1999 - along with Sinclair's Oyster Bar - to form Shambles Square.
Despite often being referred to as Manchester's oldest pub, The Old Wellington did not operate as a public house until 278 years after being built - this title goes to The Sawyer's Arms which opened in the 1700s.
It is still recognised as Manchester's oldest building and has many original features and traditional characteristics, making it a top site for tourists and locals alike.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I think with Manchester being such a historical city, a historical building and a historical city is always going to do well.
00:07 Obviously Manchester is really thriving at the minute with different kind of bars and stuff and all these new high rises.
00:12 So I think the juxtaposition of that to have this really old 500 year old building is something that people do try and sniff out.
00:21 And literally if you're a tourist and you come here and you Google 'old pubs in Manchester' the Old Wellington is going to be the first one that comes up.
00:27 The oldest building in Manchester has been licensed as a pub since the 19th century and is frequently termed the city's oldest pub.
00:35 The Old Wellington near Manchester Cathedral began its life as a draper's shop and residence when it was built in 1552
00:43 and the Grade II listed building became a licensed public house in 1830.
00:48 Since then it has survived the 1996 Manchester bombing and several structural changes
00:54 including being moved 300 metres closer to the cathedral in 1999 along with Sinclair's Oyster Bar to form Chambles Square.
01:03 Despite often being referred to as Manchester's oldest pub, the Old Wellington did not operate as a public house until 278 years after being built.
01:12 It is still recognised as Manchester's oldest building and has many original features and traditional characteristics
01:19 making it a top site for tourists and locals alike.
01:23 We're a three-storey building. Bottom floor, obviously we've got the outdoor space, we've got the main bar.
01:28 Middle floor we've got a restaurant, a little mini bar on there and then this top floor is just sort of additional seating.
01:34 I think they have done a good job of like I say keeping most of it intact and I think that's why they had to sort of rather than take it down brick by brick and rebuild it
01:42 they've decided to literally lift it and wheel it to try and keep everything intact.
01:48 So there are obviously things have had to be done.
01:50 People are always quite fascinated by how many of the original beams are still here considering how old it is.
01:56 Especially when we get Americans coming in because we get a lot of tourists for that reason.
02:01 They're always blown away because it's literally older than the country that they've come from.
02:05 This pub from that angle over there is like the most photographed point in the city so everybody sort of recognises it and everybody gets kind of excited when they find it.
02:13 You know tourists are just sort of like absolutely in awe and amazed.
02:16 So I'd say we're mainly tourists. That's probably our bread and butter from a Monday to a Sunday.
02:24 The Old Wellington is attached in an L shape to another historic pub, St Clair's Oyster Bar.
02:30 The two used to be joined side by side and many customers often confuse the pair.
02:35 A lot of the time people will confuse us and them.
02:38 So they'll think they're going to the Old Wellington whereas they're really in St Clair's.
02:42 Because even our sign is in their beer garden.
02:47 I'd say we've got one of the best beer gardens in the city.
02:50 It's nice and simple but it's in a really great area.
02:55 You don't get any trouble and it's always good to, like I say, see the oldest building in the city.
03:02 You might as well if you're coming to Manchester.