By Steve Durrant and Patrick Sudlow
For decades The Salutation (the Sally) was a thriving centre of Hulme life and character. Recently It has been bought up by the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and managed by the owners of the "Trof" chain, in anticipation of more students using the area.
And have they retained and respected the character of the pub? Well, no.
The owner has now been overheard complaining that pub is full of old men, no women, no students and no one had money.
If he had done some homework, as business folk are supposed to, he would have found out the Universities and NUS advise students not to drink in pubs in Hulme, hence the lack of students in the Sally.
But change can be good, and hopefully when the refurbishment is finished the pub will be an inclusive hub for all the community, it is certainly good that the brewer is independent.
We need to support our local pubs to make sure we don't lose them. The future of the Sally could be an interesting predictor of how students and locals mix as Hulme changes with the spread of the MMU.
As a former landlord of the pub the new landlord's comments are spot on. It's the mainly male, often overbearing local Hulme crowd that put off students and women. The idea that the uni tells students not to go into the Sally is a myth.
ReplyDeleteThey've put the old door back, seems a lot brighter in there now, more welcoming. It got really run down during the Punch Taverns "era". I think the place has been badly run over the last few years, especially by the last permenant landlords, one of whom thought he could run a pub from Poland. The main problem was simple, really badly kept beer (when they didn't run out) sold really expensively. Eventually there was only the masochists left, male and overbearing though they were(!) If they can fix the beer situation, and brighten it up a bit to get younger people in, it'll all be fine.
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