FIRST impressions? I swear by them. So when I saw part one of the refit of 57 Thomas Street, Marble’s Northern Quarter outpost (the original pub, the Marble Arch is too far up Rochdale Road even for letting agents to slap a cool NQ tag on it) I felt like I’d lost an old friend.
Gone was the long, solid, canteen table where hopheads played marathon bouts of chess or consulted internet beard-enhancing sites, occasionally ordering a cheese platter to accompany their deceptively debilitating pints of Dobber. This along with other stalwart Marble ales, Ginger, Lagonda and Pint, came from barrels mounted on the bar. Where were they now, the trickle from spigots replaced by a chilled spurt from a key-keg pump?
Surely, the scattered small tables were guaranteed to dilute the matey, clubby feel of the place, even it was easier to squeeze to the bar? Well, yes. But the new upstairs extension, with its proper kitchen, was still pending.
When I made it up there a fews days ago I had to eat my words. There sat a long table with piles of pub games and feel this is going to make a brilliant events/private party space. There’s much still to do. They are still working on artwork to complement seriously good sycamore and wood in the bar fitting, much of the work having been done by local craftsmen in Ancoats.
The drinks offering is more interesting, too. Classic cocktails, – Negronis, Old Fashioneds and the like, not your Sex on The Beaches – have been added to the mix, which may not please the Marble purists.
Still they have got a cask selection again, albeit in quick turn over, 36-pint pin form, which enables new Marble brewer James Kemp (ex-Thornbridge and Buxton) to road test new ales in cask-conditioned form.
The classic Lagonda has been tweaked and during my visit I got to sample a one-off 8.9 per cent Old Ale (£3 a half), all liquorice and molasses, and a new beer, Damage Plan, a dangerously drinkable hyper-tropical IPA – it will be officially launched in keg only form at the Marble Arch on Rochdale Road from 2.30pm on Friday, February 18. I also compared cask and keg versions of Earl Grey IPA. The more complex cask version won hops down, even though disconcertingly it arrived without even the beadiest of heads.
Food is extending beyond cheese and meat boards with consultant chef David Gale (ex-Hilton) steering it towards larger plates without losing the homely pub fodder feel (The platters remain). It’s a reminder how consistently good the food is at the Marble Arch, a classic picture of which adorns 57’s staircase.
Gale loves his homity pie. For £9.50 you get it with pickled red cabbage, parmentier potatoes and mushy peas. The latter two accompaniments also feature with Marble beer-braised beef (£12.50). Perfect for sopping up the Dobber before tackling the board games!
Marble Beer House, 57 Thomas Street, Northern Quarter. @57thomasstreet
While I’m eating humble pie (or should that be homity pie) here were those first impressions.
