Mary D's Beamish Bar (former Labour Club), 13 Grey Mare Lane

Image: © P L Chadwick Taken: 2 May 2010

This huge pub used to be a Labour Party club, but for at least 16 years it has been a pub. It can accommodate around 1,200 people and has two machines which are each capable of pouring six pints in 20 seconds. So there is no doubt that some serious drinking goes on here. The busiest days are when Manchester City Football Club is playing at home. It is one of the many pubs around here popular with City fans. At other times it can be quiet, and in 2009 the owner announced he was considering applying for planning permission to demolish the building and replace it with a new hotel and bar complex. The pub is on the corner of Grey Mare Lane and Howarth Close. It extends a long way back along the latter. The owner's mother-in-law owns a Mary D's bar in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria, which is popular with holidaying City fans. At the moment this area is very far from being a tourist destination for visitors to Manchester. The litter on the pavement, the extra protection on the pub's downstairs windows, and the CCT camera on the corner of the building, encased in a metal grill, tell their own story.

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