Editorial
Manchester is two Premier League giants and a hundred pubs that know it. The eight rooms below are where the city actually watches sport, from the Printworks screen barns to the Portland Street cask houses that put the match on without making a circus of it. James Harlow ranked them on the test that matters: what the game looks like from the worst seat in the house.
The Piccadilly Tap clings to Gateway House right at the station approach, and it runs on beer more than screens. Eighteen kegs, eight casks, fresh pizza from 11:30, and a ground floor that goes standing room when a derby is on. CAMRA drinkers rate it. Watch the match upstairs where the terrace gives you a seat and a clear line. Catch a game before your train out.
The Castle Hotel has held the corner of Oldham Street for over two hundred years, a Grade II room that doubles as a Northern Quarter music venue. It is small, so a big match fills it fast. Craft taps, well kept cask, and a back room for the band later. Manchester regulars treat it as a local, not a screen barn. Get in early or you watch standing by the door.
The City Arms on Kennedy Street is a beer pub first, named Central Manchester CAMRA Pub of the Year in both 2024 and 2025. Eight handpumps, rotating cask, and Sky Sports on the screens. For a City match they sometimes roll out a projector, though that is the exception. Go for the ale and the pre-match talk. It is two narrow rooms, so claim a stool before kickoff.
The Old Monkey pours Joseph Holt cask across two floors at the bottom of Portland Street, a plain honest boozer that opened in 1993. It is cheap by city centre standards and steady on a matchday. Screens are modest, so this is a steady pint watch rather than a wall of TVs. Head upstairs for a seat. Good for a quiet first half before the Printworks crowds get loud.
Shooters in the Printworks is the volume option: over twenty screens, pool tables, table football, and every live sport from the Premier League to NFL. It runs to midnight and fills with stag groups and casual fans. Do not come for cask ale or quiet. Come for a guaranteed seat in front of a screen and a loud room when the goal goes in. Book ahead for a big fight night.
The Grey Horse is reckoned one of the smallest pubs in the city, a single Hydes room on Portland Street that has sold beer since 1851. It carries TNT Sports, so a Champions League night packs it shoulder to shoulder. There is no space to hide here; the worst seat is also the best. Get a pint of cask, wedge in by the window, and enjoy the squeeze.
The Crown and Kettle guards the corner of Great Ancoats Street, a Grade II room famous for its vaulted ceiling and 27 keg and cask lines. It reopened after years dark and now runs as a fully independent house. Sport is not the headline, but it shows the big games and the beer range is the real draw. Go for the ceiling and a rotating cask, match optional.
The Bridgewater sits canalside in Worsley, a Greene King pub on the western edge of Greater Manchester that earns its place on screens. It carries Sky Sports and TNT Sports across the Premier League, EFL and European football, with darts and a pool table alongside. Parking is easy, the food runs till nine, and dogs are welcome. A solid local watch if you are out past the ring road.
Every bar here was checked against three independent sources for being real and currently open before it kept its place. Two entries from the old draft were cut: one could not be verified as a real venue, and one pointed at a pub outside the city with no clear match. What remains is a fair split between dedicated screen bars and proper Manchester pubs that show the big games.
For volume, Shooters in the Printworks runs over twenty screens and every live league. For a proper pub feel with the match on, the City Arms and The Old Monkey on Portland Street are steady picks.
A mix. Shooters and The Bridgewater are built around screens, while the City Arms, Old Monkey, Grey Horse and Crown and Kettle are cask led pubs that show the big games rather than every match.
The City Arms, named Central Manchester CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2024 and 2025, pairs rotating cask with Sky Sports. The Grey Horse carries TNT Sports in one of the smallest rooms in the city.
Shooters in the Printworks carries NFL and a wide range of live sport across its screens, making it the safest bet for fixtures beyond football.