No. 55 The Pitcher & Piano

Visited on 2/6/11. This is another big city centre bar pitch(er)ed !? at a much wider age demographic than ‘Off the Wall’. And, lo and behold, it does real ale – Marston’s Pedigree to be precise. We ordered up a round straight away, but it was quickly returned, as it was absolutely rancid - must have been sitting in the lines for months. No dispute with the bar manager either – she sampled it with a straw and nearly gagged. Ho ho. Once again therefore, we were forced to drink Guinness. This place has no character whatsoever and was nearly empty - a great shame and a waste, as it’s housed in the old city telephone exchange – a building with a distinguished past. It would be nice if there was some link to it’s history and heritage – maybe some displays, maybe even some themes. This sort of thing can work well – good examples being ‘the Dispensary’ in Liverpool and ‘the Fire Station’ in Waterloo, London. ‘The Exchange’ would be a better name for this place. They exchanged the ale at any rate.