{"id":429247,"date":"2025-09-16T15:58:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/429247\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:58:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:58:25","slug":"whats-the-story-behind-didsburys-irish-pub-renaissance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/429247\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the story behind Didsbury’s Irish pub renaissance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cI can\u2019t tell you the last time I got asked for a craft ale<\/a>,\u201d said Eddie Cunningham from behind the bar of The Station in Didsbury Village<\/a>, where I\u2019m sitting having half a Guinness on a quiet Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuinness outsells all the other products by a distance.<\/a> We do probably, on average, about twenty kegs a week, they\u2019re 11-gallon kegs, each about 88 pints, and the bulk of that is done at the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Didsbury\u2019s Irish pub renaissance <\/p>\n

\"DidsburyEddie at The Station<\/p>\n

One thousand seven hundred and sixty pints of Guinness from a modestly sized pub. Weekends see The Station swell with punters spilling out onto the pavement, but surely this boom can\u2019t simply be down to the domination of Guinness in recent years?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s an expectation that goes with Irish pubs,\u201d said Eddie. \u201cYou expect some sort of live entertainment, and live music\u2019s a big thing these days. We have it three or four nights a week. Come the weekend, people are in the mood for live bands, and if I were to go out in an area I didn\u2019t know, I\u2019d probably look at where the Irish bar is.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can see what\u2019s happening at The Station on their Instagram here<\/a><\/p>\n

Why have Irish pubs become so popular?<\/p>\n

\"DidsburyThe Salmon of Knowledge, Didsbury edition <\/p>\n

The Salmon of Knowledge<\/a> owner, Steve Pilling, has a straightforward answer when asked what accounts for the recent rise in popularity of the Irish pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery simply, people have seen the momentum behind them and jumped onto the bandwagon,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be ahead of the curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what led Steve to take his existing sites \u2013 Ply in NQ\u2019s Stephenson Square and the Dockyard sites in Didsbury Village and Media City<\/a> \u2013 and transform them into Irish pubs complete with an opaque name referencing a founding myth of Ireland?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an epiphany driven by a love of Irish bars,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we all subscribe to opening bars that we would have fun in, and The Salmon is no different.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about that factor most associated with Irish pubs, and that can\u2019t be bought in from a brewery, atmosphere? Irish pubs are almost a shorthand for a certain air of authentic conviviality. I guess now you\u2019d call that community, something Eddie explains is created by not one pub but all of them, looking out for one another instead of scrapping for competition.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had a good relationship with the other pubs, We don\u2019t see them as competition, we help each other out, whether they need a favour or they\u2019re short on change.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had a good relationship with the other pubs,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t see them as competition, we help each other out, whether they need a favour or they\u2019re short on change.<\/p>\n

\"DidsburyInside Kennedy\u2019s Didsbury<\/p>\n

\u201cDidsbury\u2019s always been heavy on the community side of things and there\u2019s enough business to go round. Just walk through the village every weekend and you\u2019ll see Didsbury Dozens, and we all know how popular that\u2019s become.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now enjoying a boom period for pub-goers, Didsbury Village<\/a> has rolled with the punches over the years, said Steve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been through many evolutions,\u201d he explained. \u201cFrom the busiest area in South Manchester to Wilmslow Road being desolate and quiet. It\u2019s now going through a renaissance with the arrival of The Salmon, Kennedy\u2019s<\/a> and Bunny Jackson\u2019s, and hopefully there are many more to come and create a vibrant pub scene that should last a generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do young people still enjoy the pub?<\/p>\n

\"\"Time for a Guinness<\/p>\n

Speaking of generations, the threat of young people swerving the pub in favour of the gym isn\u2019t something Eddie has seen in the village, spelling good business for local pubs<\/a> in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here 12 years,\u201d Eddie explained. \u201cAnd the last two or three, there was lots of talk about young people not drinking as much as they used to. I\u2019ve not seen any evidence of that. The appetite is as good as ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s just here being a bit of a one-off of a nightlife spot \u2013 with people coming in from outside the area \u2013 but there\u2019s definitely been an increase in footfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Didsbury Dozen<\/p>\n

With the Dozen providing a regular influx of punters, how about the quiet half on an afternoon, once a steady certainty for pubs?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take the weekends, for example,\u201d explained Eddie, pouring another half for the gent sat next to me. \u201cA lot of our local regulars, who come in here day in day out, they know the chaos that the Didsbury Dozen brings<\/a>, not to mention the fancy dress, so they just come out early.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat helps us, as we know our regulars are coming in from 11 am or midday and are done by 4 pm. Then the dynamic shifts, you say goodbye to those people and say hello to five people dressed as Super Mario.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DidsburyThe most understated of Irish pubs, The Station <\/p>\n

So with the tide of Guinness and Irish hospitality now washing through the village, another academic year upon us (with attendant Super Marios), and a buoyant local pub scene sharing in the spoils, what does the future hold for Eddie and The Station, that most Irish but understated of pubs? Eddie is similarly understated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just carry on doing what we\u2019ve been doing for years now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s working. Whatever we\u2019re doin, we seem to be doing it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s the steady regularity of locals like this that will keep Didsbury Village from any more wilderness years. Maybe it\u2019s less the promise of a pint of Guinness and more the familiar faces and sense of community. It can\u2019t hurt that Eddie and The Station staff do a really good pour.<\/p>\n

One thousand seven hundred and sixty pints poured a week can\u2019t be wrong.<\/p>\n

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