The Garratt

Pretty decent price (starting from £2.50), good menu with a lot of options, including at least 4 meals suitable for vegans/​vegetarians, friendly staff, great music, and a nice location. Not a fancy pub, but one that you can easily become a fan of.
Obs.: Food is only served between 11am-​5pm.

I really like that place! Seriously!!It’s like a pub, but it’s not a pub at the same time!! Food is really good I have to admit! The quality and the quantity of the dishes are the things I love in that place! Try their breakfast (vegeterian is even bettee than the normal one) and the awsome nachos with cheese and jalapenos! A really good choice for breakfast/​brunch/​lunch for students of the north campus of UoM! Don’t forget to show your Student IDs to get a discount at the already low prices! yey!

Laid back pub. Had a keg
scrumpy in the absence of real ale and played some pool.
My friends loved the pub and when we managed to break a glass with the snooker
queue they took it in very good humour, so have to give at least a 3 despite a
lack of something really worth drinking.

Not only does this pub have the best name around (chuckle), it also presents a welcoming place to sit down, relax, and have a few pints with your friends. I honestly found this sort of by accident — I had walked by it frequently without giving it a second look (the outside is rather drab compared to what you’d expect), but after finding some other pubs packed that particular night we happened upon The Garratt.
It’s quite roomy inside with plenty of seating. The background music was perfectly fine in that I can’t recall hating it or loving in one way or the other, and didn’t ruin the atmosphere by being too loud (I hate when I can’t hear my mates talking from 2 feet away). Decorated a bit plain but comfortable, it’s the sort of place that nobody would have a problem with.
The staff were friendly and beers were priced right. I only wish they had a few choices on cask.
I was surprised at how relatively empty this pub was compared to some others, and that I had walked by it so many times without giving it a second look. Maybe it’s time to run some promos or find a way to get word out that this place… you know… exists? I know I’ve been hinting at my friends that it’s a good joint to check out, so perhaps they’re relying on that sort of word of mouth.

You know when you’re looking for a place to go chill with some friends that has a pub AND bar atmosphere with good music and a positive night atmosphere? Well, from my experience of Manchester city centre’s nightlife, THIS is your place.
Friendly staff, decent prices, plenty of seating, a pool table, clean toilets (with soap, a working high powered hand dryer, a huge wall mirror and a floor length one too!) and a juke box! The juke box is filled with music ranging from rock and roll to indie to metal to a bit of cheesy pop (only the decent stuff though!). Music will fill the room with what YOU want to choose :)
This place also does food and is open throughout the day too. Whatever the time, the atmosphere is always suitable. It’s a good starting place on a night out and also a good place just to go out to on its own too. I’d highly recommend you go and visit. It’s always busy and best with a group of friends but good for a small group too.

Awesome on a summers day (or sunny October day) good beer nice atmosphere nice place to start or finish a day in Manchester

Back in the days when I used to drink this was a frequent watering hole of mine. The drinks are cheap and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. Although it does get a bit crammed with the 5^th Ave crowd on Friday and Saturday Nights. I started coming here when I was 16 (Naughty I know) and carried on til 22 so I know the place quite well. It has been closed down a few times for refurbishments for months at a time but it always reopens. Oh if you want any chance of getting on the pool table go during the day. I still infrequently visit this place when on birthday night outs or meeting people in town. Sadly I feel I will soon become to old to be able to visit this place as with most places in town that I like.

I couldn’t believe it when they *updated* this pub from the Old Garrett to what essentially amounts to a reject set from Byker Grove… The Old Garratt had more in common with the more traditional pub around the corner, the Lass O’Gowrie, but it either couldn’t keep up with competing or the new owner simply lost the plot on his way to attempting to cater more for the yoof of 5^th Ave.
Either way, nowadays The Garret is a student friendly no frills pub most commonly associated as being a staging area for the nearby club, 5^th Avenue over the road. The area is a relatively quiet zone for the regular pub going traffic and as such only really seems to fill up in the early evening prior to clubbing antics elsewhere. Highlights include the pool table and reasonably stocked jukebox and most importantly, cheap booze. While not generally the venue of choice for a quiet pint it makes for a good pitstop should you be marooned beyond the Oxford Road corridor.

From the outside the Garratt looks like it is part of a 1970s tower block that hasn’t been modernised, or even touched, since the day it was built. The inside doesn’t look much different either.
Unlike the other reviewers, I would say that this is more of a rockers hangout than a pub for indie 5^th-​Ave going kids, and my 30-​year-​old ex-​housemate would come here every weekend, so it’s not just for 18-​year-​old students either. The pub sells cheap drinks and is full of regulars. There’s not a bad atmosphere in there, particularly in the early evenings. However, it’s neither traditional (like the Lass ‘O’ Gowrie round the corner) nor modern, and although it’s an okay place to pop in for a cheap pint and a game of pool, it’s not somewhere to spend an entire evening.
Personally, I like my rock music, but can think of so many places I would rather go for a pint and a rock-​oriented jukebox than the Garratt, for example the Salisbury or Grand Central, which are both only a 10 minute walk away.

I felt SO out of place the last time I went in here, it seems to be a stop off for regulars that go to 5^th Avenue! Having said that, the crowd were really friendly (if a little odd!) What with the fruit machines and pool table and reasonably priced drinks is no doubt intended to pull in the youth for late night ”fun” The beer on offer was nothing special, and they only had one ale on tap! Personally, I would not go here again… but if you have love indie music, pool & cheap booze. then knock yourself out!

Opinions, opinions, it’s all about opinions.
If you are a student then the Garrett’s (formerly known as the Old Garrett) proximity to 5^th Avenue, its pool table and its ridiculously cheap booze will mean that you love it and already regularly haunt it.
If you’re not a student then you’ll think it’s full of students!

this place has been a great boozer for years and great stop off before 5^th av or josh brooks. good place to watch the football and atmosphere is always nice and friendly. next to canal street too

Really good atmosphere and cheap drinks!!! Two of the most important things needed for a night out!!!

This small pub is opposite 5^th Avenue, a popular indie nightclub, and, as such, it attracts a lot of rock fans.
The décor and the jukebox reflects this, with band posters all over the walls and the playlist strictly guitar-​based.
The bar is packed between 9 and 10.30 with pre-​clubbers most nights and it’s impossible to get anywhere near the pool table at this time. However, there’s a great, fun atmosphere here, and the drinks are cheap.