The Green Finch

A nice bar not overly trendy but a nice beer garden at the front but it does get busy due to its proximity to West Didsbury. a cool bar though for chilling and catching up with friends.

The beer garden alone is a good enough reason to lure me out of the Withington comfort zone and a bit further down the road. But on top of that they have fairy lights in the trees — yay! And they serve Crabbies — double yay!
It seems like the food at this place is quite the hit, as most of the dining tables were full on what I anticipated to be a quiet Thursday night. But my friend and I managed to find a nice place to nestle under the fairy lights and enjoy the ‘ambience’ (I still can’t say that word without the posh git emphasis and finger quotations even when I mean it in an entirely sincere manner).
As it got cooler, we ventured inside to note that the place has certainly had the lick of paint and refurbishment that was said to be needed in older reviews — the place seemed quite fresh and welcoming.
Pub test: ladies loos. Top marks! Four clean and well maintained cubicles, good lighting with a clear mirror. Wahey!
Super excited to have discovered this place — I’ll be back! Maybe that pub quiz is still going…

To all intents and purposes this should be my local. It’s just around the corner and shows the football, which sounds like a winning combination. The problem is, it doesn’t have anywhere to sit and gets incredibly crowded if anyone of note is playing. I think they should look toward The Red Lion for how to set up for the football, i.e. plenty of seats placed in rows.
On the odd occasion I come here for some food I am always disappointed. the food sounds delicious on the menu but it is typical Marstons pub food when it appears. Only last weekend my girlfriend asked if she could have her bacon crispy and was told that «it comes out like it comes out».
Such potential but frankly a bit disappointing.

One Thursday night I went to the pub quiz here with a group of intelligent graduates including a teacher, a couple of engineers and some PhD students. We stood a relatively good chance of winning. We lost. There was some sort of ridiculous round that enabled us to lose a vast number of points (or everybody else to gain some, I can’t remember). Either way, it was still a good night, drinks weren’t too expensive (for Didsbury) and the pub was fairly full, but still with plenty of space for a large group of us to sit around a table.
With its prominent West Didsbury location I would’ve thought that someone would have bought it and turned it into a gastro-​pub or restaurant by now a la The Didsbury, The Woodstock and the former Barley Corn (soon to be Albert’s Restaurant). It is certainly good to see that a traditional boozer still has its place in an area that primarily attracts young professionals. Having said that, it could do with some new carpets and a lick of paint.
All in all, what you see is what you get. It’s nothing fancy, but I’d probably go back to this place if it was nearer to where I lived. Just maybe not for the quiz night. I’m not a sore loser, I promise!