It should take about five minutes after stepping off any train in Manchester to start picking up on the city’s longstanding and intimate connection with Ireland. Estimates suggest around one-third of the entire labour force that built the Ship Canal came from the Emerald Isle, and by the 1850s more than 13% of the city’s population had been born there, making it the second biggest diaspora community in the country. In 2024, ties still bind, and The Salmon of Knowledge looks to celebrate that heritage and ancestry in a distinctly modern, Northern Quarter kind of way.
Situated in the heart of Stevenson Square, a destination in its own right, while the building is thoroughly untraditional for an Irish pub and more in line with the local area’s former-industrial spaces past, once inside there are plenty of details that set the tone perfectly well. Not least the rare archival framed Guinness advertisements that adorn the walls, making it very clear that the team here pride themselves on pouring the perfect pint of black. And you’ll also find an extensive selection of Irish whiskeys over at their own dedicated bar, which is themed on a confessional in a Catholic church, confirming what we all suspected — there are tongues firmly in cheeks around these parts.
While serving a mean line in cocktails to boot, The Salmon of Knowledge is about more than just the drink. Live music regularly dominates the calendar, and multiple screens are on hand to show live sporting events – you’ll find either, or both, on six nights each week. Meanwhile, the kitchen has been handed over to expert pop-uppers, The Last Stop, who offer everything from smash patty burgers (cheese, bacon, Guinness brisket, buttermilk chicken and Beyond Meat), alongside authentic boxty — Irish-inspired potato pancakes with a similar choice in filling to the burgers.