Award-winning Salford brewery Pomona Island is to open its first pub

Pomona Island, one of Manchester’s most feted craft breweries, is to open its very first pub. The boozer will be called North Westward Ho, and will be on Pall Mall, above the historic Sam’s Chop House.

The brewery team are in the process of renovating the space, which used to be occupied by Thai restaurant Chaophraya.

“We want the space to feel like a pub, not a bar and we want all the good things that come with that,” they said. “Pub spaces are for anyone, places where people come to commune, we need a bit of that right now. We want it to feel inclusive.

“This will be a, sort of, taproom for the brewery, but that on its own doesn’t really interest us. We like a venue with its own identity, where everyone’s welcome and catered for. This won’t just be a beer bar, it will have an incredible selection of drinks.

“It won’t just look like a bar, it will have that feel of a proper boozer. Something that will, hopefully, be around for years.” Pomona had previously run a pop-up bar and taproom at Escape To Freight Island, and though their beers will still be for sale, they’re now moving on.

Meanwhile, the name of the pub is a nod to the bar and restaurant ship of the same name, dubbed ‘Manchester’s first ship pub’ at the time, that was moored at Pomona Docks in the 1970s.

The pub will open early to mid-2023

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