The man who had his life changed forever after taking 'wrong turn' in Manchester

A 'lucky' step in the wrong direction down a Manchester street changed one man's life forever.

10-years ago, Pádraig Brady had no experience of running a pub. However, a fateful wrong turn down a Manchester street changed the course of his life.

These days, Pádraig, 52, is the landlord of the hugely popular Irish pub, Mulligans, in Deansgate. "My background is in accountancy – I walked in there by accident, would you believe," Pádraig told the MEN.

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"I turned left instead of right at the corner of Southgate. Six-months later I bought the guy out who was there."

It may have been a miss-step in direction, but Pádraig said as soon as he walked into Mulligans he saw the potential of the pub. After returning there several times, he got speaking to the previous landlord who after learning Pádraig's background as an accountant, asked for his advice on the business.

He said: "I could always tell how busy it was but in the background, unbeknown to the customers, it was falling down."

However, despite the pub's minimal profits and structural problems, he says he could see the place had potential to be an excellent business with the proper management. Six-months after mistakenly stepping through its doors, he was now the new landlord of Mulligans.

Pádraig's story adds yet another chapter to the colourful history of one of what is one of Manchester's oldest Irish pubs. Up until the 1990s, the pub was known as the Waggon and Horses, a name it had for around 170-years.

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