THERE is something reassuring about a pub that doesn't feel the need to try too hard; a pub that suffers no gastrodisation, features no pointless pizza menu and shuns 2-4-1 deals.
Or even lacks - much as I love them - craft beer groupies with beards and a stamp collector's obsession with hop, yeast and barley combinations.
The Rising Sun is just such a pub.
One lunatic lurking on an online message board has described the drink as 'dusted pale gold with a white halo. Lemon and lime wine gum, slight meaty chunks aroma; privet, stroked dog.'
It's a hidden away little delight, half way up the cul-de-sac of Queen Street, and just up from the seventh level of hell that is the Press Club. You can reach it through Lincoln Square or from Deansgate.
Rising Sun
It dates from sometime very early in the nineteenth century (see the yellow box below for a spin on its history) and is a 'cut' pub. In other words it straddles the gap between two streets and has a rear entrance on Lloyd Street as well as a main entrance on Queen Street. There are numerous similar examples in Manchester - the Nag's Head over the road on Lloyd Street does the same trick.
Stories abound for the reasons behind 'cut-throughs'. For instance if the police came in on one side you could run out the other, or if you were sneaking a drink or two and your lady came hunting you down you could escape double quick.
The real reason is more prosaic.
On long narrow streets it could be a fair jog to get to the front entrance of your pub on a neighbouring street. By that time another pub may have lured you away. So the simplest way to maximise market share was by putting an entrance on two streets.
Lloyd Street entrance
Inside the Rising Sun has been opened out into one long room - probably during the careless sixties.
It buzzes with office workers and weekend shoppers. If anything it recalls those sidestreet Spanish bars with all age groups together. It isn't cool, nor on-trend, and you're never going to get stuck behind a queue of cocktail bothers.
I had fish and chips there recently for around £6 which was a filler not a thriller. Functional is all, probably frozen in origin, but no more in price than half the stuff in Pret a Manger. Food is only served at lunchtime by the way.
Filling but not thrilling
It's the ale selection which stands out.
A Millstone Brewery (from Mossley) beer was a delight. Called Vale Mill and weighing in at a tad under 4%, it was aromatic, full-bodied and balanced.
Another pint on another day - there's a changing selection of eight or nine ales - was Citrus Snap, 4.2%, from Green Mill Brewery in Rochdale. Fresh as a daisy this one, quaffable.
One lunatic lurking on an online message board has described Citrus Snap as 'dusted pale gold with a white halo. Lemon and lime wine gum, slight meaty chunks aroma; privet, stroked dog. Smooth and sweet malts beneath lightly peppery citrus, peanut, perfume.'
The man - of course it was a man - was plainly pissed when he wrote that.
Inside the Rising Sun
I don't normally hold with TVs in pubs, but again the screens here, recall those Spanish bars. The screens are quite small, thankfully but it strikes me this might be a good place to watch the footy.
I have in my possession The Manchester Pub Guide (click here) from 1975. The Rising Sun is described as 'a good comfortable pub with a friendly atmosphere'.
I see no need, thirty eight years later, to disagree with that judgement.
You can follow Jonathan Schofield on Twitter here @JonathSchofield
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The Rising Sun, Queen Street, City, M2 5HX. 0161 834 1193
Rating: 13/20
Pub ambience: 7/10
Drinks: 4/5
Food: 2/5
Not that Rising Sun
Rising Sun ale selection
Tall Stories And History
One of the stories that gets repeated about the Rising Sun is that it dates, originally, from 1688. This would make it the oldest continuously run pub in Manchester.
Since 1688 was the year of the 'Glorious Revolution' and of William of Orange being invited to England from Holland to take over the throne from a despised James II, then The Rising Sun would have been a clever name.
Holland lies to the east where the orange of dawn from sunrise might indicate a brand new start, and orange is the colour of the new King of course. Neat.
Problem is that construction in this part of Manchester didn't begin until much later. We know Queen Street was there by the 1740s but not before the 1730s. (The street was named after either Queen Sophia of Brunswick, wife of George I, or Caroline of Anspach, wife of George III, according to Bradshaw's excellent Origins of Street Names.)
So it's a no way Jose for 1688 as the founding date of the pub. It must date from the early nineteenth century when the area had morphed from posh with big houses, to crammed with working class terraces, and people who appreciated the virtues of beer. Why the name The Rising Sun was chosen is lost in the murk of time.
