Mayo alehouse raises a glass for charity in manchester
A MAYO owned bar in Levenshulme, Manchester - Fred's Ale House, Coffee Bar and Art Gallery – has opened its doors early for a special preview night where the entire bar takings were donated to charity. A total of £1,000 was raised, with £750 given to the Cornerstone Day Centre in Hulme who provide daily meals for the homeless in Manchester and the remaining £250 donated to a Christmas meal for local pensioners in Levenshulme.
The bar presently serves six different real ales as well as Guinness, draft Peroni and Becks, cider and a full range of wines and bottled beers. It is currently talking to a number of Mayo craft breweries and film makers to arrange a Mayo film and drink showcase at the forthcoming Manchester Irish Festival in March.
When asked about the event, Lawrence Hennigan, director of the Pub Company, whose Irish roots stem from Attymass, commented: “It was a great night and I would like to thank everyone in the community who came out to help us raise such a substantial sum for the charities. We are not due to open until the third week in January, but we decided to give people a sneak preview to try out the real ales and the bar’s facilities.
“Our plan is to use the venue to develop more business and tourism links between Mayo and Manchester. We are interested in using the venue to showcase Mayo's growing range of craft breweries and it would be an ideal venue to promote its newly launched Film Mayo initiative.”
The evening featured a live performance by Levenshulme singer songwriter Claire Mooney, who is a regular performer on BBC Radio Manchester. She was accompanied by flute player John Gibson. Claire composed a special song to mark the historic occasion of Levenshulme opening its first dedicated real ale pub and the 25th anniversary of the Levenshulme Pub Company.
The digital art gallery in the ale house is planning on staging short film festivals and digital art exhibitions as well as hosting live music, comedy and theatre.
The bar, which is situated in the middle of the village on Stockport Road, was originally a UCP shop, which was built around 1910. During the refurbishment of the three-storey venue the builders uncovered the original Art Nouveau tiles from the shop which now form part of the outdoor entrance to the bar. They also managed to source the original picture of the bar, which has been turned into a print.
The venue has its own art gallery, coffee lounge, first floor sun terrace balcony, beer garden and an outdoor area at the front of the bar.
For more information, visit www.levenshulmepubcomany.co.uk or follow them on twitter @LevFred and Facebook.com/FredsAleHouse.