Circus Tavern, Manchester

For the darts venue, see Circus Tavern.

Circus Tavern
Circus Tavern on Portland Street, Manchester
General information
Type	Public house
Address	86 Portland Street, Manchester, M1 4GX
Coordinates	53°28′40″N2°14′24″W / 53.477766°N 2.239972°W / 53.477766; -2.239972
Year(s) built	Late 18th century or early 19th century with later extension [1]
Designations
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Circus Tavern and attached railings
Designated	6 June 1994
Reference no.	1247057
Other information
Public transit access	Manchester Piccadilly
Website
circustavern.co.uk

The Circus Tavern on Portland Street in Manchester, England, is the smallest public house in the city, with one of the smallest bars in the country. ^[2]

History

Built in about 1790 and originally a house, ^[3] it is one of the oldest pubs in Manchester, although it only became a pub in about 1840. ^{[4] [5]} The pub is owned by Tetley's, a Yorkshire brewery, and contains photographs of former Manchester United players who frequented the pub, including George Best. ^{[6] [7]}

On 6 June 1994, it was designated as a Grade II listed building. ^{[1] [8]}

See also

• Greater Manchester portal

• Listed buildings in Manchester-M1

References

1. Historic England. "Circus Tavern and Attached Railings (1247057)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 15 November 2024.
2. Cooper (2005), p. 32
3. "Circus Tavern, Manchester". CAMRA . Retrieved 28 February 2025.
4. "The smallest bar in Europe", Visit Britain, 30 May 2011, retrieved 29 November 2017
5. Page & Littlechild (2017), p. 157
6. Gale, Robert (19 October 2012), "The Circus Tavern, Manchester", Travels with Beer, archived from the original on 1 December 2017, retrieved 29 November 2017
7. Bourne, Dianne (26 March 2017), "Manchester's biggest pub and smallest bar – how do they measure up?", Manchester Evening News , retrieved 29 November 2017
8. W., Kaleigh (25 September 2015), "Manchester's must-visit listed pubs", Time Out , retrieved 29 November 2017

Bibliography

• Cooper, Glynis (2005), The Wharncliffe Companion to Manchester: An A–Z of Local History, Wharncliffe Books, ISBN   978-1-903425-74-9
• Page, Phil; Littlechild, Ian (2017), Secret Manchester, Amberley Publishing, ISBN   978-1-4456-4028-0