October 16, 2006
An excellent place to enjoy a few beers and watch the world go by. It’s often quite amusing to see the envious looks on the faces of passengers on the trains travelling through as you sup your pint when the only beer choice they have is cans of non descript lager that the refreshments trolley vends as extortionate prices! As Gazza states in his review the only real drawback here can be the service as the place is only small and tends to get busy rather quickly and you find the locals are sometimes catered for ahead of others.

September 6, 2006
A place that divides opinions; it has stood in it’s present form for years and has enjoyed various phases of scoopability. Sylvia has run it since the mid 90s, and alongside the boring standard beers there are 4 or more guests, usually new and/or rare with a "forthcoming" board posted on the door to the conservatory. Occasional fests are held albeit not with the same enthusiasm or number of beers as they used to be in it’s heyday. The main gripe I hear about the "Buffet" seems to be the unwelcoming atmosphere and bad service, which IMO sometimes cannot be denied, although it depends on the barstaff and circumstances and it’s still an essential stop if you’re in the Manchester area. Tends to favour beers from local breweries with some from further away nowadays, but still plenty of new beers.