The Trafford & Hulme Branch Pub Of The Season for Autumn 2012 is The Hillary Step on Upper Chorlton Road, Whalley Range. The award will be presented on Monday 1st October from 8pm. The pub are promising to lay on an extra special range of beers – all are welcome.
The pub achieved brief notoriety when it first opened in 2004 by being Manchester’s first non-smoking pub. Although the change in the law three years later removed its unique selling point, the pub has continued to go from strength to strength, so much so that earlier this year, it almost doubled in size with a large extension being added to the rear and the bar being extended.
Prior to the Hillary Step, drinkers in Whalley Range had to journey to The Whalley right at the northern end of Upper Chorlton Road or south to neighbouring Chorlton. Set in a short row of shops a few hundred yards from the junction with Seymour Grove, the Hilary was neighbour to well regarded Italian restaurant Palmiro which had been established in 2000. The two venues gave new life to the area and were soon joined by Jam Street Café. Palmiro was sold in early 2010 and is now the home to Nip & Tipple, the three bars now making this short strip a viable alternative to Cholrton’s more intensive scene.