It is arguably one of the most overlooked, least-known establishments in Manchester: an atmospheric 218-year-old library on top of a city centre pub in a building that resembles an ancient Greek temple.
To find the Portico library people have to know where they are going. The entrance is not the building’s main one and visitors have to trudge up several flights of stairs, but once they get there, what a sight: it is a book-lined step back in history where you can almost hear the echoes of 19th-century Manchester radicals debating Corn Laws.
