An award-winning community pub in Hulme has been opening up its upstairs rooms for locals and families to keep warm in the face of rising energy bills. The Old Abbey Taphouse refurbed what was previously the pub’s meeting room, and has fitted it out with sofas and a projector, turning it into a ‘warm bank’.
It’s open a few nights a week, and anyone is welcome to come and keep warm.
“We launched it in December,” landlady Rachele Evaroa said. “We just realised that there were people sitting at home, and they’re cold. Ours is different [to other warm banks] as we’re open in the evenings, and a lot of them are people’s reception areas, so just open 9 to 5. We’ve turned it into a proper sitting room with games.
