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Home / Travel

Bar/fly: Hotel Football, Manchester

By Steve McKenna
NZ Herald·
19 Mar, 2015 02:00 AM4 mins to read

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Hotel Football touts itself as a place where you can eat, drink and sleep football. Illustration / Rod Emmerson

Hotel Football touts itself as a place where you can eat, drink and sleep football. Illustration / Rod Emmerson

Football fans of all stripes will enjoy a devilishly smart new Manchester hangout, writes Steve McKenna.

As I walk into Hotel Football, Gary Neville, the former Manchester United captain, strides purposefully out.

After hanging up his boots in 2011, Neville became assistant coach of the England national team and an acclaimed TV pundit, but it's this slick establishment, perched in the shadow of Old Trafford, hallowed home of the Red Devils (United), that has taken up much of his post-playing attention.

"Gary's here most days," I'm told by affable staff. "So is Ryan. He'll usually pop in after training."

"Ryan" is Ryan Giggs, the most decorated player in English football history and now among the coaching ranks at United. The pair clubbed together with former teammates Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville (Gary's younger brother) to develop what is surprisingly the first football-themed hotel in a country renowned for its football-mad populace (and the first in a string of chic new hotels opening in Manchester this year).

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Accommodation is just one aspect of this impressive $49 million venture, which was four years in the making and touts itself as a place where you can eat, drink and sleep football.

There are 133 rooms - around half of which have window views of "The Theatre of Dreams", which looms across the Bridgewater Canal on Sir Matt Busby Way.

The game is everywhere. In their bathrooms, guests will find toiletries in bespoke football-jersey bottles and linen embroidered with slogans such as "Dreaming of Victory".

Stairways are painted with murals of famous footballers (from United heroes like Giggs, George Best and David Beckham to overseas legends Lionel Messi and the Brazilian Ronaldo).

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Each room has a different football-themed artwork from local students.

Room rates start at $185 a night, though on match-days they're upwards of $520. Yet folk seem happy to fork out for the pleasure. When United played Arsenal at Old Trafford on March 9, every room was booked out.

You don't have to stay overnight to savour Hotel Football's charms.

On match day, visitors can head to the hotel's artificial rooftop football pitch for a pre-match barbecue.

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Dubbed "Heaven", this lofty spot boasts panoramic vistas over Greater Manchester and the stadium - it even hosts five-a-side kickarounds.

In the basement, furnished with pool and football tables, the Old Trafford Supporters Club is open to everyone. On match-days, there's a £1 ($2) entrance fee, which goes towards local community schemes.

At ground level, Cafe Football, the hotel's sleek-casual restaurant, is similar in style to Neville's and Giggs' flagship cafe, which opened alongside London's Olympic Stadium, in 2013.

Its humorous meaty menu comprises pizzas, burgers and dishes like "Scholesy's" steak pudding, chips, peas and gravy ($21). For liquid refreshment, sup a range of worldwide beers and Mancunian craft ales; wines from all over (including Marlborough sauvignon blanc) and quirkily-titled mixers.

A tribute to Beckham's wife Victoria, The Posh ($18) is a concoction of Tanqueray, St Germain elderflower liqueur, Prosecco, lime and mint. Overall, drinks are reasonably priced (on par with what you'd pay in pubs across Manchester).

As I soak up the ambience of Cafe Football - half-hoping that Giggsy or one of his celebrity mates will stroll in for a coffee (they don't today) - it hits me that, like most of the building, this is not an overtly Red Devil-themed venue. The decor is fairly neutral and not bombastically pro-Man U, so even fans of rival teams shouldn't feel (too) uncomfortable in here.

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Yes, even Liverpool or Manchester City supporters.

Giggs and Neville see Hotel Football as "a celebration of football in general".

It's a canny move, and they hope to roll out this budding franchise around the UK and eventually the rest of the globe.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Cathay Pacific offers the only one-stop service from Auckland to Manchester, going via Hong Kong.

Further information: See visitbritain.com.

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