Track Brewing Co Taproom

Track Brewing Co is among Manchester's most respected modern craft breweries, built on a reputation for hazy, hop-forward pales, IPAs and DIPAs. In 2021 it moved into a 10,000 sq ft home on the Piccadilly Trading Estate, a few minutes' walk east of Piccadilly station, and carved a 2,000 sq ft taproom out of the working brewhouse. The open-plan room seats around 80 beneath a colourful, Wes Anderson-ish fit-out, with the fermentation tanks sitting within arm's reach of the bar — so the keg pouring into your glass often came off the tank just metres away.

Twenty keg lines and three cask pumps run the length of the bar, alongside wines, spirits and soft drinks, and the taproom is both dog- and child-friendly. There's a beer garden for the Manchester sun and Slice Culture pizza slung from the kitchen through the second half of the week, making the place feel as much a neighbourhood local as a brewery tap.

The alcohol-free draw is Sonoma AF, the 0.5% version of Track's flagship Sonoma pale ale. Because it is brewed in-house rather than bought in, it keeps the beer's signature Citra and Mosaic hop character — bright citrus and light tropical notes over a soft malt base. It sits in its own alcohol-free slot on the taproom's draught menu and is poured by the pint, so non-drinkers get the full post-work-pint experience rather than a token can from the fridge. With the full-strength Sonoma a near-permanent fixture on cask, the AF pour is a genuine like-for-like swap: the same beer, without the alcohol.