The Peveril of the Peak in Manchester named the best pub in the UK

Manchester has always known that the Peveril of the Peak is special. This summer, the rest of the country caught up. On 24 July, Time Out named the Pev, as locals call it, the best pub in the UK in its ranking of Britain's 22 best boozers for 2026.

It was a strong field. The rest of the top five were The Old Neptune in Whitstable, The Doublet in Glasgow, the Old Dungeon Ghyll in the Lake District and The Golden Lion in Todmorden. Manchester also had a second entry, with the Marble Arch on Rochdale Road coming in at number 15.

For regulars, the news was a moment of real pride. But the summer brought sadness too. Just four days after the ranking was published, the Pev's long-serving landlady, Nancy Swanick, died peacefully on 28 July, aged 96.

Nancy had held the licence since 1971. That run of 55 years is believed to have made her both the oldest and the longest-serving landlady in Britain, and it means that for generations of drinkers the Pev and Nancy were one and the same.

The timing gave the Time Out title extra meaning. Pubs that last for decades rarely do so by accident. They depend on the people behind the bar, the care taken over the place and the welcome offered to whoever walks through the door, and the national recognition arrived as a tribute to the woman who had run the pub for more than half a century.

The family has confirmed that the Pev will stay in Swanick hands, which will reassure the many people for whom the pub is part of the fabric of the city centre. Continuity is what has kept it going, and it looks set to carry on.

The award also says something about Manchester's pubs more widely. With two of the city's traditional pubs in a national top 22, it is a reminder that some of the city's best-loved places to drink are the old ones, kept going by the families and regulars who care for them.

If you have never been, there could hardly be a better year to raise a glass at the Pev, to the pub itself and to Nancy Swanick, the landlady who looked after it for so long.