Archaelogists discover 200-year-old underground pub in Manchester

Bottles were found intact still full with brandy

The remains of the 19th century pub, the Astley Arms (Manchester Evening News)

Archaelogists have discovered a 200-year-old underground pub during building work on a office building in central Manchester.

Excavators discovered untouched bottles full of of brandy and crockery branded with the 18th-century landlord of the Astley Arms.

Archaelogists were brought to the site of a future 13-storey skyscraper as part the planning process and found the remains of houses as well as the pub.

Some of the recovered pottery items were inscribed with the name of Thomas Evans, the pub's landlord in 1821.

Aidan Turner, supervisor of the archaelogy site told Manchester Evening News: "We found pottery and bottle from the Astley Arms which actually has the name of the proprietor Thomas Evans, and the name of the pub written on it, so it must have been a commissioned piece for the pub.

"It’s brilliant because you can suddenly connect it to the local people in the area. We looked online about his family history and one of his descendants now lives in Texas."

According to local historians, the pub was renamed to Paganini Tavern in 1840 before returned to being called Astley Arms remaining open as 1928.

Some of the recovered items will be displayed at the city's Museum of Science.

The site developer of the build, James Alderson said: “It’s amazing knowing there’s so much history at this site and it’s really exciting.

“I never expected this kind of thing to be found but we are really fascinated by it all."