A 200-year-old underground pub has been discovered in Manchester city centre - along with bottles of brandy.

Archaeologists made the discovery of untouched bottles of booze and personalised crockery containing the former landlord’s name.

The find came during work to prepare for the building of a 13-storey skyscraper on the corner of Port Street and Great Ancoats Street.

As part of the planning process, archaeologists had to be brought in to dig underneath the proposed site. They discovered the hidden pub and as well as the remains of several houses.

Personalised plates of the landlord Thomas Evans - who owned the Astley Arms pub in 1821 - were recovered alongside including keys, pots for quills and pipes.

Builders say they are stunned to discover the buildings dating back to the early 1800s, just a few years after Napoleon’s forces had swept Europe and when Manchester was still a modest market town.

James Alderson, site developer of Mulbury City which is carrying out the build, told the M.E.N.: “A lot of bottles have been found, maybe around 20. And three or four of them are full of brandy.

“We opened the cork on a few and you can still smell it.

“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.

“Part of Manchester’s vast history is being captured in these findings which is really interesting.”

“It really takes you back to the time when they would have been outside of the pub drinking.”

Historians say The Astley Arms pub was renamed to the Paganini Tavern in 1840 by Thomas Inglesent.

By the 1850s it was back as the Astley Arms, remaining open until 1928 as a Cornbrook house.

The building was partially rebuilt in 1986 but later demolished.

Aidan Turner, supervisor at the site and senior archeologist, said it was exciting to be able to link the findings to living people today.

He said: “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.

“It’s nice to be able to connect it directly to living people and their families.”

He said pottery dated back to the early 1800s and several of the bottles would have been later towards the 1900s.

The development will create 135 apartments and shops on the site just at the junction of Great Ancoats Street and Port Street.

It is expected to be finished by the end of 2017.

Some of the items recovered from the site will be put on display in the Museum of Science and Industry. But it’s not yet known what will happen to the bottled brandy...

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