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> Parlour Review Sister to The Castle Hotel, on Oldham Road, Parlour opened in September 2010. Owned by the same people as The Castle, Parlour promises to bring a some genuine, local pub feel to the area. > All Bar One Review King Street home of the national chain, All Bar One have a self-styled reputation as the stylish choice of chain bar. All Bar One are your classic modern chain bar – modern pub grub, versatile drinks selection, a leather sofa or two and a bit of a chic, minimalist finish to the place. It’s well placed to catch shoppers with tired feet, nestled on King Street, a stone’s throw from Market Street and on many well trodden routes between Deansgate, Kendals, The Arndale and Selfridges. Popular for after work socialising too...and evening drinks. > Browns Review The large, impressive building on Spring Gardens that currently houses Athenaeum is due to be taken over by Browns in late 2010. The magnificent space has long been thought to be undermined by the cheap and not so cheerful feel of Athenaeum, so the news that Browns are to arrive is very welcome. For the uninitiated, Browns is a chain, but a slightly upmarket one with select venues throughout the UK serving a large choice of food and drinks, with a steering towards mid-priced quality rather than cheap and cheerful. A huge range of cocktails, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, as well as an extensive wine list and champagne selection accompanies a full menu at their other venues so we are assuming Browns in Manchester will follow a similar format. If it all goes ahead this should be a good addition to what is developing into a little clutch of decent places to eat and drink – Rosso, Room, All Bar One. > Barcelona Review ***Updated 13 July 2010*** Unassuming from the outside, Barcelona, on the corner of Tib Street and Hilton/Thomas Street, certainly makes up for it on the inside. Completely refurbished before opening, the inside is a simple, stylish effort with plenty of dark wood and strategic lighting. More importantly, the bar-top offerings are refreshingly obscure, at least compared with most other bars in the locale – three or four decent European lagers (mostly Spanish), as well as cocktails and all the rest. Food offerings come in the form of authentic tapas dishes, which you can pick from the glass-fronted counter. If you were getting a little tired of the Northern Quarter staple vibe of ‘independent, quirky British bar’, Barcelona may just be worth a go. Relaxed, unpretentious, spacious and with decent priced food and drink, you’ll wonder how the Northern Quarter ever functioned without it. > Home Sweet Home Review ***July 2010*** Potentially some competition for Common in the heart of the Northern Quarter, Home Sweet Home recently submitted their licensing application for all the usual business – selling alcohol, playing music and making music. The name suggests a bar/pub style place with a relaxed vibe, maybe a little live music on a Sunday night. Nice. > Base Cafe Bar Review A relatively new addition to Charles Street, Base Cafe Bar sits with The Lass and FAC 251 in a little collective at the top end of Oxford Road. Their mantra on their Twitter account (there doesn’t seem to be a website at the moment) reads: “Music, food, football, wine, beer, cocktails, sports, coffee, party!” Which just about covers it as far as we’re concerned. > Jacksons Review Jacksons took over the space that used to be occupied by Moonlight – some nice brick archways under an old Warehouse in Piccadilly Basin, its patio area overlooking its own little corner of the Manchester ship canal. It’s certainly tucked away – a small billboard on the cobbled backstreet, just past Lammars, the only real clue to its presence. Its situation next to the water, although undoubtedly tranquil, does feel slightly odd, surrounded as you are by the tiny balconies of the apartments that now occupy the bulk of the warehouse space. That’s not to say it‘s not a pleasant place for a drink - the interior is all exposed brickwork with a certain modern charm. There’s a pool table, which is a bonus, and, although it does get busy and bustling, it maintains a relaxed air, probably by virtue of its waterfront position. With a few decent bars in the locale, like Lammars, Noho and Hula, Piccadilly Basin, as the area is known, may just be the latest place to be seen in Manchester. > Alchemist Review A new project from Black House, the people behind a number of restaurants and bars throughout the country, known in Manchester for their Grill on the Alley restaurant. Alchemy will apparently be “an old English pub done in a US-style bar feel”. It’s a while off yet – the company haven’t officially acquired the space yet, but we hope to see it later in 2010. > K2 Review It looks a little like a celebration of neon but K2 is in fact a much welcomed addition to China Town – a proper bar. And not just any bar but one in which you and your friends can sing along with classic, popular songs, with the benefit of amplification, without annoying too many people. It’s a karaoke bar with 31 private booths, all decorated and themed individually and capable of hosting from 6-30 people. The pricing structure for the karaoke booths looks a little something like this: (Prices stated are minimum spend on drinks per room) 6 - 8 people • Sun - Thu 5pm-10pm ~ £98 per 3 hours • Sun - Thu 10pm-2am ~ £118 per 3 hours • Fri - Sat 5pm-2am ~ £150 per 3 hours 10 - 12 people • Sun - Thu 5pm-10pm ~ £148 per 3 hours • Sun - Thu 10pm-2am ~ £178 per 3 hours • Fri - Sat 5pm-2am ~ £250 per 3 hours 12 - 15 people • Sun - Thu 5pm-10pm ~ £178 per 3 hours • Sun - Thu 10pm-2am ~ £238 per 3 hours • Fri - Sat 5pm-2am ~ £330 per 3 hours 20 - 25 people • Sun - Thu 5pm-2am ~ £398 per 4 hours • Fri - Sat 5pm-2am ~ £500 per 4 hours 30 people • Sun - Thu 5pm-2am ~ £498 per 4 hours • Fri - Sat 5pm-2am ~ £600 per 4 hours > Kitsch Review Kitsch promises to be a ‘late night cafe’ on Friday and Saturday nights – that basically means it doesn’t shut. Due to open in the summer 2010, we’re not quite sure what it’s going to be like yet – more of a cafe than a bar, perhaps? Or maybe it will have a Corbieres basement bar style feel. We wait with anticipation. > 57 Thomas Street Review The presence of Marble Brewery in the Northern Quarter has been on the cards for a while now and it seems, in April 2010, that it may soon be a reality. 57 Thomas Street appears to be taking shape as the new arm of the Marble Arch brigade, with Chorlton housing the other outlet in the guise of the Marble Beer House. Marble beers brewed on site at their Rochdale Road pub will undoubtedly feature highly but they also tend to have a few guest ales on too. Real pints of beer in the cocktail-soaked Northern Quarter? Sounds good to us. > Sakura Review Sakura is set to open on Friday 1 October 2010 and looks like it will bring a touch or oriental glamour to the Locks’ party scene. Japanese in theme, the bar will serve cocktails and drinks, as well as authentic sushi, bento boxes and pan Asian dishes. Connected to Sakura is the Twisted Tokyo Club, open from 10pm six nights a week and promises to host some of the best DJs in the world. The Opium Lounge is a VIP area within the Twisted Tokyo Club, offering exclusive table reservations. The opening weekend at Sakura will kick off on Friday 1 October with Graeme Park and Steve Smart on the decks, continuing into Saturday 2 October with Freemasons, featuring Amanda Wilson live. Sakura seems like it will fit well into the Deansgate Locks collective. Aiming for unashamed class and a clubbing experience with a touch of glamour, it should sit nicely with other newcomers such as Lakota and Sugar Buddha. The strip of bars that had developed an unwanted, and some would say unwarranted, reputation for the less desirable aspects of a night out may just be seeing itself revived, despite the recent closures of both House 9 and Area 51. With all that in mind, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how Sakura settles in over the next few months. It might just be the shot in the arm that Deansgate Locks needed. ____________________________________________________ Plans have been submitted relating to Arch 2 on Deansgate Locks for a change of use. We are led to believe that the current CP Hart bathroom store is due to become Sakura, a mini-chain that currently has venues in Lincoln and Reading. They look like what you might expect from a Deansgate Locks venue – smart seating areas, bar food, student nights...you know the deal, but Sakura also has a bit of a Japanese twist to it, which will be interesting to see. We don’t have a timescale yet but we’re hoping it’ll arrive in 2010 – maybe in time for the summer? > The Eagle Bar Review ***Updated May 2010*** The Eagle is well and truly open – a constant flow of punters through the doors since its opening suggests this will be a village favourite for a while yet. It is worth noting, however, for those of you keen to establish the ‘rules’ of a venue before embarking on a visit, that The Eagle operates a ‘Men Only’ policy. So don’t plan a visit if you’re out with female friends. ______________________________________________________________________ There are signs outside and the beginnings of a website, but that's about all we know about The Eagle at the moment. We reckon it'll be along sometime in April/May 2010. > Golftorium Review This is a new one on us – a golf bar! It’s not strictly speaking a ‘bar’ in the traditional sense, more an indoor golfing centre that happens to have a bar in it. Still, a (simulated) round of golf or two and a few pitchers of beer, as you get with one of their current offers, doesn’t sound too bad to us. Maybe indoor golf is going to become the new ten pin bowling, or maybe it’s just something a bit different to a game of pool with a few pints. Whichever, Golftorium sounds fun. We’re in! > Illusions Review A new concept for Manchester and perhaps the whole of the country – Illusions is a magic-themed bar, with acts performing every night. Recently opened in The Printworks, Illusions put on live magic every night of the week with no entrance charge – you just have to get yourself a drink at the bar and then relax and enjoy the magical goings on around the venue. There’s also live music every Friday and Saturday night with resident musicians joined by local artists to add to the entertainment on offer. Illusions, who also have a bar in Bristol as well as their newly opened Manchester branch, were awarded the 2009 Best Entertainment Pub award. > Murphys Beer and Cocktail Bar Review Murphy’s Beer and Cocktail bar first showed up on the radar through a licensing application in March 2010. A fairly standard affair, as licensing applications go – booze license until 4am, ‘provision of late night refreshment’ also until 4am (I like that term – late night refreshment. I always thought that meant booze too but it[s food, apparently), dancing allowed, as is music, or at least it will be if the license is granted. Beyond that, we have an address: Unit 1 Victoria Building, Dantzic Street. So we know what it’s going to be called and where it is...but that’ about it, I’m afraid. We shall have to wait for more on Murphy’s Beer and Cocktail Bar when those in the know deem us important enough to be told. > Fernandos Review By popular demand, here we give you our official listing for Fernando’s; Manchester’s ultimate dating venue made famous by ITV’s Take Me Out, the dating game show hosted by Paddy McGuinness. For the uninitiated, Take Me Out involves a large group of young ladies being presented with a potential suitor who, naturally, tries to impress them in various ways. The girls each have a light that they can turn out when, or if, they feel the gent in front of them isn’t impressing them enough. At the end of the ritual humiliation...sorry, the man’s attempts to impress the girls, he has to choose one from those with their lights left on to take on a date. It’s a bit like Blind Date used to be only with more people involved, no ‘Our Graham’ and less teeth. Paddy McGuinness takes the Cilla role and when the lucky couple have been whittled out of the collected participants they are ceremoniously sent off for a date in Fernando’s, Manchester’s ‘best bar’, according to Paddy. We do have some bad news for you, however, Fernando’s fans – it doesn’t actually exist. Well, that’s to say that there is no bar in Manchester with Fernando’s written above the door. The place where they film the dates is a real bar and all the shots used in the programme are of a real place, it’s just not called Fernando’s - it’s called Bijou and far from being charmingly down at heel, as Paddy often suggests of Fernando’s, it is rather a swanky place, recently refurbished and erring on the classier side of a night out than the pint and a packet of peanuts ambience of Fernando’s. Quite why it was decided to make up a bar in Manchester called Fernando’s, and then use a real bar to pretend it existed, we have no idea. If you want to go to Fernando’s in Manchester, the closest you’re going to get is Bijou. Check out our Bijou listing. > Jump Review Rumoured to be a project from the Living Ventures company (see also Gusto and Black House bar/restaurant chains), Jump will be the latest addition to Manchester’s Spinningfields sometime in early 2010. > Wildcats Review Little more than a rumour at the moment but Wildcats looks set to join the Peter Street line up some time in early 2010. Who, what and when we don’t know yet, but we’ll keep you up to date. > Barbirolli Review ***Updated again, February 2010*** Barbirolli held a little low key open evening the other week, to which we were fortunate enough to be invited. On a Friday night at 6pm, it gave us a good idea of what the place is like. First impressions were of surprise – it was packed. Not with invited guests (there was a little area reserved for that) but with smart revellers. Not bad for a bar in its infancy. The decor is clean and modern but with a comfortable feel, the cocktails are ‘bloody lovely’ (according to those accompanying me for the evening), the beer cold and served in proper glasses and the live music unobtrusive but entertaining – just what you need at that time of night, post work on a Friday. Their aim of providing a sophisticated live music venue appears to have been realised and we look forward to going back there again soon to see the place in full ‘gig-mode’. If the preview was anything to go by, it’ll soon be something of a destination in an area that traditionally didn’t offer much in the way of nightlife. ***Updated February 2010*** We’ve finally received some more info from the people behind Barbirolli – it’s pitching itself as a sort of upmarket Matt and Phreds. That seems to be the idea anyway - “stylish, sophisticated and upmarket live music venue,” is how they put it. Positioned well for such an aim, right next to Bridgewater Hall and GMEX (sorry, Manchester Central), it’s an area of town that is more likely to attract the ‘stylish and sophisticated’ crowd than, say, the Northern Quarter, or even Deansgate, which seems to be turning into the new Peter Street. With two bars, a stage for live music (think jazz, blues and acoustic sessions) as well as cocktails and both bar meals and a la carte dining, Barbirolli looks to be carving itself a new niche in Manchester’s nightlife. _________________________________________________________ This bar has been rumoured for a while and Barbirolli, on Barbirolli Square, opened just in time for New Year’s Eve 2009/2010. Handy for the Bridgewater Hall and Manchester Central, it’s set itself up as a classy, up market joint. We’ve yet to have the pleasure and only have the attached ‘artists impressions;’ to go on so far, but we’ll be sure to get down to Barbirolli soon to check it out. |
> Baby Platinum Review Was that you Cushion King from HH?! Reviewed by: Anonymous > Queer Review Queer was fine when we visited during the day, bar staff fine but sounds like they have a huge problem with door staff - 1 person can ruin a reputation easily it seems. I would be doing something about this if it was my place. Sorry. Reviewed by: Anonymous > Cuba Cafe Review im also shocked to hear what some of you are saying about cuba cafe as ive always had an amazing time there reading the owners feedback i agree with u and can only put it down to jealousy !! as cuba cafe is legendary !! and whenever im out with my girls its cuba cafe that rocks our sox off !! Reviewed by: susie > Sugar Buddha Review Me and my mates came here on Saturday and it was a really good night. All staff were top and dj was mint. deffo coming here again. Been to all places on locks and this has got to be the best. didn't have to wait ages at the bar and you wasn't shoved about like you are in most places. 10 out of 10 :-) Reviewed by: Anonymous > Sugar Buddha Review Went on Saturday and going again this weekend! Best night out in months!!!! Reviewed by: Jazmine > Sugar Buddha Review As of July 2010 I know that a new guy called Anthony has come in to run the saturday nights, we booked a booth for saturday 24th and we have never been so well looked after on a night out, amazing music! quick bar service and none of what is being described above. great night and really stands out from the rest of the deansgate bars - full of young chavs causing trouble Reviewed by: Anonymous > Lounge 31 Review Avoid like the plague - think wannabe gangsters in a cheap hip hop video. Was started on three times in the space of an hour! Reviewed by: Anonymous > Boutique Review THE WORST SERVICE WE HAVE EVER RECEIVED. VIP STATUS IS QUESTIONABLE A friend booked the VIP booth and had been promised the best night ever by the club's PR manager after a disasterous visit last time due to horrendous service. - had to pay to enter the club when the booth had already had a large deposit paid on it - box of chocolates arrived with chocolates missing from it - dirty, chewing gum all over the booth and seats ripped - toilets smelt of vomit, dirty, chewing gum stuck every where (including the toilet seats), taps broken, no soap, toilet door locks broken - PR manager was drunk, turned up over an hour after we did after promising she would be available all night and from the moment we arrived - waitresses just ignored the booth and left it unattended when you are meant to have a dedicated waitress for the night - had to clean up our own empty glasses and any spills - plastic glasses for all drinks including the champagne - even after complaining the service did not improve Reviewed by: Anonymous > Big Hands Review one of the best places to go in manchester im sure it still is i used to be the head doorman there and was a pleasure to work there....hope everones still looking after them selfs ,....regards tez Reviewed by: tez > Dokie Dokie Review does anyone know the contact details for this place, i want to go but can't find a number? Reviewed by: Anonymous > Blue Parrot Bar and Grill Review and you should be ashamed to call yourself literate. The Blue Parrot is amazing. Food was beyond tasty, staff were the nicest bunch ive met and the atmosphere was perfect for myself and the boyfriend to have a very resonably priced meal and a (good!) few drinks after it. Would definately recommend it. Its amazing !\r\nKaren, Dublin Reviewed by: Karen > M20 Review The only reason this place is busy on a Friday/ Saturday night is it's late license. They let too many people in to the extent you are walking over people to get to the bar. The staff are rude, the music is poor....need i go on Reviewed by: Anonymous > Bluu Review quite agree with the general chavviness of Bluu (but only chavvie compared with the rest of the NQ!) and the music can be dull and repetitive most weekends - HOWEVER, I have found myself down there on a Friday a few times where the music was great (to call it eclectic is an understatement - it shouldn't work but it does!) mainly new indie stuff with a load of old stuff thrown in - it's good, give it another chance! I think the night is every 1st Friday and called something like "Oh Yeah? What's Normal?" - big thumbs up from me and a pleasant surprise - check it! Reviewed by: Anonymous > The Clarence Review The Clarence is no longer a pub and no longer called the Clarence! It is now acurrie house. Reviewed by: Anonymous > Barcelona Review Great place - quality drinks, chilled atmos and cheaper than most nearby! Definitely my warm up venue of choice now. Reviewed by: Anonymous > Odd Bar Review Seriously going off Odd - last visit the beer was warm (draught Staropramen), the white wine served in a plastic tumbler and the tables filthy. Expensive too - a larger wine and colder beer not 50 yards away was cheaper. The devil's in the details, Odd, and the 'quirky' thing isn't quite enough anymore. Reviewed by: Anonymous > Blue Parrot Bar and Grill Review went for food there the other night friday 2 june , there was no steaks on the menu! funny thing for a steak house, they also had no hand cut chips, so we had soup for starters and a burger for main, the soup was basicly just chopped tomatoes from a can and very very watery, the burger was dry and taste less, i won't recommend going here for food, the chefs should be ashamed to call them selfs chefs. Reviewed by: Anonymous > Wave Review this bar is good and cheap as for the staff very rude and ignorant and the bouncers are very very abrupt and agressive il be making a majour complaint about 1 of the staff and a bouncer grrrrr very very angry customer !!! Reviewed by: donna horsfield > Panacea Review From my experience the door staff are not elitist - they simply have fun allowing or disallowing whomever they choose into the bar. Its just a game to them. Its disgraceful and in view of the sheer volume of complaints I would have hoped that the manager of Panacea would have the intelligence to investigate matters. Reviewed by: Anonymous > Thompson Arms Review Does the thompson actually let Lesbians in???????? Yet again me and my Girlfriend got refused entry, the bouncer said "regulars only" , How do you actually become a regular if your alway's refused????????? .Then the bouncer casually lets a group of 4 guys and 4 girls (straight looking) stroll in. I have nothing against straight people, but to be turned away when I travel quite a distance , from a homophobic area just so I can have a decent night with people alike and I get refused, straight people have alot more choice of places, let us in the gay places first. I make the effort to travel , Thompson should make the effort for gay people. Tip for newcomers, don't bother trying to get in "regulars only" , and Thompson arms, regulars only go out and live for so long. Reviewed by: Anonymous |
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