Manchester Venues 223 to 225

Included in one of many tributaries weaving off from Stevenson Square in the Northern Quarter is Lever Street where you would find the Manchester Faraday. Back in 2012, a company called Bakerie opened what was badged as a bread and wine bar in that building. They apparently had a plethora of different vinos available, numbering over ninety, and staged occasional live music and made an instant enough impact on the local scene to be awarded the Manchester Food & Drink Festival best newcomer prize for 2012.

Their cellar bar area contained a novel wine jukebox, now I don’t how that device operated but notwithstanding that it still sounds like an intriguing premise to me! They had a small shop nearby where they sold bread and wine which punters could take away and the owners at the time also owned ran three other NQ sites, namely Dough, Apotheca and Pie & Ale.

That particular venture finally closed its doors in March 2018 and was rapidly taken over by a Scandinavian bar and restaurant called Fika, but they only had a short lived seven month residency. They were then followed for a 6 year period by a games bar called 7 Sins before the current owners moved in there in 2025.

Faraday pub. Image Credit Unknown.

The Faraday has maintained some historical precedent by having an active games presence in the upstairs area with shuffleboard tables, interactive darts and pool tables. I happened to be skulking past one rainy night (not in Soho!), as you do, and I was enticed into the establishment by the sound of live music emanating out from the door. I slid past the bouncers and avoided being allocated to a table and grabbed a perch on the edge of the bar.  

My first impression was favourable as the ground floor area was kitted out in a traditional British pub style with vintage pub mirrors, wonky bar stools, leather seating and the archetypal wood panelled walls. On a small stage at the end of the large room, I saw a local singer called Alvin performing.

A couple of hundred yards away on Hilton Street you will find a bar called Manchester To Be Frank. They opened in October 25 and then subsequently decided to relaunch in April 26 by adopting an Irish slant and the moniker was changed accordingly to ‘To Be Sure’! This revised version of the bar boasts that they apparently have the largest whiskey selection in the Northwest.  

To Be Frank bar. Image Credit www.manchestersfinest.com

The previous tenant there was a Melbourne inspired bar called Another Heart to Feed which was initiated in 2017 becoming the second branch of the chain alongside their original premises in West Didsbury.  

The closing time of ‘To Be Sure’ is 2am every weekday night and 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. Also, on the weekends they stage live music on the ground floor with a DJ spinning vinyl in the basement. My one visit thus far was when returning from another gig and I saw a chap called Dennis playing.

Hilton Street initially commences from Spear Street, which runs through the centre of Stevenson Square, and then it proceeds as one of the three main thoroughfares across the Northern Quarter. You pass the Nancy Spains and the Affleck & Brown hostelries which sit on respective sides of Oldham Street before crossing Tib Street (named after the underground River Tib).

At this stage the name changes to Manchester Thomas Street and on the right is Evuna NQ restaurant, which is in my humble view the finest tapas restaurant in the city centre.  About five doors down from there is the renowned Millstone public house which is always highly busy with a marginal musical angle as there appears to be an all-day karaoke permanently ongoing.

The Millstone. Image Credit manchestersfinest.com

Now, when I say renowned that is patently not a recommendation, as my personal ‘renown’ with this hostelry is that I remain convinced to this day that our gig party had our drinks spiked there prior to my debut Mogwai show at the Roadhouse in 1998. Additionally in a homage to our new prime minister the pub recently changed the sign on the door to say ’10 of the North’!

A few months ago, I happened to be walking by and there was a pop-up stage directly opposite the pub where a combo called The Zumba Band were performing. Further bars are then encountered until the street terminates when it reaches the Shudehill Interchange. In December 2023 in a very unexpected turn of events the street was chosen to be the location for the catwalk for the Metier d’Arts 2023-2024 fashion show, resulting in undoubtedly bemused ‘A-listers’ mulching up and down the road!  

A postscript this week is that within this article I have proceeded to roll past 250k (a quarter of a million) words in total. The actual landmark word this time is ‘party’ which is one I can live with and fight for the right for!

Lancaster Venues 37 to 39

The next destination on our 2025 Lancaster Live music festival jaunt was Lancaster Boars Head situated on Great John Street near Dalton Square.It is a proper local establishment with pool tables and sports robustly advertised on the tv’s. One reviewer of the establishment eloquently described it as a ‘Star Wars’ bar, a phrase I have used myself previously to best describe the clientele encountered on the 1.24am ghost train from Manchester to Preston that I used to catch in the 1990’s.

The hostelry was in a boisterous state when I landed on a late Saturday afternoon and on stage were the Rock Twins.  The duo derives from the Blackburn area and consist of Steve Gaunt and Ian Wilson (known as Endy), the former named once apparently performed in front of the Queen. Their name evolves from the fact that the original singer was also called Ian Wilson, thus the alphabetical Twins moniker. I returned briefly the following day into another vibrant setting with a local lass called Loana Christy performing.

The Boars Head. Image Credit tripadvisor

We then took a detour to drop our bags at our digs for the evening, namely the Lancaster Sun Hotel & Bar. The Sun is a Grade II listed historic building with a handily placed south facing beer garden. It was originally built on the site of a Tudor residence named Stoop Hall and there is a recorded licence running all the way back to 1680. It reflected its roots for a while by having the name the Sun Inn on Stoop Hall, potentially named after the stables that were housed at the rear of the building.

It was a huge building in the 18th century with a grand total of 70 windows and in 1784 it was halved in size to make way for the adjoining Sun Street. It was chosen for the sheriff’s quarterly sessions prior to the judge’s lodgings being built and also for the Lancaster Musical Society. Like many other hostelries there are claims that Bonnie Prince Charlie once supped a cold ale there!

In the latter part of the 20th century, it was a tired looking hostelry before the Lancaster Brewery took over the reins in 2003. They undertook a highly comprehensive overhaul which took ten years to complete but was respectful enough to retain the original stone walls, beams and window frames. They also bought the next door property of 65 Church Street to build the hotel rooms and during that refurbishment some items of roman era pottery were discovered.     

 

Sun Inn. Image Credit sunhotelandbar.co.uk

I have been visiting the Sun for around three decades and it has always been one of my favourite pubs in Lancaster. One of the many reasons is due to the very fine Lancaster brewery beer where within their range they have Blonde, Amber, Black, Red and IPA which always presents a devilish choice when I approach the bar. Joyfully, though admittedly only periodically they stock their brewery beverages in my local supermarket.

As referenced above they have lodgings and it seemed an apposite place to rest our weary heads, and we were allocated an appropriate attic room with a sloping ceiling. They also served a fine breakfast for us to gird our loins prior to Day 2 of the festival!

I don’t think the pub normally stages live music, but they had made an exception on that day and we saw Molly Warburton playing, who I had earlier seen performing in the Borough. Those multiple shows are a regular occurrence at the event with bands straddling various venues across the weekend.   

We then made our way over to Lancaster Hogarths on George Street. The building first erected in 1892 has had previous lives as a Comet and Cycle 2000 store and also Milady House Toffees where they were apparently renowned for a mean caramel!  In the late 1990’s it turned into a hostelry, initially as Varsity until 2004, then looked like it closed for a while before reopening as Oscars wine bar and bistro in 2012. Then in 2018 it morphed again into its current guise and is kitted out in a Victorian Gin Palace style stocking over 120 brands, much like the Preston branch which is known locally as Hogwarts! 

Hogarths Pub. Image Credit ambertaverns.co.uk

There is a striking mural as you enter into the building, and they have a private karaoke bar in their upstairs space. When we visited there was a local lad called Mark McKenna singing and he did a decent cover of Chris Isaaks ‘Wicked Game’. His website outlines that he can also masquerade as a DJ, so you could receive a ‘2 for 1 deal’!

He was previously the lead singer of a Morecambe band in the 1980’s called The Ice Factory which was spookily named after the ice cream factory where they used to rehearse.  They were quite highly touted at the time but despite a few TV appearances and support slots to Youssou N’Dour and Blur they like many others before and after them, self-imploded in 1991.