Category: Manchester

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!

Manchester Venues 221 to 222

It has been cited here previously that there were many sections of Manchester in the 1980’s and 1990’s that were still harking back to the Industrial Revolution era. An example of this was the large Spinningfields space located in a square bordered by Bridge Street to the north, Quay Street to the south, Deansgate to the east and River Irwell to the west. It consisted of a suite of grubby back alleys and tenement buildings and even the name was derived from the dark satanic cotton mills heyday.

The Manchester bombing of 1996 resulted in a comprehensive regeneration programme across the city including Spinningfields which went through a £1.5 billion gentrification phase over the next decade and was labelled by the marketeers as the ‘Knightsbridge of the North’. It was loaded up with various bars, restaurants and boutique shops over the 22-acre (89000 square metre) site with 16000 punters employed. The old magistrates court and the Manchester Evening News buildings amongst others were demolished as a result.  

Spinningfields. Image Credit Visit Manchester.

So, if you enter via Deansgate your first landmark is the impressive John Rylands Library which is well worth a visit and beyond there are the Australasia, Hawksmoor and the sorrowfully named Sexy Fish restaurants.

Nearby is a posh cocktail bar called Manchester Dear Sailor with three separate menus and drinks called Pecan Mai Tai Yuzu Meringue Martini if either of those delicacies happens to float your boat! Their blurb outlines they are inspired by the premise of 1930 Tokyo speakeasy bars and there are gentle house rules including that gentlemen cannot approach ladies unless they have already made the first move.  

One afternoon I happened to be trundling past on my way to the train station after work and the doors were wide open and live music assailed my lugs. I hung around for a spell and caught a portion of the Steel Band Boys set and their Caribbean influenced beats.

Dear Sailor. Image Credit spinningfields.co.uk

As you continue your circuit onto Quay Street you roll past Schofields Bar and the Opera House and then reach No 1 Spinningfields. This structure was built in 2014 and gained a highest new entry placing as the fifth highest building in Manchester and they house various accountancy and law firms and also have a large M&S food hall on the ground floor. At the top of the tower block you would find 20 Stories restaurant.  

In the central thoroughfare behind there is the Manchester branch of The Alchemist and The Ivy, the latter which Gill and I attended after her graduation. Further down New Quay Street you reach River Irwell and there is the obligatory branch of Slug and Lettuce.

There is a bridge over the river to the New Bailey estate taking you past the long gone Mark Addy pub and through to Salford Central station. However, the bridge has been closed for a couple of years now whilst awaiting repair thereby making my work commute slightly longer. This is also the location for commencements of tourist boat trips down the River Irwell.  

Onto Bridge Street you then alight outside the award winning People History Museum which after several previous homes settled in its current location in 1994. Artefacts there include Peterloo Massacre memorabilia, ex-Spitting Image puppets and Michael Foot’s inimitable donkey jacket. Last year it was included in the city’s art trail with all 48 of the instruments in the guitar trail exhibited there with additional donations from Oasis, Doves and New Order. Our new prime minister Andy Burnham recently chose the venue to deliver his first major speech after announcing his Labour Party leadership bid.  

You then pass the Civil Justice Centre which opened in 2007 and is known locally as the ‘filing cabinet’ due to its design shape. It was quite a ground breaking venture as it was the first major court complex built in Britain since 1882.  On that main drag there is the grand old freemasons Manchester Hall building and the Indian restaurant Dishoom with their breakfast Bacon Naan Rolls.

The ‘Filing Cabinet’. Image Credit insidehmcts.blog.gov.uk

To the rear of there is Manchester Oast House, which is designed based on a resemblance to an olde-worlde Yorkshire barn and was a brick by brick rebuild of a reclaimed 16th century oast house which was located in Kent, for which its original use was for brewers when roasting hops. It was originally a pop-up temporary location when it opened in 2011 but proved to be so popular it became a permanent venue. I have attended a couple of Christmas do’s there, one in the indoor building and another in the marquees that they install for the winter season.   

Oast House. Image Credit morningadvertiser.co.uk

There is a large outdoor seating space with two alfresco bars and a bespoke bandstand for live music, and they hold monthly festivals that are very well attended. I have seen seven acts there, either on post-work drinks or a cheeky Sunday visit on sunny days and they have all been comprised of cover acts.