On the Friday of 29th August 2025, I unsurprisingly yet again sallied into Manchester for a gig, but this time I had an hour of opportunity before I was meeting up with a pal for a pre-gig aperitif. So, I thought I would embark on a Jimmy treasure hunt to see if I could tick off any other venues not previously attended. As a result, I chose an area of town near to Deansgate that I do not visit on a regular basis on my other evening gig jaunts.
I alighted the train at Manchester Oxford Road station and gravitated to the left down Oxford Road into Peter Street were residing opposite Albert Hall is Manchester Impossible. This establishment was previously Bar 38 and possibly prior to that Pizza Express, but my memory is a tad hazy on that latter reference.
Bar 38. Image Credit restaurantsofmanchester.com
In 2005, Bar 38 was one of the locations alongside the Metropolitan University Students Union venue to stage a four night residency for an American TV programme called Total Request Live, though I have no personal recollection of that show. The premise of it was that at the chosen locations they played music videos and staged live music in the venues. It was compered by the likes of Trevor Nelson and Zane Lowe with acts playing including Editors, Mystery Jets, Kooks and the rapper Kenzie.
After a couple of years of inactivity after Bar 38 disappeared, Impossible opened in 2017. The new owner was Aaron Mellor who was the manager of Tokyo Industry’s (not the old Tokyo Joes night club in Preston!). He brought to the table his pedigree of being the UK’s largest privately owned nightclub operator having previously run popular club nights in Ibiza, New York and London.
The three floor site undertook a £3m renovation with the 500 capacity basement named the Theatre of Impossible, which was designed with the intention being a 21st century version of a nightclub, hence the theatre title. It came complete with a large dancefloor and long bar and had opening hours of between 10pm and 4pm at weekends.
Impossible Bar. Image Credit Visit Manchester
The mezzanine area upstairs is a gin area badged with the informal name of ‘Ginpossible’, with an eighteen page menu listing a choice of over ninety gins. They also apparently have a cryogenic freezer, one of only three in the world, which has the capability to freeze alcohol to minus 74 degrees and thus creates edible cocktails!
The ground floor is a bar and eatery with a 280 capacity where they serve tucker until 9pm. They also stage live music with slightly pretentious names such as Industry Thursday and First Call Friday. They have a large south facing outside terrace space on the Great Northern complex side of the building.
On the night in question, I was mulching past this area and saw a punter having a smoking break and through the open door I could hear some tuneage. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth I adopted my scarlet pimpernel pose and tailgated them through the door. I leaned innocuously on a side wall and watched a couple of tracks of drifting loungecore from a singer called Sally before leaving via the same route.
I am sure you can gain easy standard entrance via the front door, but I am going to generate some poetic licence here and retain the unjustified notion of me grabbing an ‘illegal’ cheeky bonus gig and venue!
I then headed over to Bridge Street, which is located off Deansgate, and which takes you down to Salford Central station. On the west side of the road is the appropriately named Manchester B Lounge at the Bridge. It first opened its doors back in 1808 under the moniker of The Pack Horse.
The Bridge. Image Credit todobares.com
More recently it has had spells as The Bridge Street Tavern and then morphed into the award winning gastro pub The Bridge which under the chef Mr Owen-Brown was renowned for Lancashire sourced grub. The latest incarnation was instigated by the same folk who introduced the B Lounge at the Brunswick pub over near Piccadilly station.
The pub has a traditional layout and a long thin bar area and in the upstairs space there is a dining area and a function room for hire. This area also provides to a small roof top garden space. The latest version of the pub now stages live music and when I visited there was a local singer called Tania performing some jaunty folk tunes.