Schofield’s Bar in Manchester has been named both Bar of the Year and New Bar of the Year at the annual Class Bar Awards. The ceremony, organised by the bartending magazine, was held last night in London, with more than 650 bar industry folk in attendance.
Schofield’s, which is run by brothers Daniel and Joe Schofield, opened last year on the site of the legendary The Old Grapes pub, and has quickly become one of the most popular bars in the city. It was also named in the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list earlier this year too.
It’s the first time in the awards’ history that a bar has won both Best Bar and Best New Bar.
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“We are honoured to receive Bar of the Year and New Bar of the Year at the prestigious CLASS Bar Awards, and be the first bar to ever win both,” the Schofields brothers said in a post to Instagram. “We would like to take this opportunity to thank our team, for constantly giving 100% to our goal of providing hospitality to our guests.
“We would like to thank our guests for supporting what we do on a daily basis. We would also like to thank the hospitality community of Manchester for taking us in. We are proud to call Manchester home and proud to be a part of a thriving hospitality scene.”
It was a great night for Manchester bars elsewhere too, with bartender Elena Wright being named Emerging Bartender of the Year. Wright works at Mecanica on Swan Street in the Northern Quarter, and beat competition from London and Bournemouth to take the title.
Wright, who has a masters in Chemistry from Manchester University, said: “I’m absolutely speechless. If you’d have told me this is where I’d be within a year of joining the industry, I wouldn’t have believed you, especially with being up against such incredible talent.
“I can’t thank the whole of the Mecanica team (both past and present) enough, for always taking the time to teach me, answer my endless questions and give me opportunities to develop. They all deserve endless credit and recognition for what they’re achieving.”
Manchester also received nominations in the Best Bartender category, for Schofields’ head bartender Rachel Orange, and Bar Innovator of the Year for Lyndon Higginson, of the Liars Group, while Mecanica was also nominated for Bar Employer of the Year too.
Manchester’s bar scene is among the best in the country right now, with new bars including Blinker on Spring Gardens opening recently, and the team behind Schofield’s also planning a new bar in the basement of the Stock Exchange Hotel.
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