In recent years, Manchester’s cocktails game got very serious very quickly. Not serious in terms of its demeanour, but certainly in its stature. The city can now boast several nationally and internationally recognised bars that can mix a drink along with the best in the world.
And with that comes variety too, with bars serving all tastes, from those seeking the perfect martini to off-piste experiments in hidden speakeasys.
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All are now catered for, not to mention everyone in between, so if you’re heading out for a posh glass of something this Valentine’s Day, you could do considerably worse than this lot.
Schofield’s Bar
A truly great cocktail bar, any city in the world would be deliriously happy to have it. Run by brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield, originally from Rossendale but who learned their craft in some of the world’s best bars, they returned to the North in 2021 with all that wealth of knowledge and brought it to bear in what was The Old Grapes. It shows. The drinks are faultless and the service has no equal. Except in their other bars, obviously.
3 Little Quay Street, Sunlight House, Manchester M3 3JZ
Sterling
Which brings us on to Sterling, the bar Joe and Daniel Schofield set up in the basement vault of Gary Neville’s Stock Exchange Hotel. Even more low lit than Schofield’s Bar - if that were possible - this classy spot, with its discreet booths and hand-made leather banquettes, is a perfect place to either start or finish the night. The bar snacks are something else too.
4 Norfolk St, Manchester M2 1DW
Speak In Code
Hidden away off the main drag, behind an unassuming door and a cryptic sign, Speak In Code is a haven from the noisy, packed out bars of Deansgate. Here, cocktail maestro Nathan Larkin brings his extensive experience behind the bar to bear with a menu of out-there creations, taking classics and twisting them with extraordinary new flavours and even textures. It’s drinks-making distilled to a fine art. It’s been named in the top 50 cocktail bars in the UK, and it’s even vegan.
7 Jackson's Row, Manchester M2 5ND
Henry C
What a joy for the lucky folk of Chorlton to have such a fine cocktail bar to patronise right on their doorstep. Henry C is small but perfectly formed - cosy, you might say - and what it lacks in stature it more than makes up for in perfect negronis, fabulous old fashioneds or, if you want to go off piste, the Claro - olive oil washed Bacardi Blanca, Cinzano Bianco vermouth, fino and cacao. Uptown quality drinks in a neighbourhood setting.
107 Manchester Rd, Manchester M21 9GA
The Jane Eyre
Since opening on Cutting Room Square in 2018, The Jane Eyre has become a regular haunt for both those living north of the NQ and those just visiting its buzzy environs. Launched by brothers Joe and Jonny Eyre, the drinks are first rate, leading to a spin-off bar at Escape To Freight Island and a second branch on Chorlton’s Beech Road. The classics are all there - from a Penicillin to a ‘Red Hook Manhattan’, while the aperitifs are thoughtfully programmed too. Go for the booze, stay for a roast.
14 Hood St, Ancoats, Manchester M4 6WX
10 Tib Lane
Opened by the folks behind Henry C in Chorlton, 10 Tib Lane might be making some of the best bistro plates in the city, but its bar is equally esteemed. The cocktails list is short (though ask for a classic and you’ll probably get one), thoughtful and changes often, meaning they’re never sitting back on their laurels. And it has one of the best happy hours in town too, daily from 4pm to 6pm, with drinks at a roaringly good value six quid each and oysters for a pound.
10 Tib Ln, Manchester M2 4JB
Three Little Words
Under the arches at the foot of Deansgate, in the shadow of the Beetham Tower, Three Little Words isn’t just a great cocktail bar, though it is very much that. It’s also a distillery, using its own Manchester Gin made on site for a host of fabulous drinks. Not afraid of experimentation, you might find flavours like sweet pumpkin butting up with vermouth, and walnut and tobacco with Tennessee rye. The food is great here too.
12-13 Watson St, Manchester M3 4LP
Blinker
Barely a year from opening, Blinker was named among the best 50 cocktail bars in the country, so that’s a very decent start by any metric. Former Gordon Ramsay bar manager Dan Berger defines his cocktail menu by the seasons and locally sourced ingredients and his signature cocktail, The Blinker, featuring Lot 40 rye whiskey, raspberry and pink grapefruit, is worth the journey alone. The room is wonderful too.
64-72 Spring Gardens, Manchester M2 2BQ
Hawksmoor
You think Hawksmoor, you think thick slabs of beef, but there’s so much more to it than being a playground for the carnivorous. The bar at the front of the restaurant is as good a cocktail spot as any in town, with its low lights, handsome wood panels and - most importantly - serious cocktail menu. Changing seasonally, but with a few standards always in place, this fine bar is easily overlooked. It shouldn’t be.
184-186 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3WB
Science & Industry
Who doesn't enjoy a hidden door? Exactly. Ask for where it is behind the bar at NQ haunt Cane & Grain, and then spirit yourself upstairs to the cocktail bar on the first floor. Drinks are split into 'past', 'present' and 'future', with the classics rubbing shoulders with more radical offerings, like the The Fairy Tale of New York - bee pollen-infused Fable Scotch, Laphroaig, marmalade syrup, lemon and a red wine float.
49-51 Thomas St, Manchester M4 1NA
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