There’s a new bar and terrace opening in Manchester by an award-winning drinks duo
Schofield's Bar – created by renowned drinks experts and brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield – will identify as a classic cocktail bar with exceptional drinks, great music and warm hospitality.
A brand new bar which has been ten years in the making will open its doors in Manchester this April.
Schofield’s Bar – created by renowned drinks experts and brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield – will identify as a classic cocktail bar with exceptional drinks, great music and warm hospitality.
The bar, which has been ten years in the making, will be the brother’s first joint venture and achieves their lifelong ambition of opening their first bar in their home city.
The Schofield brothers have over 25 collective years of industry experience and a number of prestigious awards under their belt. Joe is the first person in history to have won both the ‘International Bartender of The Year’ in the Tales of The Cocktail Spirited Awards and ‘Bartender’s Bartender’ at The World’s 50 Best Bars 2018.
Schofield’s Bar
Daniel previously worked as Assistant Bar Manager at Coupette, in London, which picked up accolades such as the ‘Best New International Bar’ at the Spirited Awards, along with Daniel himself being nominated for ‘Bartender of The Year’ at the Class Bar Awards 2018.
Schofield’s Bar is located in the historic landmark of Sunlight House and will launch with a menu of 24 drinks. Carefully curated by Joe and Daniel, the menu will be headed up by a host of classic cocktails, perfected over the years they have spent honing their craft. There will also be an extensive list of wines, beer and champagne.
The drinks will be complemented with a menu of locally sourced cheese and charcuterie boards, and in the daytime guests can pop in for coffee and pastries from Manchester’s Pollen Bakery.
Schofield’s Bar
Inside the bar, which seats 70, guests can expect a strong and simple colour palette of navy-blue walls and dark woods. At the heart of the venue is a sweeping wooden bar top and a meticulously selected back bar reminiscent of the world’s most iconic bars. The brothers have also spent time sourcing as many items for the bar locally, including bespoke furniture. Outside on the large terrace there is capacity for up to 60* for al fresco drinks.
On the opening of Schofield’s Bar, Joe and Daniel said: “It’s definitely been challenging opening in a pandemic, but we’re so pleased we’re able to officially open our doors this month. It’s been a dream of ours to open the bar and we always wanted to bring it back to our home city. There’s so much happening in Manchester and loads of new and existing talent, so we’re excited to be back.”
The bar will open this Wednesday (13th April) at 9am and will operate until Sunday at 11pm. It will open an hour later at 10am on Sundays.
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
The Manc -
13th April 2021 
