When the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars list was announced last month, it’s safe to say Manchester cleaned up.
Our city’s fantastic bar scene managed to take the number one spot with Schofield’s, along with Blinker (6th), Speak In Code (12th), and Project Halcyon (21st).
But the rest of the bars on the prestigious list are a bit further afield – at least, until now.
For there are so many events taking place at bars across town in the next week that you’ll be able to sample 12 of the country’s best bars without needing to board a single train.
The great and good of the country’s hospitality industry will all be piling in up north for the annual Northern Restaurant and Bar exhibit at Manchester Central.
And as always, the city will be buzzing with special events at bars and restaurants all over the city centre.
Right then, back to the boozing.
Stray x Callooh Callay. Credit: Supplied
First up will be Callooh Callay at Stray bar (a newcomer that’s surely in with a shot at the Top 50 next year).
London’s Callooh Callay placed 38th this year, and it’s a bar that’s really standing the test of time, having first opened in 2008.
They’ve won a long list of accolades over the years with their themed menus and creative approach, and are promising Manchester an evening of ‘serious nonsense’.
On the same day, you’ll find Copenhagen’s Ruby bar (which has previously placed in the Top 50 in the world) at Blinker on Spring Gardens.
Blinker in Manchester made the top 10 of the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list. Credit: The Manc Group
For one night only, they’ll be serving up a taste of Copenhagen here in Manchester, utilising Danish products in their drinks.
It’s walk-ins only between 4pm and 9pm.
Project Halcyon has got it all happening on Wednesday, brining four of the country’s best bars together in its hidden gem Bonded Warehouse venue.
There’ll be Murder Inc (15th), The Hideout (25th) and Callooh Callay (38th) behind the bar from 6pm.
And the third-best bar in the UK this year, Birmingham’s Passing Fancies, will be taking over part of Thomas Street.
Project Halcyon also made the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list. Credit: The Manc GroupProject Halcyon also made the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list. Credit: The Manc Group
The Thomas Street Takeover will also involve Manolo from Liverpool and El Guapo from Newcastle, who’ll each take one floor at Cane and Grain for the night.
Amaro Bar, which just this year made it to number eight in the Top 50 Bars, along with Twice Shy will be joining 10 Tib Lane behind their beautiful bar – and this one involves a free drink to the first 25 people through the doors.
All that, of course, is in addition to the rest of the Top 50 list that is homegrown talent – Schofields, Speak In Code, and ‘one to watch’ Red Light.
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.
Daisy Jackson -
8th March 2024 
