One of my best mates from uni grew up near Manchester, or at least that is what I thought until I drove up to visit her in second year and realised that she actually lived over an hour north of Manchester but just told people she lived 'near Manchester' for ease.
Regardless, she does love Manchester and for several years had wanted for a couple of us to spend a weekend day-drinking in the city and in early September, the opportunity finally arose. The direct train from London to Preston is just over two hours (compared to a five hour road trip) and about £60 return with a 16-25 Railcard.
On the Saturday, we arrived in Manchester in time for lunch at Gino's. Although the bar crawl didn't start here, the drinks did, and the food alone deserves an honourable mention.
Revolución de Cuba
With our stomachs lined, we headed over to 'Revs de Cuba'. I'd heard a lot of good things about this place and it definitely lived up to my expectations. The live music made up for the lack of caipirinhas (especially when they sang Brazilian songs) and the drinks were very strong. Despite not having a reservation, we managed to get a table easily and stayed for a couple of rounds. The main thing I noticed here was that unlike most bars I go to in London, the crowd was more dressed up and there was a wide range of ages.
Albert's Schloss
Similarly, Albert's Schloss had an older crowd but had a classy (as opposed to creepy) vibe. This bar was very busy but there was a massive bar and standing space so it was still very enjoyable.
NQ64 Arcade Bar
NQ64 was one of the bars I was most excited for as this underground bar is literally an arcade filled with games consoles and neon paint. The drinks here were very nice and 15 tokens only cost £7 (with most consoles being 1 token per game). There was a lot of variety from Super Mario Bros to Pac-Man to OutRun2 and this place was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we didn't end up using all of our tokens as we had to dash for a booking but I would strongly recommend visiting this bar when in Manchester.
Roxy Ball Room
Roxy Ball Room was one of the few places that we actually had a booking for and served as a water break (at least initially). Although they offer a wide variety of games, including beer pong, pool, and bowling, as we weren't a big group we decided to play some mini golf. Not only were we pretty appalling, but with 18 holes to get through and only one golf club to share, we definitely needed a drink by halfway. Nonetheless, it offered a bit of novelty and broke the day up slightly.
Peaky Blinders
Our last stop for the night was Peaky Blinders. After passing by last year, I'd been wanting to visit and it definitely did not disappoint. I loved this bar a lot as it had everything you could possible want: live music, good drinks, and a great atmosphere. I will say, the floor was very sticky and a fight did break out at one point but overall it was a lot of fun. I had also just started watching the show Peaky Blinders and all of the bar staff were dressed in the 20s attire which may have added to my enthusiasm.
All in all, day drinking in Manchester is a lot of fun and there are plenty of bars nearby to enjoy. Everyone was nicely dressed and people were generally very chatty and happy so the atmosphere was great throughout. Luckily, we also paced the drinks quite well so we were actually in a decent state the next day and could make the most of the good weather.
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