A Night in Manchester
Having friends that live all over the country can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you despair at the end of uni term time knowing that your besties are no longer on the other side of your bedroom wall, permanently available for one of your five-minutes-turned-three-hours gossip sessions. But on the other hand, the inevitable silver lining means that you now have a reason to go out and discover the coolest cities the UK has to offer!
This weekend myself and some of my best friends from university travelled up north and visited our friend for a night of cocktails, music and birthday celebrations in Manchester. Ever the perfectionist, the birthday girl planned our entire day and I wanted to share with you some of the cute, sophisticated and quirky bars that we visited.
The Botanist
A chain of bars/restaurants in cities all over the UK, the Botanist is cute and quirky with a vintage vibe. The antique decor makes for an Instagram worthy setting, with this particular restaurant featuring a huge ‘junkyard’ chandelier. With gorgeous food and a refreshing variety of cocktails, gin pitchers and anything other drink under the sun, there’s something for everyone on the menu.
April’s Kitchen
It seemed very apt that we visited this bar considering the current time of year and the pink-toned spring decor attracted me instantly. This bar had a really nice daytime vibe, with the skylight making it perfect for those sunny yet chilly spring days we get so often in the UK. Surrounded by beautiful foliage and serving gin and tonic in a glass almost as big as your head, what more could you ask for?
Turtle Bay
A personal favourite of mine, Turtle Bay is so wonderful not least because of its fantastic cocktails, but because it’s actually happy hour for the majority of the day. That means that from midday-7pm and 10pm-close, you can enjoy 2-for-1 on every cocktail on the menu, pretty impressive if you ask me. With its funky Caribbean decor and reggae music, Turtle Bay has one of the best atmospheres of any bar out there, AND you can drink on smaller budget.
The Washhouse
Without a doubt this was THE coolest bar of the night. One of the many secret bars in Manchester, the Washhouse is disguised as a laundrette with just a few washing machines, some dirty clothes and an old telephone- not so impressive on first impressions. However, pick up the telephone and you are granted access to the hidden bar. With hundreds of cocktails involving some crazy flavours, this bar is truly unique (although I couldn’t help but find the prospect of a smoked salmon cocktail rather questionable).
So those are the bars I visited on my weekend in Manchester, there were soo many more to choose from, but once again I was reminded of my student status and could only visit a few before going on to the club. I would definitely recommend going out in Manchester and I can’t wait to go back again soon to discover some other places in the city centre!
