The best cocktail bars in Manchester

The Alan is surely one of the most creative and design-led venues in Manchester city centre. A stylish six-storey hotel on Princess Street in the centre of the city with an open-plan kitchen, bar and restaurant as well as meeting and event spaces.

The Black Friar stood empty and unloved for almost 20 years before reopening in summer 2021 after a substantial renovation project. Now a modern British restaurant and a traditional pub, it has two distinct settings with menus to match.

With its terrace overlooking Oxford Road and its much-photographed spiral staircase, Fumo is a favourite spot in Manchester for dinner and drinks with friends.

The MUSU Collection is a group of innovative modern dining experiences, all under one roof. With three AA rosettes, this is the cutting edge of Manchester’s restaurant scene.

On the Hush is a popular Northern Quarter cafe bar, winning awards for its bottomless brunch. Loyal customers and visitors to Manchester love its colourful style, imaginative cocktails and casual all-day food offering.

The Pen and Pencil is the Northern Quarter’s cool all-day hangout, modelled on the New York bar of the same name popular with the city’s journalists and ad men in the 1950s and 1960s. It has a reputation for great cocktails, quality food and an atmosphere that makes it stand out from nearby imitators.

Suki Suki Street Food & Bar is a Pan-Asian street food bar located on Deansgate under the arches of the Great Northern Warehouse.

Situated at 97 Beech Road, the aptly named 97 opened in March 2023 to serve visually pleasing drinks to the people of Chorlton and beyond.

The name for Blinker Bar comes from a forgotten classic three-ingredient cocktail made from rye, grapefruit and raspberry. It’s this curious collection of ingredients that inspired ex-Gordon Ramsay bars boss Dan Berger to create a menu that changes seasonally but still honours the classics.

Like the interloping bird that gives it its name, Cuckoo was an odd-one-out when it first opened in Prestwich back in 2013. Since then a whole flock of likeminded, indie cafe-bars have landed in this suburb, but Cuckoo is still the favourite for many.

Described as ‘late night escapism’, The Daisy is a subterranean haven of a cocktail bar in the Northern Quarter. Find it under Evelyn’s.

Dear Sailor is a reclusive bar but once inside, it’s no shrinking violet. It’s the sort of place where you could come in for a pre-dinner cocktail and end up dancing on the tables.

Finders Keepers, a quayside bar at Islington Marina is the perfect sunny day spot. Its thoughtful seasonal cocktails are the main draw with interesting ingredients, such as pear and vanilla ice cream and kumquat, that set them apart from the million Porn Star Martinis doing the rounds.

The Fitzgerald, appropriately enough, channels those Great Gatsby vibes with its vintage stylings, and its 1920s glassware sets off the cocktails beautifully.

The first Hawksmoor steakhouse outside of London is a confident affair. Well sourced steak and attention to detail have created a place like no other.

Serving up city centre-standard cocktails in the suburbs, Henry C is a cosy neighbourhood bar in Chorlton with a heavy New Orleans influence.

The Jane Eyre is a self-styled ‘neighbourhood bar’ offering seasonal food, classic cocktails and local beers. Presided over by Eyre siblings Jonny and Joe, it is, mildly disappointingly, not a Gothic homage to the Yorkshire based tragic-heroine but actually named after their late mum. 

Lost In Tokyo is a Japanese basement bar on Stevenson Square. This Far East drinking den serves some far out cocktails inspired by travels to Japan and also has an extensive list of some of the best Japanese whiskies around.

It’s got neon, it’s got pastels, it’s got faux foliage, it’s got innovative cocktails and it’s got Pan Asian cuisine with a definite lean Vietnam-wards. It calls itself “authentically modern”, but faithful to the Vietnamese way of life, it recommends ordering food for the table, tapas style.

Fans of hit restaurant 10 Tib Lane will be keen to check out Posie – a new smaller-scale venue from the same team. It’s more cocktail bar than restaurant but with a three-course menu of small plates, you won’t be left to fill up on olives and nuts if you turn up hungry.

The Halcyon Project Distillery is a must-visit destination for anyone looking for a unique and immersive cocktail experience in Manchester. Owned by the Zymurgorium Group and run by brothers Aaron and Callum, this bar is located in the heart of the city in the Bonded Warehouse and boasts its own in-house distillery.

Tucked away on Little David Street, surrounded by the trendy setting of new city living neighbourhood KAMPUS, is Red Light; an upmarket LGBTQ+ cocktail bar serving expertly blended drinks.

Various prestigious best bar gongs have been awarded to Schofield’s Bar since it opened in Quay Street’s iconic Art Deco Sunlight House in 2021. The most recent being the number one spot in the 2024 Top 50 Cocktail Bar list.

Finding itself resting in the top 20 of the top 50 cocktail bars in the whole of the UK, Speak In Code makes everything in house and is passionate about flavour exploration, hospitality, oh, and hip hop, which inspires the drinks menu.

Sterling is probably one of the most luxurious bars to hit Manchester in recent years, located on the subterranean level of the historic Stock Exchange Hotel.

This elegant, paired-back cocktail bar opened in the corner space of Mackie Mayor in November 2023, and fast became a favourite with people who appreciate the art of a well-mixed drink.

Tucked away on Shudehill is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bar, The Washhouse. And, as it’s name suggests, it’s not what you’d typically expect from a place to drink cocktails.

With its disguised entrance and back street location, Wood & Co has the feel of a secret speakeasy only frequented by those in the know. The unmarked door is on South King Street, in between Cross Street and Deansgate. Descend the steps and you’ll find yourself in a tiled, sleek space centred on a marble bar that stretches the length of the room.