Manchester’s bars, restaurants and hardworking hospitality staff have been celebrated at the Manchester Bar Awards.
Now in its fifth year, the Manchester Bar Awards took place last night, Tuesday 14 March, in a high spirited ceremony at industry favourite Bunny Jackson’s.
Following on from a jam-packed first day back at the Northern Restaurant and Bar Show, the creme de la creme of Manchester’s bartending scene flocked across to the First Street dive bar for a night full of Hooch, tequila and well-deserved accolades.
Put together by a group of Manchester bartenders and hospitality professionals, the awards were organised by the admins of a local Facebook group and first began in 2018 to champion local people working in the industry.
Winners were decided by a public vote from within the Manchester bar community, which is some 17,000 members strong.
ADVERTISEMENT
Every year the awards pick out the very best operators in the city – with 2023’s categories championing the city’s best new bars, speciality venues and restaurants.
Further categories paid homage to professionals within the industry, with awards given to the best bar backs, front-of-house staff, and rising stars.
ADVERTISEMENT
Big winners included underground cocktail bar Project Halcyon which took home the award for best new bar, Mulligan’s of Deansgate, which won the speciality venue award for its incredible pints of Guinness, and modern Chinese takeaway Salt & Pepper, taking home the award for best restaurant/food concept.
See the full list of winners from last night’s awards ceremony below.
Manchester Bar Awards 2023 winners
Best New Bar sponsored by Ford’s Gin
ADVERTISEMENT
Winner: Project Halcyon
Shortlisted: Blinker, Sterling, Exhibition, New Century, Project Halcyon
Best Restaurant / Food Concept sponsored by Tito’s Vodka
Winner: Salt & Pepper
Shortlisted: Salt & Pepper, Sparrows, Kong’s, Climat, Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria
People’s Choice Bar of the Year sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey
Winner: Schofield’s
ADVERTISEMENT
Shortlisted: Blinker, Sterling, Exhibition, New Century, Project Halcyon
Bartender of the Year sponsored by Angel’s Envy Bourbon
Winner: Conor Knowles, Schofield’s
Shortlisted: Jonathan Moncur – Speak in Code, Deana Ferguson – Hawksmoor/Redlight, Adam Montanaro-Taylor – Project Halcyon, Dionysios ‘Dio’ Tzorouchof – Cane & Grain, Conor Knowles – Schofield’s
Outstanding Achievement sponsored by Jagermeister Cold Brew
ADVERTISEMENT
Winner: The Schofield Brothers
Shortlisted: Abi Dunn – 68 People, The Schofields – Schofields, Sterling, Stock Market Grill, Atomeca, Nathan Larkin – Speak in Code, Dan Berger – Blinker Bar, Paddy & the Team at So Let’s Talk
Front of House Hero sponsored by Cazcabel
Winner: Alex Proudfoot – Wolf at the Door
Shortlisted: Alex Proudfoot – Wolf at the Door, Paola Mariotti – Sterling, Hannah Wingfield – Ramona, Taylor Martin – Tariff & Dale, Oliver Hughes – Ramona
ADVERTISEMENT
Manchester’s Rising Star sponsored by Old J
Winner: Reah Owen, Project Halcyon
Shortlisted: Reah Owen – Project Halcyon, Caitlyn Grocott – Blind Tyger, Eddie Smyth – Tariff, Joe Kereszteny-Lewis – 10 Tib Lane, Ben Topham-Taylor – Blind Tyger
Bar Back of the Year sponsored by Belle de Brillet
Chester Zoo named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors
Emily Sergeant
Congratulations are in order, yet again, for Chester Zoo… as this time its been one of England’s most popular attractions.
Merely months after being named the UK’s best zoo for the second year running, thanks to receiving more than 11,000 ‘excellent’ reviews from TripAdvisor, Chester Zoo has now got itself another prestigious title, as a major VisitEngland (VE) report has ranked it the third most-visited ‘paid for’ attraction in England – and the most visited outside of London.
The national tourist board for England gathered information from a total of 1,373 attractions across the country, and ranked the UK’s biggest charity zoo as the third overall in terms of popularity, with a whopping 1.9 million visitors in 2024 alone.
The Tower of London took top spot with 2.9 million visitors, while the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew was second place with 2.3 million visitors.
When it comes to free attractions, on the other hand, it wad the British Museum that claimed the top spot with 6.5 million visitors, while the Natural History Museum (5.9 million visitors) took second place, and the Tate Modern (4.6 million visitors) got third.
So as you can see, the south and London in particular is a pretty dominating force in England’s tourism industry – which is why it’s even more impressive to see Chester Zoo ranked so highly.
The new VE title also comes after the zoo was recently given £4 million of lottery funding to help ‘transform’ the local environment and restore wildlife habitats across the Cheshire and wider North West region.
Not only that, but if course follows Chester Zoo’s unveiling of its new immersive experience named Heart of Africa, which is the the largest zoo habitat ever created in the UK and is home to 57 iconic African species.
Chester Zoo has been named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors / Credit: Chester Zoo
“As a major international wildlife charity, everything we do is focused on supporting global conservation,” commented Chester Zoo’s Commercial Director, Dom Strange.
“Whether it’s caring for highly-threatened animals and plants, making scientific discoveries, influencing Government environmental policies, impacting the National Curriculum to better connect young people with nature, or our conservation efforts in around 20 countries, we’re fully committed to protecting endangered species for the future.
“But none of this would be possible without our visitors.
“Every person who comes to the zoo for a fun and inspiring day out is helping to fund our vital work, so we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us and helped us to rank so highly in VisitEngland’s latest report.”
Featured Image –
News
Manchester Museum saves a ‘national treasure’ to ensure it stays in the UK
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Museum has made a stunning new addition to its natural history collections, and in the process has ensured a ‘national treasure’ stays in the UK.
Not long after claiming the coveted title of European Museum of the Year for 2025, Manchester Museum has done it again – this time working together with John Rylands Library to acquire Henry Dresser’s unique personal copy of his anthology A History of the Birds of Europe so that this ‘invaluable resource’ can remain in the UK for future generations.
The beautifully-illustrated collection of books provide an important historical record to help understand how and why bird populations have changed over time.
Dresser’s personal copy is heavily-annotated with personal notes and observations.
These books are deemed to be of ‘outstanding significance’, not only for scientific purposes but also for their aesthetic value, as they have also been illustrated by some of the leading wildlife artists of the day.
The volumes were recognised as a national treasure by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, which is supported by the Arts Council, and this meant that the Government placed a temporary export deferral on them to allow time for UK buyers to raise the funds to keep them in the country.
Brilliantly, the acquisition of these books reunites them with Dresser’s own bird specimens that are already cared for by Manchester Museum, including species such as the Slender-billed curlew, which is now believed to be extinct.
The now-extinct species’ presence in both Dresser’s beautifully-annotated volumes and the ornithological collections at Manchester Museum highlights the vital role that historical records play in tracking biodiversity loss over time to uncover the long-term impact of environmental change.
Manchester Museum has saved a ‘national treasure’ to ensure it stays in the UK / Credit: Manchester Museum
“Threats to the natural world and biodiversity have never been greater and while this anthology has historical value, it also speaks to the urgent issues of the present,” commented Esme Ward, who is the Director of Manchester Museum.
“These books are breathtakingly beautiful, and by bringing them together with natural history collections, we believe they will not only provide scientific benefit, but also capture the hearts of future ornithologists and conservationists.”
A History of the Birds of Europe will be officially unveiled at a private view on Friday 27 June, before being displayed to the public for the first time in Manchester Museum’s ‘Living Worlds’ gallery from Saturday 28 June 2025 right through until Sunday 25 January 2026.
Georgina Pellant -
14th March 2023 
