A cocktail bar in Manchester city centre that opened only last December has reportedly closed down, with its final service today.
Ego Death, a ‘hidden’ speakeasy-style bar in the Northern Quarter, told CLASS magazine that they were told by backers that they would have to close.
It opened under the steer of acclaimed bartender Cressida Lawlor, co-founded by Beau Myers, who also founded the original Almost Famous.
The bar is beneath newcomer smash burger joint Super Awesome Deluxe and accessed through an unmarked door within the takeaway.
Shortly after Super Awesome Deluxe opened, Almost Famous went through a high-profile closure of all of its restaurants this year, later bought out and reopened by D2.
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And now just six months after launch, Ego Death looks set to be closing for good.
Cressida told CLASS: “The team here is wildly talented so the goal now is to get them into jobs so they can pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads.
“No one wants Ego Death to die and I think we’ve made enough of a stir in the six months that we’ve been open to find a new site and investment.
“Our last day is going to be Sunday, so anyone who can get here for one final party should come down.”
She later added on Instagram: “Truly gutting but there is always light in any form of darkness. Come see us this Sunday for the final service as we go through a true ego death.”
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Ego Death came from the same team behind Socio Rehab (which if you remember it from 2004 was a bit of a local institution) and had a cocktail menu inspired by the speakeasy bars of New York City.
Behind the bar the stars were bourbon and champagne, plus cocktails inspired by the Big Apple – including one named after Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones.
Beau Myers, co-founder at Ego Death said at the time of its opening: “It’s been 20 years since we opened Socio Rehab so it seems pretty poignant to be opening another amazing cocktail bar. We changed the landscape of cocktail bar culture then and that’s something we’re trying to do again.
“We’ve partnered with Cressida Lawlor to make this dream happen. She’s a total firecracker and reminds me a lot of myself 20 years ago, she’s the future of cocktails and bartending and has that maverick spirit.
“Together we’ve created Ego Death, hidden in a basement behind an unmarked door at the back of a burger shop will be this cocktail haven. An underground escape throwing out the best classic cocktails, bourbon, and champagne from top level bartenders.”
Bar Fringe – The decades-old eccentric Manchester pub with one of the city’s best beer selections
Harry Quick
If you’re looking for some of the best European beers in Manchester, there’s one quirky boozer you need to know about.
This is Bar Fringe on Swan Street, and it’s been serving Belgian and continental beers since 1996 – meaning a very happy 30th birthday to this absolute cult classic.
The whole place was built around a love of North European beer culture, bringing a bit of that classic Belgian café feel to Manchester.
And while the beer list is always changing, at the minute they’re celebrating Oktoberfest, so the German stuff is very much the flavour of the month.
And the beer really is the star of the show. You’ll find a huge selection of Belgian and continental bottles, Trappist ales, lagers and changing cask beers, with plenty of interesting and unusual options you’re unlikely to find in your average pub.
It’s also earned a proper reputation with CAMRA and real-ale drinkers over the years, so if you’re serious about your beer, this is definitely one to have on your radar.
But there’s much more to Fringe than what’s behind the bar.
Look around and you’ll find cartoons, pink elephants, a motorbike and an old jukebox firing out everything from vintage metal to indie classics.
Bar Fringe is an eccentric pub specialising in European beers in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
And then there’s the beer garden.
Tucked away at the back, it’s a surprisingly chilled little spot, packed with plenty of nooks and crannies to settle into with a pint.
And with such a huge selection behind the bar, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be drinking something you’ve almost definitely never tried before.
So, if you’re into European beer, slightly eccentric pubs and places with a bit of proper Manchester character, put Bar Fringe on your list.
Manchester pub brilliantly exposes ‘dumb dumb’ criminal after attempted break-in
Daisy Jackson
A pub in Manchester city centre has shared hilarious footage of a bungled break-in, and made a rather sarcastic swipe at the criminal in question too.
North Westward Ho is the stunning boozer launched back in 2023 by the team behind Pomona Island brewery.
It’s in a prime city centre location, just off Market Street and Cross Street, and has been decorated in the style of a historic boozer, with dark wooden details, ornate tiling, wall sconces, and oil paintings.
But North Westward Ho has recently caught the eye of an unwanted patron, who attempted to break the door down in quite a ridiculous way.
CCTV footage shared by the bar shows a man running full-pelt into the locked, reinforced door, bouncing back some distance into the road.
He tries four times before giving up, hopping back on his bicycle, and disappearing.
The pub said it’s not normally bothered by criminals these days, with no cash on site to make it worth their while, adding that it’s usually only ‘the real dumb dumbs’ who attempt to break in.
Then they dialled the sarcasm up to 100 and laid into the man caught on CCTV.
They wrote: “Once in a lifetime you get this kind of Machiavellian genius, a man so smart that he’s always three steps ahead.
“It doesn’t feel great at first because you know you and your pane of toughened glass are no match for his mental dexterity, but then… You start to respect it. You realise you have to up your game. You have to think like him, live like him, become him.
“If you see me banging my head against a brick wall with no trousers on, dribbling on myself with a glazed expression, I’ve either been on the Factotum or I’m trying to get inside the mind of my Moriarty here.
“Well played sir, you didn’t get in this time and if you had, it really wouldn’t have achieved anything, but you made us all have a good laugh. And maybe that’s the real point.”
Pomona Island then added: “Ram raid on a bicycle.”
Daisy Jackson -
1st June 2025 
