Manchester’s pubs, bars and hospitality professionals will be celebrated in a huge awards ceremony later this month.
Now in its fourth year, the Manchester Bar Awards picks out the very best operators in the city – with 2022’s categories championing the city’s Best Restaurant Bar, Best Speciality Bar, Best New Bar, Best Food Offering, and Bartender of the Year.
Further categories pay homage to professionals within the industry, with awards given to the best bar backs, front of house staff and rising stars.
Run by a group of Manchester bartenders and hospitality professionals, the awards were set up by the admins of a local Facebook group in 2018 to champion local people working in the industry.
First created in 2012 to help fundraise for Movember, today the Facebook group is a decade old and one of the country’s leading hospitality-focused groups – boasting over 17,000 members.
The shortlist for the 2022 awards has just been revealed, with members of the city’s bar community now being encouraged to vote for their favourites.
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Hawksmoor, Cottonopolis, 10 Tib Lane, CBRB and newcomers Namii are all shortlisted for the Best Restaurant Bar category, whilst the Best New Bar award shortlist features Schofield’s, Junior Jackson’s, 10 Tib Lane, Ramona and Lost Cat.
In a nod to the quirkiness of the city’s bar scene, this year’s Best Speciality Bar Award names wine bars Flawd and Salut, The Briton’s Protection (for its epic whiskey collection), brewery-owned bar Northern Monk and gaming bar NQ64.
Shortlisted food offerings, meanwhile, include three businesses launched by local bartenders during lockdown – Bada Bing, Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria and Kong’s Chicken Shop – alongside Wolf At The Door and Parmogeddon.
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Elsewhere, rising stars and MVPS have their own categories, whilst an outstanding achievement award highlights those who’ve done good for the community – picking out a Manchester bartender who hosts a yearly ‘Orphans Christmas’ for staff with nowhere to go, alongside others including mental-health focused organisation So Let’s Talk.
This year’s event ceremony will be held on 15 March at First Street dive bar Bunny Jackson’s, an industry favourite amongst many of Manchester’s bartenders, and promises to be a raucous, fun-filled affair.
Speaking on the upcoming awards, Manchester Bars admin and organiser Nate Booker said: “We’ve waited a long time for this moment, but the shortlist is finally here. This list was built by the crowd-sourced thoughts of over 100 hospitality professionals from Manchester (and a smattering of the rest of the UK)! We believe this is quite possibly the best shortlist we’ve published, representing a diverse cross-section of the industry.
“We have new faces and venues hitting the list amongst some old favourites, which show how dynamic and tenacious our industry is. Now we’ve just got to wait for the people of the group to vote on their winners!
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“With the Northern Restaurant & Bar Show in the city, every year Manchester is full to the brim with our hospitality peers from across the country. Hosting an awards ceremony on the first night seemed serendipitous, rewarding the hard work and passion so prevalent in the city (when our friends can join us!).
“The awards have become incredibly important to the community and we are proud to organise it, but ultimately it’s an event based embodiment of what Manchester does best, and that is have a whole lot of fun.
“We want to say a massive congratulations to all the nominees, and a huge thank you to the panel, the sponsors and of course Bunny Jackson’s. “
The full shortlist for this year’s Manchester Bar Awards ceremony:
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Best Restaurant Bar sponsored by Crystal Head
Hawksmoor
Cottonopolis
10 Tib Lane
CBRB
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Namii
Outstanding Achievement Award! Sponsored by White Claw
So Let’s Talk
Dom Gold, (Orphan’s Xmas)
Kiera & Amie, Feel Good CLub
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Mike Ramsden (Too Many Owners)
Abbie Dunn, 86 People
Best New Bar Sponsored by Portobello Gin
Schofield’s
Junior Jackson’s
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10 Tib Lane
Ramona
Lost Cat
Manchester’s Best Speciality Bar Sponsored by Maison Ferrand
Briton’s Protection, Whisky
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Northern Monk, Beer
Flawd, Wine
Salut, Wine
NQ64, Gaming
Food Offering of the Year Sponsored by Ten Locks
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Kong’s
Lazy Tony’s Lasagneria
Parmogeddon
Wolf at the Door
Bada Bing
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Bartender of the Year – Sponsored by Slane
Conor Knowles, Schofield’s
Rachel Orange. Schofield’s
Connan Henry-Madden, Speak in Code
Jack Sleaford, Sandinista
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Jake Nicholl’s, Junior Jackson’s
Manchester’s Best Bar Back – Sponsored by Sairen & O’Hara’s
Calem Ocram, Smithfield Social
Sid Curry, Sherlock’s
Karis Bleakley, Washhouse
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Ethan, Behind Closed Dorrs
Tom Fastiggi, Schofield’s
Manchester’s Rising Star – Sponsored by WSET & Horse With No Name
Aidan Tibbins, Schofield’s
Dom Cleaver, 10 Tib Lane
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Reah Owen, Clubhouse
Konstantinos Koutis, Rosso
Amanda Lane, Lost Cat
Front of House Star – Sponsored by The MANC
Georgi May, Science & Industry
Leighton Russell, Seven Oaks
Lachlan Meany, Tairff & Dale
Charlotte Felton, Impossible
Meg Williams, Flawd
Feature image – Schofield’s Bar
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Bolton has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2024
Emily Sergeant
Bolton has officially been named Greater Manchester Town of Culture for 2024.
Taking over the reins from Stockport – which held the title in 2023, and recently hosted a massive ‘Town of Culture Weekender’ festival with 50+ free events to celebrate and bring its title year to a close – it’s now the turn of the north-western Greater Manchester borough of Bolton.
Bolton has long been celebrated as hub of culture and creative activity within our region.
The area has notably produced some big-name stars in the arts, entertainment, comedy, and sporting spheres over the years, as well as having seen significant new residential and commercial developments popping up in recent times, and a blossoming food, drink, hospitality, and nightlife scene that continues to prove popular.
The Bolton Food and Drink Festival, IRONMAN, Bolton Film Festival, and Put Big Light On are all big annual events in the borough.
Bolton has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2024 / Credit: Bolton Food & Drink Festival (via Facebook)
And now, the town has got itself a fancy title to prove it – and along with that, a whopping £50,000 grant to support a year-long programme of events.
In case you’re unfamiliar with what the ‘Greater Manchester Town of Culture’ title is all about, it’s an accolade that’s handed out every year to different boroughs across the region – with Bury the inaugural title-holder 2020 and holding onto it into 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, and then followed by Stalybridge in 2022, and Stockport in 2023 – and it celebrates Greater Manchester’s culture and heritage.
As well as getting a new title to shout about, it also sees the towns given a grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) culture fund to help develop a programme of cultural events and activities throughout the year.
Bolton’s programme will have three parts, according to Bolton Council.
The town has taken over the reins from Stockport, which held the title in 2023 / Credit: Wikimedia Commons | The Octagon Theatre
The first is a taster programme packed full of cultural activities delivered in Bolton and its various districts, and then following on from that, there’ll be a grants programme designed to help support Bolton’s smaller cultural organisations, freelancers, and artists.
The grand finale will be the Bolton Gala – which is set to take place next March, and is gearing up to be a celebratory event jointly-organised by all cultural partners, and co-designed by residents too.
Bolton Council says it will be working with cultural organisations, creative practitioners, and residents to “strengthen partnerships” that’ll deliver a collective approach to creative programming, and Councillors hope to build on assets such as the town’s legendary Octagon Theatre, the newly-refurbished Bolton Central Library and Museum, and the Bolton Albert Halls too.
GMCA has awarded the town a £50,000 grant to support a year-long programme of events throughout the year / Credit: Paul Hayes (via Bolton Food & Drink Festival on Facebook)
“It’s fantastic that Bolton has been announced as the latest Greater Manchester Town of Culture,” Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, commented as the town took the title this week.
“Bolton already has some outstanding cultural venues and eventsm from the Octagon Theatre and the Bolton Albert Hall, to the famous Bolton Food and Drink Festival and the Bolton Film Festival, and Town of Culture will celebrate these existing venues and events, but will also shine a light on the smaller venues and events that are happening across the town.
“I look forward to visiting Bolton to join their cultural celebrations.”
Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Nick Peel, says he’s “thrilled” about the town’s new title, and added: “Bolton certainly has a promising future, and will be a great place to live, work, study, visit and invest in the future.”
Featured Image – Bolton Food & Drink Festival (via Facebook)
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Huge beer festival responds after attendees label it ‘Manchester Wonka experience’
Daisy Jackson
A massive beer and cider festival that took place in Manchester last weekend has addressed fall-out on social media after some attendees slammed it as the ‘weirdest most dysfunctional festival ever‘.
People have said that the International Brewing and Cider Festival had a ‘strange atmosphere’ due to there being ‘no one there’, had a limited selection of drinks, and was generally ‘a bloody awful evening’.
Some people have even gone so far as to compare it to the now-infamous Wonka Experience.
But the festival has now hit back at these harsh reviews online, saying that there were more than 400 different types of beer and cider available, with around 800 attendees over the weekend.
In a statement, they apologised for a ‘less than perfect experience’.
The International Brewing and Cider Festival – a not-for-profit trade organisation – stressed that ‘early teething troubles’ were ironed out as the event progressed through its four sessions.
As well as inviting breweries from around the world to serve up beers under one roof in one of Manchester’s coolest venues, the beer festival had 19 food and drink traders, and a programme of live music and DJs.
Despite only receiving a couple of actual complaints directly, the festival has been hit with criticism on social media.
Visitors to the beer festival at Depot Mayfield had shared photos of a mostly-empty venue at points over the weekend, with many saying it was ‘freezing’ inside.
One person wrote: “I went with a mate and we left after an hour. The venue was so freezing that the beer itself was too cold to enjoy.”
Someone else said: “This was by a country mile the worst event (not just beer event) I’ve ever attended. Truly horrific.”
The International Brewing and Cider Festival, a beer festival in Mancheser, has been hit with complaints. Credit: X, @SimonR
A detailed tale of the experience on Reddit, which said the International Brewing and Cider Festival was a ‘contender for Manchester’s Wonka experience’.
They said that they were ‘greeted by an extremely rude person’ and then struggled to order a beer, with several beers on the list unavailable and ended up with ‘a plastic cup of foam’.
The person said: “It was still early at this point so I expected it to get a bit busy but it never did combined with some depressing music and freezing cold temperatures the atmosphere was strange.”
Someone else said on X: “It was a massive scam. Willy Wonka type scam. No one there. Beers not great. It absolutely was not worth £40. The keg bar was closed, the cask bar closed at 8:30, the only decent beer available was from the few independent brewers who had decided to stick around (half had left). No atmosphere as no one there. Just awful.”
Another person said: “I don’t think I’ve been to a worse organised event. The term ‘Couldn’t organise a pi55 up in a brewery’ was made for this festival.
“Mid session there were less than 100 people. The signs on the cask and keg were too small to read at any distance. People pouring on the bar had no knowledge of any of the beers & no info in the app.
“For the entry fee of £20 to drink out of plastic, beer costing ‘town prices’, & some of the brewers had packed up and left hours before the end, left me feeling like I’d been ripped off.”
A spokesperson for the International Brewing & Cider Festival said: “We are very sorry that some people had a less than perfect experience – this was our first Festival and when you start something new, there will be learnings.
“We are a not-for-profit trade organisation representing the value chain, supplying the brewing and beverage industry.
The International Brewing and Cider Festival, a beer festival in Mancheser, has been hit with complaints. Credit: X, @SimonRThe International Brewing and Cider Festival, a beer festival in Mancheser, has been hit with complaints. Credit: Reddit, u/Luc1dJay
“As the organiser of the oldest international brewing and cider awards in the world, we held the Awards in Manchester this year and wanted to bring the entries from around the world to the public in the city.
“We adapted throughout the two days, ironing out some early teething troubles to deliver a better model as the event progressed.”
But now that Indy Man Beer Con has announced it won’t be returning for 2024, there’s definitely room in Manchester for a new beer festival.
Let’s it comes back to the city again and next time, is a roaring success.