So next week myself another chap have made arrangements for our friends stag do, which sees us arrivng via canal boat in Manchester on Saturday around midday.

We’ve never been to Manc before so wondered if anyone has suggestions for some nice places to go out? There is a ping ping bar in London that’s great fun, but wondered if there is something in Manc along those lines, maybe something a bit different from the ordinary or some pubs that can’t be missed?

Pretty sure the World Cup QF’s are on so we may catch some of those but its not imperative.

TIA 🙂

How many people?

Age range/interests?

Yes, might be useful…

Prob 12-15, all early 30’s. Personally I like proper beer and ales but I’m not the stag. He’s pretty laid back and we all enjoy a good night out (even if we are getting on a bit), maybe nighclub venues & everyone is generally into sports.

I can probably rule out seeing a band or live music & personally it would be nice to rule out chain bars/pubs if we can. I can’t stand Walkabout/Oceania etc etc. We’ll be devoid of fancy dress too so dressed normally.

Ooh, shame it wasnt a week later or you’d be sailing straight into a Morrissey soundcheck for his gig at the canal basin that night.

Northern quarter.

/thread

All Star Bowling could work well, posh/retro bowling with nice drinks and food.

You’re arriving on a canal boat and looking for something out of the ordinary? Easy. Canal Street.

The Green – a sports bar with indoor golf to play/watch?

All Star Bowling is okay, but eat somewhere else based on experience a couple of weeks ago. Slow service, and overpriced average offerings. There are many nicer places to eat in Manchester.

To avoid lots of walking – northern quarter. Has lots of bars of many kinds.

My most recent newisf fave is the tiny new refurb that used to be a knocking shop upstairs/old pub down- across from bus station/round corner from Trof.

Name???

Found It!

http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Pubs/Lower-Turks-Head-Re-opens-A-Gallery

Scroll down for a visual feast

Plus Band on the Wall.

AVOID pap like blu or Oddbar.

Agreed on the Lower Turks Head, ace pub.

Northern Quarter +1

Best place to find lots of decent bars in a small area.

Northern quarter for a large group of lads? No chance. Last time I went there (about 12 months ago or more) we got turned down as a group of 4 respectable sober lads. Pitch up as a group of 10 or more lads And you’ve got no chance, unless things have changed dramatically.

I think you’ll struggle in the city centre with such a large group of lads unless you make prior arrangements.

Thats why its good there. Split into 2-3 groups and v.closeby.

I was on a stag do a few weeks ago and we went round various places in the Northern Quarter with no bother. Maybe they just didn’t like the look of you. 🙂

Just picking up on replies, thanks to all that responded 🙂

Lower Turks Head looks like a nice place. I also forgot to mention the stag quite likes gin. I went to a neat gin bar in Bath once so will see if there is anything similar. Will also check out the Northern Quarter too.

You’re arriving on a canal boat and looking for something out of the ordinary? Easy. Canal Street.
😉 That the same Canal Street as featured in the Channel 4 drama series Queer as Folk

Great Northern would be ok. All Star Lanes, beer and bowling. Awesome Almost Famous next door for burger goodness. Then you have the Brewdog bar not too far which is great.

But Northern Quarter is a good shout.

Nowt wrong with Canal St. As long as you don’t treat it as some sort of Zoo. Hen doo’s thinking its ‘funny’ who go there need a slap.

We had a Valentines day meal there in the Eden Restaurant. you could tell the Waiter was trying to work out if I was onside, or offside. 😀

There is a ping ping bar in London that’s great fun

Sounds like the Northern Quarter is definitely the place for you 😀

No ping pong bars I’m afraid, but some good bars and boozers. I agree that you may struggle in a few places in the NQ as a stag do. And a stag do would be as welcome in Canal Street as a fart in a lift.

You’ll probably end up somewhere absolutely hideous like the Printworks, or a cattle market in Piccadilly. Manchester’s not really a Stag Do kind of place

OP PLEASE DONT be tempted to go to the Printworks.

Its full of McDonalds types and bland themed-bars.

Hora – I was trying to make the point that they might not have a choice.

I’d rather spend the entire evening slowly tightening my plums in a vice, than the Printworks. But it serves a valuable social function as a nobhead magnet, where they get to meet girls called Sharon, who insist its actually pronounced Sharone.

I suspect most places in town have some never-spoken-of code that instinctively funnels all stag do’s and suchlike there eventually, like tributaries to a river. Whether they like it or not.

Stag do with 12-15 blokes? I suspect the best place is what some affectionately call ‘the straight village’, aka Deansgate. You’re not allowed in the NQ unless you have a coiffured beard, thick rimmed spectacles and a flat cap.

Thank god Manchester isn’t a stag do haven. I’ve seen what it’s done to Newcastle and it’s a tragedy.

Whats that three floor nightclub-type thing on the side of Printworks? Tiger Tiger?

Isn’t too bad (if you REALLY must go to a nearby ‘club’) but very gyp-pit.

OP as long as you don’t have to wear the same tshirts etc you’ll have no problem getting into bars.

hora – Member
Nowt wrong with Canal St. As long as you don’t treat it as some sort of Zoo

I admit it I was ‘avin’ a larf. Mind you the only time I visited Canal Street the overcrowded bars selling shit drinks were pumping out overloud music. So it’s not my favourite part of town. The Turk’s Head is more my sort of thing. Or the Port Street Beer House, or the Marble Arch.

By the way, do we know if Turk’s Head is named after an actual Turk’s Head or a Turk’s Head knot? Either way I think it’s a great name for a specific sort of turd (not sure what sort yet though).

A bit off the beaten track, First Chop Brewing Arm just over the border in Salford (literally 5 mins from Deansgate) would be a good bet. Super laid back, so you won’t have any issues getting in, great beer brewed on site and it looks like they have a daytime event on this Saturday too, with street food, music and a bouncy castle!!

Run by a bunch of friendly local musicians/arty folk who like a good beer. Always a nice vibe.

Might be worth a detour in the afternoon to find something a bit more underground, or the ‘proper’ Manchester. You never know, you might just stay there for the duration, coz it’s ace!!

https://www.facebook.com/firstchopbrewingarm

By the way, this place has a ping-pong table downstairs. 🙂

Home

http://kosmonaut.co

See my comment about beards and flat caps. This place has an extra rule that you have to be wearing a waistcoat too. Oh and some of the beers are so cool there you’re only allowed to drink them out of 2/3rd pint schooners (for the same price as a pint of course).

Last time I was out in Manc we did canal street and finished up in satans hollow a short walk from there, if you like music of a rock variety you’ll love it

Any place that uses the word ‘Artisan’ when referring to beer, should be avoided like the plague. In fact anyone who uses it (without realising its merely replaced the words ‘inexplicably expensive’) should be immediately slapped.

Actually…. thinking about it….. no…. It it’d be perfectly reasonable to wait until Kosmonaut (cool name bro) was filled with the kind of full-sleeve sporting, Mumford-o-likes who aren’t immediately repelled by the word Artisan, then…..

In the US ‘artisan’ is used with reference to beer because it’s not quite real ale. Can’t remember the intricacies of it but there is a difference.

I was in central Manchester recently for a few days but I couldn’t find anywhere that really interested me. I even met up with some mates who live locally and the pub they recommended was a bit dire and dear. The charming little watering holes like The Bar in Chorlton don’t seem to exist up town ; (

A lot of artisan or boutique beer is keg not cask hence the avoidance of “real”.

I would be inclined to agree that City Centre Manchester wouldn’t be my first choice to spend an evening sampling great beers. That would be Stockport.

However, I suspect this stag night requires more than a few pints of real ale.

Artisan? WTF, is this going to go into the pulled-pork bollox box?

Well to a certain clientelle “real ale” (though it is by definition the real thing – echt rather than ersatz) conjures up images of middle age, pot bellies and beards (of the no-hipster sort). Hence the need for a new title to reach the parts of the market that other beers don’t reach.

Another place in the NQ with an, ahem, ping-pong space:

Home

Couple of excessively hopped ales on tap. S’alright. Good job I’d ridden there on the fixed gear, wouldn’t have gotten in otherwise.

Another thing these places seem to have in common is absolutely unforgivably bloody awful websites. Ironic, given that about 98% of the people in there would list their profession as virtual web and headspace designer, creative thinking enabler, or ambient video installation artist

WTF is this ping pong thing? I’d never heard of a ping pong bar – sorry, ‘art space’ – until now. What’s the etiquette? Put money on the table? Winner stays on?

+1 on Stockport BTW. Especially The Magnet, although you’ll have to make do with a pool table instead of ping pong.

There’s even a ping-pong exhibition!

Pong Ping is an exhibition of Ping Pong themed design, art and illustration from a selection of international and local creatives.

Pong Ping turns Ping Pong on its head and the 24 hand picked artists from across the world have all designed an exclusive piece to show Ping Pong related paraphernalia being used in everyday life.

Maybe…..?

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5EA2g3nZWo&feature=kp[/video]

Sounds like the Northern Quarter is definitely the place for you

No ping pong bars I’m afraid, but some good bars and boozers. I agree that you may struggle in a few places in the NQ as a stag do. And a stag do would be as welcome in Canal Street as a fart in a lift.

You’ll probably end up somewhere absolutely hideous like the Printworks, or a cattle market in Piccadilly. Manchester’s not really a Stag Do kind of place

Amusing article 🙂

To be fair to us I don’t imagine we’ll be marauding across the city like a bunch of loons. We’re leaving our Welsh friends behind after all 😉

I’m from Devon anyway so Manchester is pretty up t’north to me. I always imagined they were a friendly bunch up there 😀

Manchesters not up north. The Republic of West Riding is up north 8)

West of Huddersfield is Liverpool and its tributaries with scallies all around.