Noho Bar

NoHo is a really funny one — I mean it’s inoffensive in that it would never be a problem to go in there for a drink, but in an NQ based around fresh and exciting concepts NoHo seems to have lost a bit of ground.
I like the way the bar is decent in size for the venue making it easy to get served and alongside the usual suspect craft beer bottles, they serve good cocktails and wines. They seem to do a lot of deals too which means it could be a good place to start your night if you’re in the mood to get juiced!
Overall not a bad place at all but I feel the concept could do with freshening up and maybe something unique to bring you back more.

NoHo is one of the bars on the Thomas Street strip in the Northern Quarter and therefore gets pretty crowded on a weekend. There’s nothing particularly special about the interior– it’s a big open space with a bar along the far end and plenty of room to dance. The DJ is up above next to the entrance and there are some tables and chairs alongside the window. A lot of the bars in the NQ tend to have a quirky theme or funky interior but this is your standard bar with hip hop style music. It just lacks personality and reminds me of being back in uni.
I came in here for the first time on a Saturday night on Valentine’s Day and it was packed with people so you could barely move… everyone drunk and bumping into each other, pretty difficult to get a drink at the bar but good for dancing. Second time was a Saturday night but earlier in the evening about 9pm so could actually get a seat at a table and chill, much more pleasant. Cocktails are good and the bartender was good at making them. I don’t like mine too sweet so I had this one with gin and beer in it– can’t remember the name but tasted great like an alcoholic lemonade.
Crowd is a bit random, the bar isn’t exceptional but at least there’s space too move about on a weekend!

One of Northern Quarter’s many appealing features is its own quirky vibe! Majority of the bars have personality, great staff and a cool laid-​back individual themes. Whether its Odd’s oddness or Hula’s tropicalness there’s über cool music paired nicely with each venue. Unfortunately Noho is arguably the exception to that rule.
Having been here three times at the weekend, I have to say the aggregate score isn’t great. Admittedly the first two times were fairly pleasant with a few friends. We came to the place early on (between 10−11pm) so perhaps the atmosphere was more chilled. The last and most recent visit however left a lot to be desired.
Now firstly, I’m not overly familiar with the intricate details of the door policy at late night bars. But, I’m fairly certain it’s NOT to let anyone & EVERYONE in, cramming the place so full that you involuntarily do tango with 10 people before you’ve even reach the bar. The music was also fairly great, if you were at an U18s disco!
Don’t get me wrong, I was a fresher once and who doesn’t like Britney Spears «I’m a slave for you» played twice (too many times) in the space of an hour, but there’s a time and a place. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying music was fairly dreadful. Think an iPod shuffle playlist from 2001, from a chav at the back of the bus on loudspeaker!
To add insult to injury, I watched in horror as the door staff let in two guys who were blatantly way to drunk. The two gentlemen (who thought the entire world was against them) then proceeded to barge into random guys (on purpose) clearly looking for a fight. Yes, they were kicked out a few minutes later unceremoniously, but allowing them to enter in the first place displayed a blatant disregard for punters. Luckily this time nothing happened but I’ve previously (in a different bar) witnessed one such bloke walk in pick a fight and bottle a random innocent bystander for no apparent reason. So it could’ve been a lot worse as far as I’m concerned. All stemming from a very basic schoolboy door staff error.
I’m fairly certain I’ll pop back into Noho at some stage as I’m a forgiving soul. Alas it probably won’t be at the weekend, or at night for that matter. I sincerely hope they fix the raised issues because I actually like the décor and the large screen playing old movies. It’s just a shame the door staff and DJ were extremely poor on the night I was there.
You know on a night out when something happens «outta nowhere» well it doesn’t. It’s probably down to a few bad choices. So in short to avoid one such bad choice, if it’s 1:30am on a Saturday night, I’d probably goto Cane & Grain, Hula or even Blackdog ahead of Noho.

Finally I get to write a review about my next-​door neighbor!
It is one of the best places to go on weekends, its usually pumping with good music, great crowd (not the deans gate locks crowd if you know what I mean), cute bar tenders with tricks, some great cocktails, feels like you are in New York, A big enough dance floor with couches to sit if one doesn’t feel like dancing!
Dress code: Literally anything you want casual or dressy but men need to wear closed shoes and please don’t wear a hoodie!
P.S Next time you go there definitely say hello to the bouncer he has a love hate relationship with me! :p

Noho is by far one of the most interesting bars in the Northern Quarter. Laid out New York studio style (or at least I think that’s the inspiration) Noho has a much lighter and roomier feel than some of the area’s sweat boxes and cubby holes. That said, there is a tasteful selection of furniture (a jumble of sprocket leather upholstery and 50’s coffee tables) which makes the place cosy as well as spacious.
The bar is well stocked with a good range of bottled beers (you can even get sweet Buddha Chrysanthemum Beer and tangy Desperados), however there isn’t a right lot of wine or soft drinks; but with the beers on offer you should be able to make do.
There is usually good music pumping from the DJ booth pretty loud (but no dancefloor). Also of note is the sprawling mural which creeps across the wall and is worth a look, plus a projector that constantly plays classic movies like Blues Brothers or The Breakfast Club — you can’t hear the films over the music but it’s something to squint at nonetheless.

As already mentioned this rather cool looking bar seems to have new york style erm style aspirations with its cavernous arty interior and eclectic range of obviously expensively naff furniture. However in common with a lot of bars in New York this place has absolutely no atmosphere. I went on a Friday and the place was dead more dead than the Black Dog and thats impressively dead.
The best things about this place as a space are what contribute to its downfall as a bar. Exquisitely designed interior with a sparse understated exterior NOHO is one of the most aesthetically pleasing spaces in the Northern Quarter however the interior just isnt conducive to a decent bar atmosphere.
The music is a bit hit and miss and not very well thought out to be honest kings of Leon mixed into grandmaster flash… not on my watch NOHO not on my watch.

Mohos, Mojos, Nohos. Confusion for you. Nohos has got nothing on the other two however. Will not mistake Nohos with my two other fave establishments.
Nohos is sat on the corner of Stevenson Square, hard to miss, so having never frequented I’d thought I’d give it a go. It seemed like it was big artist space that had been converted, with the huge floor space and the bar hiding away in the corner. A strange set up I thought. Through the masses and to the bar we went. Nohos is a cocktail, spirits type bar and yes as categorised more of a lounge. After my friend went for some honey, syrup based cocktail at a £5.50 and it was rank, I was not up for much of that. Wasn’t feeling entirely impressed with this place. It’s okay, it’s nice to look at from the outside and the decorated walls and the ladies toilet are pretty artsy and cool.
The NY theme definitely could not be missed. The dj spinning out some remixes created a laid back, chilled atmosphere and the many a checkered shirts dotted around were quite amusing. Noho is no Soho in New York itself, not much to rave about here either.

I went to Noho for the first time this weekend and absolutely loved it. Although it as heaving with people queuing time at the bar wasn’t too horrific and the cocktails were gorgeous. I definitely recommend the Bleeker Street drink, it was delicious.
Comfy sofas, armchairs and plenty of seats although, if you get the quality of music that we did last night you won’t be sitting down. Soul, motown, hip hop, Salt ‘n’ Pepa… who could ask for anything more. Plus, they were showing Ferris Bueller on the large wall screen. Noho gets extra points for that.
Drinks prices are reasonable (£5 for a double gin and tonic) and the staff are efficient and friendly.
Girls: there are lots of hot boys too. Win.

On the first Friday night after we moved into our Manchester flat, my girlfriend and I decided to do a random crawl of bars in the Northern Quarter. Whilst we ended up at some pretty lame places (Dry Bar) we also found some great ones too. Noho was one of these.
On a Friday night, Noho is just one big party. There’s plenty of old retro and mismatched couches to sit in the glass front of the bar, but then also a good bit of floor space on which you can do some dancing.
Drinks are only slightly expensive in line with all the other trendy Northern Quarter bars. There’s some interesting ciders available, I had a nice bottle of something pear flavoured.
On the night we went, they were playing Dumb and Dumber on a big projecter just to add a bit more quirk to the evening.
But don’t get distracted, on a Friday night Noho is just about having a good old party.

I went to NoHo for the first time last week. Up until then I hadn’t heard of it. The venue is a grade II listed building with huge floor to ceiling windows and parquet flooring. The walls have been painted with action movie style scenes; men climbing out of helicopters, guns and fire etc. Over the door is a skeleton riding a bicycle. No really. Strangely it doesn’t look out of place.
Normally I’m not a big fan of these city bars but this place is actually quite comfortable with lots of old leather chairs and sofas. It opens at 5 o’clock each weekday except Monday, which is ideal for after work drinks. It’s stays open until 2.00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Drinks-​wise they serve your usual lagers, beers, wine etc. and also cocktails. It’s friendly place and very laid back. I’ll definitely be going again.

Noho, officially and unofficially once «the new kid on the block» of Stevenson Square. Nipped in here the other night and was reminded how cool the place is but I agree that the stylish, very random décor can sometimes put you off having a fun night. Making you feel a little on edge if it isn’t full up. High ceilings, parquet floor, why not I suppose?
The artwork/​graffiti though is really cool and a good talking point (come here for a date??, haha). And Noho do want you to have fun — they have games to play and films projected onto the wall.
Drinks prices are ok and I would recommend the Noho for any girls like me who like alcohol to taste of well, sugar and fruit. Its the new Cosmopolitan for such drinkers– vodka, passionfruit, apple, grape and cranberry. Yum, with a twist. At £5.50 too these aren’t too bad, volume wise. Unless you are downing cocktails.
I’d recommend this as a kind of mid point, maybe the last bar you go to if you’re having an early one or the one you go to before the club.
Warning — a friend’s boyfriend’s arm got harassed here on his last trip so look out for arm loving skanks.

This place is a fun bar that’s been decorated with graffiti walls with loads of really cool furniture that’s not only stylish but really comfortable.
The bar has loads of drink offers, when I went last you four selected beers for £10 before seven… good start to any night. I love the ceilings that are really high and have been left unplastered, the whole place has a real industrial feel to it.
All this said I cant get past the fact this place lacks a little… erm…va va voom! The layout seems a little wrong, I think it may be that the bar it quite small in comparison to the size of the place. It may be just the few times I have been but it feels a little on the quiet side considering it’s location.
I think this bar makes a great place to meet up with friends, sit in some comfy chairs and drink cheap drinks before you move on to a more lively bar.

Proving that a great bar is more than the sum of its parts Noho has all the right ingredients but when it comes down to it, IT is exactly the thing that it doesn’t have.
I know organized fun is no fun at all but not being from Manchester, I do tend to research new bars and pretty much map out the crawls I want to go on (I’m hiding under the duvet now!). Yeah, yeah pretty sad I know but it’s just temporary until I feel like I really know the place inside out, then I promise I’ll go organic!
The reason I share all this is that, whilst reading one of those generic free magazines that tell you how to be cooler and where to go once you are, I’d read about Noho and was impressed. It had all of my favourite things, battered retro furniture, parquet flooring, edgy wall art, graffiti, a real ‘loft’ feel (Jesus my nights out sound so bad right now! I’m decorating at the minute OK?!).
All through the, thankfully short, taxi ride I bored my mates with how great this place sounded.
We got there, it felt a little empty and echoing but we shrugged that off and found somewhere to sit. Usually this makes you feel a little more secure in a new place, I don’t know why but if your bum is touching something then things tend to feel less intimidating.
None of us said it but as we all quietly hurried our drinks it was obvious that nobody felt very comfortable at all.
I can’t put my finger on what exactly was wrong, it just all feels a little too spacious and unfinished. Maybe, being new, it just needs a little time to settle into itself but for now I think I’ll give it a miss until at least after its awkward teenage phase.