3 Little Quay Street Sunlight House, Manchester M3 3JZ, Uk
SCHOFIELDS BAR Excellent Cocktails Manchester
Back to their roots
The Schofield’s Bar story
With over 30 years of experience collectively, bartender brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield always had a vision to return to their home city of Manchester to open their eponymous venue;
SCHOFIELD’S BAR.
SCHOFIELD’S BAR graces the corner of Sunlight House, one of the most iconic buildings in the north of England.
The art deco masterpiece of architect Joseph Sunlight was the tallest building in Manchester upon completion during the 1930s, a decade of great importance for cocktail culture. An era of grand and luxurious bars, known for their hospitality and classic cocktails.
We take a small number of reservations every day but we are mainly a walk-in venue
Opening Hours
Mon – Tue:Closed
Wed – Sun:12:00pm – 1:30am
Schofield’s Bar
A truly great cocktail bar, any city in the world would be deliriously happy to have it. Run by brothers Joe and Daniel Schofield, originally from Rossendale but who learned their craft in some of the world’s best bars, they returned to the North in 2021 with all that wealth of knowledge and brought it to bear in what was The Old Grapes. It shows. The drinks are faultless and the service has no equal. Except in their other bars, obviously.
Sterling
Which brings us on to Sterling, the bar Joe and Daniel Schofield set up in the basement vault of Gary Neville’s Stock Exchange Hotel. Even more low lit than Schofield’s Bar – if that were possible – this classy spot, with its discreet booths and hand-made leather banquettes, is a perfect place to either start or finish the night. The bar snacks are something else too.
4 Norfolk St, Manchester M2 1DW
Speak In Code
Hidden away off the main drag, behind an unassuming door and a cryptic sign, Speak In Code is a haven from the noisy, packed out bars of Deansgate.
Here, cocktail maestro Nathan Larkin brings his extensive experience behind the bar to bear with a menu of out-there creations, taking classics and twisting them with extraordinary new flavours and even textures. It’s drinks-making distilled to a fine art. It’s been named in the top 50 cocktail bars in the UK, and it’s even vegan.
7 Jackson’s Row, Manchester M2 5ND
UK’s Schofield’s Bar In Manchester Has Won The Bar Of The Year For 2nd Time In A Row!
by Shreya Rathod Updated: May 27, 2023
It is so hard to pick out the perfect bar to have a weekend party or go out with your friends for drinks. The United Kingdom have some nice bars that you can go to.
However, the Class Bar Awards, one of the country’s most esteemed bar awards, have picked out the best one — and, it’s Schofield’s Bar! Here’s everything you need to know about the award-winning UK bar.
Schofield’s Bar In Manchester Is The Best!
The CLASS Collective, a group of 100 bar specialists from all over the nation, judges the CLASS Collective Bar Awards, which honour the diversity, talent, and accomplishments of the UK bar industry. Schofield’s Bar in Manchester won Best Bar in the North and Bar of the Year for the entire country.
Joe and Daniel’s debut pub, located in Manchester’s Sunlight House, opened in the spring of 2021 and quickly gained acclaim throughout the UK. Moreover, its traditional, elegant appearance—complete with dark wood accents and hints of green—and emphasis on five-star service make it the UK’s greatest bar in 2023. A bar has only won consecutive Bar of the Year awards three times since 2003.
Other winners in the recently established regional awards include Passing Fancies, which was only established last autumn. It was named Best Bar in the Midlands & East Anglia and New Bar of the Year. The bar is described as having a ‘kitchen at a house party’-style atmosphere. And serves ingredient-driven drinks made using the most recent bar lab technology.
Couch in Birmingham, a finalist in this field, went on to succeed in the Emerging Bartender of the Year category, with Courtney Francis from the bar winning the honour. Hey Palu won the award for Best Bar in Scotland & Northern Ireland. With traditional drinks and gracious hospitality, Alex Palumbo’s Edinburgh cocktail spot offers a contemporary interpretation of Italian culture.
Some heavyweight bars competed in the Best Bar in London & the South East category, with Satan’s Whiskers winning the poll. Lab 22 from Cardiff won the Best Bar in Wales & the West competition.
Schofield’s Bar was the world-famous venue that didn’t exist – until now. Hamish Smith takes the two-hour train from London to Manchester to finally take up a seat at Joe and Daniel Schofield’s much anticpated debut bar.
Can you remember when you first heard about Schofield’s Bar? It’s hard to fix the time. Perhaps when you saw the logo on social media, or heard about Joe and Daniel Schofield’s eponymous consultancy, or were served a drink by the pair guest bartending in snazzy branded aprons.
There was the launch of Schofield’s vermouth – runner up at the World Vermouth Awards – and not long before a cocktail book: Schofield’s Fine and Classic Cocktails. Later came snippets of information about the site of the bar, which built up to the Classbarmag.com exclusive pre-launch story, and a line of Schofield’s bottled cocktails.
Over a period of more than two years, each spin-off added incrementally to a quickening churn of chatter. To the point there were few at the connected-end of the bar world who weren’t aware of Schofield’s and probably fewer – outside of the UK anyway – who hadn’t realised it hadn’t opened. Consider that: a world-famous bar that didn’t exist. Until, that is, this spring.
Such a prolonged build-up wasn’t ever the outset plan. Behind the brand-building, Daniel and Joe Schofield were working hard to find a site to open their bar. There were venues that came close and fell through, and when they finally found their site, the pandemic was raging. The latest lockdown delayed opening their doors further. “It was a long road for us – a hard road – with people doubting our decision making,” says Joe. “We held on for what we wanted.”
And they got it. Set on the ground floor of the Art Deco-styled Sunlight House on Little Quay Street, the building was a flagship 1930s design of architect Joseph Sunlight.
In later life it became The Old Grapes, a pub owned by actress Liz Dawn (Vera Duckworth from Coronation Street), frequented by local celebrities – it seems impossible for a site to be more Manchester. Added to that history and period trimmings, it has a terrace for the times and the kind of lease that could make this a generational business.
And Schofield’s – even on a cool April afternoon, without the thrum of guests that the takeaway queues would suggest are coming – looks the part. The arched, period entry leads you into a two-level space, which is dominated by a long wooden bar. Illuminated by low-hanging lights, the navy blue walls, brass fittings and flashes of ‘Schofield’s green’, it is every inch the classical look.
Manchester calling
It’s possible the Schofields are bigger names in the global circuit than they are here in the UK. Their CVs are punctuated by stints at ‘galactico’ bars and Joe’s individual honours from 50 Best and Tails (Bartender’s Bartender/Best International Bartender) and have a way of getting you noticed.
It’s for this reason Schofield’s opening is internationally big news. Even juicer that the capitals of bar-world hype were eschewed in favour of opening in their hometown. In truth, nowhere else was on the cards.
“It was always going to be Manchester,” says Daniel. “It’s our closest big city, having grown up on the outskirts. We love the bar and restaurant scene here and we’ve always found that northern people have such a genuine sense of hospitality – it’s good to be home.”
Whether Manchester wants it or not, the global brand ambassadors, the international writers, the 50 Best Bartenders and the cocktail tourists – the circuit is coming to town. And when I tell this fortune, the Schofields laugh – they know this world, the glamour and the opportunity.
They laugh because they know a bar is a business first – it is nothing if it isn’t engaged locally – but also because traditionally big-name bartenders are more likely to board a plane than a train. “We’ve spoken to quite a few people who’ve even expressed an interest in jumping on that two-hour train,” says Joe, wryly.
The brothers are proud of their city and are determined to show it off. “People are excited to see Manchester,” says Dan. “Even with the challenges of the last year, Manchester hasn’t slowed down – in terms of development, it’s the fastest growing city in Europe right now.
We’re really happy to be a small part of it. But it’s not just the F&B scene, Manchester is known all over the world – not least for its music and football.” Forever the diplomats, the Schofields won’t be drawn on red or blue. “When we were younger we supported Bury,” says Dan.
