Schofield’s Bar

From Vera Duckworth to Vogue vermouth, Schofield’s Bar has come a long way, baby. This high-end cocktail bar was previously The Old Grapes, owned by the Coronation Street legend, Liz Dawn, until Bury boys Joe and Daniel Schofield took over in 2021. 

They’re two of the country’s most respected bartenders, putting in shifts at various lauded bars between them over the years and winning many an award along the way. Nowadays they run Manchester bars Atomeca and STERLING, as well as this, their eponymous space on the ground floor of the storied Sunlight House off Quay Street. 

It’s a bar carved out of the “archetypal bar” handbook. Elegant fixtures and fittings, a lengthy queue to get in, mentions of Hemingway here, The Rat Pack there – there’s an old money feel to it all, and that’s no bad thing. 

There’s even a recommended book pairing, of all things. Fancy kicking back with Kerouac’s On The Road? You simply must sup a Margarita, made according to old Jack’s specific tastes. But how far do they go? I’m currently reading Viz Annual 2016: The Otter’s Pocket. Pair me that, Schofes. 

Cute touches aside, the core of Schofield’s Bar is very precise cocktails, made by very exacting people, using the most upmarket ingredients. 

Case in point: an exquisite take on the Chet Baker, a cocktail designed by Sam Ross at Sasha Petraske’s legendary Milk & Honey bar in 2005, elevated here by the use of Brugal 1888 Rum and Asterley Bros Estate Vermouth. 

Unlike many modern cocktail bars, that’s as far as it goes in terms of Sasha’s influence – no secrets and hardline asceticism here. Rather, it’s bold and grand and damn proud of it. Much more in tune with the splendid European bars of old, such as the American Bar at The Savoy or Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. 

But if Manchester’s known for anything, it’s music, and this is where Schofield’s Bar comes unstuck. Sure it’s a Saturday night in the city, but the soundtrack is, well, naff. Grab-a-granny night at a sticky-floored club naff. It’s jarring to be sipping on an elegant aperitif, first crafted in 1876, while listening to Boney M followed by Duck Sauce at speaker-crunching top volume. It doesn’t need to be avant-garde free jazz, but come on, lads, anything from crate-dug funk to erudite indie would make more sense.

Aural objections aside, Schofield’s Bar is one of the good ones. If Manchester’s going to earn (or maintain) a reputation as a world-class city, it needs bars like this.