CityLife

Bubbly bar Epernay's set to sparkle

GLITZY: Epernay

RECESSION? What recession? If the latest bar to open in Manchester is anything to go by – dealing purely in Champagne – could we be seeing those green shoots of recovery?

The swanky new Champagne bar, called Epernay, is selling bubbly by the glass and is offering a mammoth 150 different bottles of the sparkly stuff for punters to choose from.

And bosses insist this is not another VIP venue – there are no roped-off areas for celebs or footballers, and they have priced their menu to be available for all.

That means you can get a glass of champers for just a fiver.

But the elite are well catered for too – there’s a champagne cocktail on the menu for £45 a pop, while rare vintage bottles of bubbly will sell for more than £1,000.

There’s even a “little black book” of the most sophisticated champagnes for rich clients who want to splash the cash at the first floor venue in the city’s Great Northern Tower.

Rome

They reckon they couldn’t have opened at a better time in Manchester – particularly with the prospect of the city’s biggest ever party if United score a victory in Rome in the Champions League final tonight.

Champagne corks will really be popping if the result goes the Reds’ way.

The company has already had a success with its first Epernay bar on the other side of the Pennines in Leeds.

Bar assistant manager Chris Brown says: “Manchester has been on the cards since last year for us, and we definitely think there’s a market for what we are doing.

“We’re not marketing ourselves as a VIP venue. We’re happy for everyone to come and visit us and we have very honest prices in that respect.

“As far as we’re concerned everyone gets the same treatment – whether that be a footballer or a business person.”

The bar’s glitzy launch bash, being held on June 5, is set to have the city’s movers and shakers clamouring for an invite.

It will certainly add a bit of fizz to an otherwise rather flat social scene in recent months.

Meanwhile bar bosses tell me their next venture will be opening a restaurant underneath the Champagne bar on Watson Street.

And the key attraction at this venue? Beer taps on every table so punters can serve themselves their own pints!