CityLife

Blackdog Ballroom

Blackdog Ballroom

Blackdog Ballroom
Northern Quarter
November 2009

IT takes a brave operator in these uncertain economic times to open a large-scale, late-licensed venue.

But when I heard that renowned club entrepreneurs Ross Mackenzie (One Central Street, Sankeys and The Purple Pussycat) and Jobe Ferguson (The Northern Quarter Restaurant & Bar) were transforming the former Club North venue in the Northern Quarter, where they hosted pop-up Blink events this summer, I waited with baited breath.

Blackdog Ballroom carves a niche on several fronts; it’s the only bar in the district with a 4am licence every night of the week, it serves gourmet burgers and pizzas until 2am – sourced from the same suppliers as The Northern Quarter – and it takes the poolroom concept out of dingy pubs and into a modern bar setting in a similar fashion to London-centric chain Elbow Room, albeit with more stylish surroundings.

The basement bar’s different areas render it at once a spacious bar, an intimate club, and a trendy American pool lounge. Modelled on New York’s speakeasies like PDT, the venue has a secret poolroom, the Ballroom, accessed only by password through one of the panels in the ‘library’.

Designed by brand agency JudgeGill, the minimal interior features exposed brick, dark wood floors and slate tiles. It’s a little lacking in furniture, but is pimped by floor-to-ceiling glass, chrome and coloured lighting and a dramatic bar, which serves several beers on tap and classic spirits, liqueurs and cocktails.

Blackdog Ballroom, under Afflecks Palace, 37-43 Oldham Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1JG (info@blackdogballroom.co.uk).