CityLife

WINTER is drawing in so thoughts naturally turn to Cord, which emerged blinking – as if from the back of a wardrobe – after a shake down and substantial brush off this month.<br /> <br /> With a big crowd of regulars, all of whom have accrued a sense of ownership over the place during years of pint sinking and pie eating, a new look would always be controversial.<br /> <br /> But with the trademark booths passing from well worn to worn out, few could argue it was time for change. Cord of old was a small bar; Cord the second feels bigger.<br /> <br /> Inside, the booths at the front have been ripped out, as has the bar at the back; the latter being repositioned to the wall opposite with three booths now taking up space where it once stood.<br /> <br /> The most striking change has seen the back wall of the bar blasted through and a bright white bricked stairwell installed leading down to the basement.<br /> <br /> Down it, the first door you pass is the gents, making a trip to the toilet much less traumatic for half of Cord’s customers – cutting out the wrestle across the basement dancefloor it used to entail.<br /> <br /> Inevitable<br /> <br /> Less impressive is the inevitable new paint smell that, with the heat, and the musty damp pong in the basement, can get a bit overwhelming.<br /> <br /> Post-renovation hangovers, we hope, for which a slug or two of the premium spirits from the spanking new back bar is the best hair of the dog.<br /> <br /> Some will think it’s a shame to see the character of an old favourite change so dramatically.<br /> <br /> Upstairs with the flash new look there’s little of the local hangout left – if Cord was once definitively Northern Quarter, could Cord 2.0 in fact be anywhere?<br /> <br /> But then the Northern Quarter isn’t a beardies ghetto anymore: catering, whether you like it or not, for a broader set of socialites.<br /> <br /> Cord is moving with the times. Shouldn’t you?<br /> <br /> What do you think of the new Cord? Have your say.<br /> <br /> Cord, Dorsey House, 8 Dorsey Street, M4 1LU (0161 832 9494).<br />