CityLife

Fuel Cafe Bar

Fuel Cafe Bar is one of the few establishments on Withington’s small stretch of activity that manages to draw students, veggie loving musos and brand-averse types from the neighbouring Fallowfield and Didsbury.

It’s a licensed vegetarian cafe that wouldn’t be out of place in Chorlton or the Northern Quarter and pulls off the slightly shabby, effortlessly-thrown-together look so common with independent cafes, in a similar vein to Trof, but not quite so grown up.

It has more of a hippy vibe, is less expensive and is fuelled by a busy programme of events. Probably the best thing about this place is its free-for-all attitude to musical experimentation.

Nights like ‘the openest mic in town’ and ‘music is free’ see musicians from both ends of the talent spectrum take to the stage in what is one of the most intimate settings in the city.

We checked out the live upstairs space, but if you’re not into the sounds there, there’s plenty to feast on downstairs – walls with cityscape photography, twisted portraits, coloured flags, plants and painted tables.

Through the mismatch furniture is a small bar at the rear serving bottled Badger ales like Tanglefoot and Firsty Ferret, alongside bottled ales such as Hobgoblin, all at £3.30. Other brands, such as Amstel and Peroni, are served at student-friendly prices.

448 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 3BW, (0161 448 9702)

Tweet