CityLife

Noho

By Alex Eyre

ARRIVING fashionably late into an increasingly choc-a-block Northern Quarter bar scene, Noho wears its hip credentials firmly on its sleeve.

Or more accurately on its walls, which are as heavily tagged as a pre-Guilliani New York subway car.

The Manhattan influences are apt. The name isn’t the only part of the set-up to have been influenced by the Big Apple’s more bohemian neighbourhoods.  

Cribbing heavily from the classic Williamsburg bar/gallery/club/whatever, Noho’s floor-to-ceiling windows give way to warehouse high ceilings, open spaces and apparently effortless urban design detail.  

Heavily styled  

Modern industrial stylings are oh so familiar in a city weaned on the seminal architecture of Ben Kelly.  

What goes around comes around. But it still goes down a treat with Noho’s heavily styled clientele, who feature more challenging haircuts per square foot than any Bedford Street hangout you care to choose.  

Of course, the problem with adapting this sort of ethos to a Manchester setting is although the NQ is commonly – and sometimes accurately – likened to so many NYC zip codes the reality is, unless you’ve got the creative programming and innovative uses for such a space it’ll blend as readily into the background in the NQ as it would in NYC.  

There’s plenty to make this place stand out though: in particular the apocalyptic graffiti, courtesy of three artists from the Sketch City/Upperspace collective - all futuristic cityscapes, helicopters and swirling orange skies.  

Board games  

We also like the retro leather seating, (perfect for playing the board games the bar provides), and the thrown together feel of the corner bar, combined with the slick service that belies the fact it’s anything but.  

DJs at weekends will be complemented by more low key happenings during the week, like film nights, shown via a screen built into the artwork on the back wall.

Reviewed: Thu, 05 February, 2009

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